L-dopa and STN stimulation effects on pneumophonic coordination in Parkinsonian dysarthria: intra-oral pressure measurements

International audienceObjective: To evaluate L-dopa and STN stimulation effects on pneumophonic coordination (PC) in Parkinson's disease (PD), bystudying the temporal progression of intra-oral pressure (IOP) during the expiratory phase of a sentence production.Background: Effects of L-dopa and STN stimulation on Parkinsonian dysarthria still remain erratic and challenging for theclinician. As the PC plays a crucial role in the sound pressure level production, then contributing largely to speech intelligibility,it is important to assess this aspect of speech in PD and to quantify the changes that may be expected following treatments.Methods: Using a dedicated system (EVA2, SQLAb, Aix-en-Provence), 24 PD patients were recorded preoperatively on and offL-dopa, as well as postoperatively ON and OFF STN stimulation. IOP on six measurement points (every p consonants) duringrealisation of the French sentence Papa ne m'a pas parl de beau-papa (Daddy did not speak to me about daddy-in-law) wascalculated. Fifty control subjects were recorded in parallel in order to define the reference. A linear mixed model was estimated( R software, version 2.6.2, http://www.r-project.org) for group analyses integrating patient and p consonant as randomterms and treatment nature (L-dopa vs. STN stimulation) and state (off vs. on) as fixed effects.Results: UPDRS motor scores and IOP measurements displayed significant differences (p