Table 1.
Clinical characteristics of participants.
| Group (dominant type of dysarthria) | Age (years) |
Disease duration (years) |
Disease severity a |
Speech severity b |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean/SD (range) | Mean/SD (range) | Mean/SD (range) | Mean/SD (range) | |
| PD (hypokinetic) | 64.4/9.6 (48–82) | 9.3/5.5 (1–24) | 15.9/7.6 (6–34) | 0.7/0.7 (0–2) |
| PSP (hypokinetic-spastic) | 65.3/5.2 (54–71) | 3.5/1.3 (1–5) | 66.2/29.0 (19–116) | 1.9/0.9 (0–3) |
| MSA (ataxic-hypokinetic) | 59.6/3.6 (55–65) | 3.8/1.5 (2–6) | 86.6/17.6 (63–123) | 1.9/0.6 (1–3) |
| EP (hyperkinetic-hypokinetic) | 39.7/5.0 (28–48) | 3.8/2.0 (1–11) | 85.6/32.6 (42–166) | 1.7/1.0 (0–4) |
| HD (hyperkinetic) | 49.6/14.8 (23–67) | 6.4/3.0 (2–13) | 23.6/11.8 (3–42) | 0.6/0.5 (0–1) |
| HC (none) | 64.4/10.5 (41–81) | – | – | – |
aScores on the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale III (UPDRS III) for PD (ranging from 0 to 108), natural history and neuroprotection on Parkinson (NNIPPS) for APS (ranging from 0 to 332), and Unified Huntington’s Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS) motor subscore (ranging from 0 to 124), higher scores indicate more severe disability.
bScores on the UPDRS III 18 speech item for PD, NNIPPS Bulbar–pseudobulbar signs subscale (item 3) for APS, and UHDRS dysarthria item.
All scores represent speech motor examination and range from 0 to 4, where 0 represents normal speech, 1 mildly affected speech, 2 moderately impaired speech (still intelligible), 3 markedly impaired speech (difficult to understand), and 4 unintelligible speech.