Intelligibility Assessment for Parkinson's Disease

Close to 90% of people with Parkinson's disease develop voice problems during the course of the disease. These problems lead to reduced intelligibility, which entails a subsequent reduction in social participation and overall quality of life. The current study will focus on developing and pilot-testing an app to measure the intelligibility of people with PD and of healthy controls. In order to test the app's efficacy, speakers will read a set of 50 sentences that will be embedded in noise for measurement purposes. A group of listeners will also transcribe the spoken sentences to correlate their performance to that of the app. The ultimate purpose of this investigation is to improve self-monitoring and self-sufficiency in people with PD. The study is expected to last 12 months.

Speakers with PD:

Inclusion criteria

• Have a medical diagnosis of Parkinson's disease
• Have experienced changes in your voice (e.g., your voice has "lost its strength") and your voice is a current concern
• Have not received individual speech therapy for the past 2 years (group therapy is ok)
• Have a stable medication schedule
• Have not received DBS (Deep Brain Stimulation)
• Are a native speaker of American English

Exclusion criteria

• If criteria above are not met

Healthy controls:

Inclusion criteria

• Be a native speaker of American English
• Have no history of neurological impairment
• Have no history of speech or language problems

Exclusion criteria

• If criteria above are not met

Listeners:

Inclusion criteria

• Be a native speaker of American English
• Be between 18-55 years old
• Have no history of speech-language-hearing problems
• Pass a free hearing screening
• Have received the Covid19 vaccine

Exclusion criteria

• If criteria above are not met