Home-based biofeedback speech treatment improves dysarthria in repeat-expansion SCAs

AP Vogel; LH Graf; M Magee; L Schöls; N Rommel; M Synofzik

Journal article

Home-based biofeedback speech treatment improves dysarthria in repeat-expansion SCAs

AP Vogel, LH Graf, M Magee, L Schöls, N Rommel, M Synofzik

Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology | WILEY | Published : 2022

DOI: 10.1002/acn3.51613

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Abstract

CAG repeat-expansion spinocerebellar ataxias (CAG-SCAs) are genetically defined multisystemic degenerative diseases, resulting in motor symptoms including dysarthria with a substantial impact on daily living. Whilst speech therapy is widely recommended in ataxia, very limited evidence exists for its use. We evaluated the efficacy of a home-delivered, ataxia-tailored biofeedback-driven speech therapy in CAG-SCA in 16 individuals with SCA1, 2, 3, or 6. Treatment was delivered intensively over 20 days. Efficacy was evaluated by blinded ratings of intelligibility (primary) and acoustic measures (secondary) leveraging an intra-individual control design. Intelligibility improved post-treatment (Z ..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Adam Vogel Author

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Grants

Awarded by National Ataxia Foundation

Funding Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Center for Rare Diseases, Tubingen. We thank Dr Gustavo Noffs for providing acoustic analysis on some of the speech data. We are thankful to Prof Dagmar Timmann-Braun, University of Essen, for referring to subjects for participation in this study.