Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Florida, 2005. / Typescript. Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 84 pages. Includes Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

abstract: Distorted vowel production is a hallmark characteristic of dysarthric speech, irrespective of the underlying neurological condition or dysarthria diagnosis. A variety of acoustic metrics have been used to study the nature of vowel production deficits in dysarthria; however, not all demonstrate sensitivity to the exhibited deficits. Less attention has been paid to quantifying the vowel production deficits associated with the specific dysarthrias. Attempts to characterize the relationship between naturally degraded vowel production in dysarthria with overall intelligibility have met with mixed results, leading some to question the nature of this relationship. It has been suggested that aberrant vowel acoustics may be an index of overall severity of the impairment and not an "integral component" of the intelligibility deficit. A limitation of previous work detailing perceptual consequences of disordered vowel acoustics is that overall intelligibility, not vowel identification accuracy, has been the perceptual measure of interest. A series of three experiments were conducted to address the problems outlined herein. The goals of the first experiment were to identify subsets of vowel metrics that reliably distinguish speakers with dysarthria from non-disordered speakers and differentiate the dysarthria subtypes. Vowel metrics that capture vowel centralization and reduced spectral distinctiveness among vowels differentiated dysarthric from non-disordered speakers. Vowel metrics generally failed to differentiate speakers according to their dysarthria diagnosis. The second and third experiments were conducted to evaluate the relationship between degraded vowel acoustics and the resulting percept. In the second experiment, correlation and regression analyses revealed vowel metrics that capture vowel centralization and distinctiveness and movement of the second formant frequency were most predictive of vowel identification accuracy and overall intelligibility. The third experiment was conducted to evaluate the extent to which the nature of the acoustic degradation predicts the resulting percept. Results suggest distinctive vowel tokens are better identified and, likewise, better-identified tokens are more distinctive. Further, an above-chance level agreement between nature of vowel misclassification and misidentification errors was demonstrated for all vowels, suggesting degraded vowel acoustics are not merely an index of severity in dysarthria, but rather are an integral component of the resultant intelligibility disorder. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Speech and Hearing Science 2012

Alterações fonoarticulatórias caracterizam a disartria hipocinética e podem ocorrer ao longo da evolução da doença de Parkinson (DP). No entanto, não existem estudos que evidenciem a influência da idade nessas alterações. Objetivo: Comparar e correlacionar selecionadas características fonoarticulatórias em pacientes com DP de início na meia idade e tardio. Método: Participaram 50 pacientes que constituíram dois grupos. O Grupo I foi composto por 30 (60%) pacientes com idade de início da DP entre 40 e 55 anos e o Grupo II, por 20 (40%) pacientes com início da doença após os 65 anos, ambos com a duração da doença variando de 2 a 18 anos. Todos foram submetidos à avaliação neurológica a partir da Parte III da Escala Unificada para a Doença de Parkinson (UPDRS) e Escala Modificada de Hoehn & Yahr e, fonoaudiológica, realizada por meio de análise perceptivo-auditiva (velocidade, inteligibilidade e tipo articulatório da fala e qualidade da voz) e acústica computadorizada (freqüência fundamental e intensidade da voz). Resultados: Não houve diferença estatisticamente significativa entre os dois grupos no que diz respeito ao estágio da doença, aos escores da escala UPDRS e às análises fonoaudiológicas. As análises de correlação não mostraram diferença estatisticamente significativa entre a qualidade, a freqüência fundamental e a intensidade da voz, bem como a velocidade da fala e o estágio da doença. Contudo, houve diferença estatística significativa entre a articulação e a inteligibilidade da fala e o estágio da doença. Os escores da escala UPDRS não revelaram diferença estatisticamente significativa quando comparados com a qualidade, a freqüência fundamental e a intensidade da voz e a velocidade da fala. Diferença estatisticamente significativa foi encontrada na correlação entre a articulação e os acometimentos axiais e também entre a velocidade da fala e os escores dos acometimentos axiais, da rigidez e da bradicinesia. Conclusões: A idade de início da DP não se relacionou com as características fonoarticulatórias analisadas. A função articulatória (articulação e inteligibilidade da fala) estava prejudicada sobremaneira nos estágios mais avançados da DP e foi associada ao maior tempo de duração da doença e aos escores mais elevados de manifestações axiais, de rigidez e de bradicinesia. A função fonatória (freqüência fundamental, qualidade e intensidade da voz) apresentou-se com características semelhantes em todos os estágios da DP e não se associou com a duração da doença e tampouco com os escores motores analisados. / Parkinson\'s disease (PD) patients may develop speech and voice abnormalities during the course of their illness, typically hypokinetic dysarthria. There are no studies to date describing the influence of age on these abnormalities. Objective: To describe and to correlate selected speech and voice characteristics in PD patients with middle-age and late-onset disease and compare each group\'s findings. Methods: Fifty PD patients were enrolled in this study and subsequently divided into two groups. Group I included 30 (60%) patients with PD onset between 40 and 55 years old and Group II consisted of 20 (40%) patients with disease onset after the age of 65. In both groups disease duration ranged from 2 to 18 years. All patients were submitted to neurological evaluation based on the motor Unified Parkinson\'s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS - part III) and the Modified Hoehn and Yahr Staging Scale plus speech and voice evaluation, performed through perceptual analysis (speech velocity and intelligibility, articulatory speech type and voice quality) and computerized acoustic (fundamental frequency and voice intensity). Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the groups concerning disease stage, UPDRS scores and speech and voice analysis. Disease stage was not associated to quality, fundamental frequency and intensity of voice. There was also no difference between speech velocity and disease stage. On the other hand, there was statistically significant difference between articulation and speech intelligibility and disease stage. UPDRS scores did not reveal a statistically significant difference when compared to quality, fundamental frequency and voice intensity and speech velocity, but there was a difference in the correlation between articulation and axial symptoms and also between speech velocity and scores for axial symptoms, rigidity and bradykinesia. Conclusion: The age of onset of PD was not associated with speech and voice characteristics analysed. Articulatory function (speech articulation and intelligibility) was remarkably affected in advanced PD and was associated with not only with longer disease duration, but also with more axial symptoms, rigidity and bradykinesia. Phonatory function (fundamental frequency, quality and intensity of voice) disclosed similar characteristics in all PD stages and was not associated with disease duration or with motor scores analysed.

Orientador: Ester Mirian Scarpa / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-04T07:30:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Iliovitz_EricaReviglio_D.pdf: 3642450 bytes, checksum: 7ecba27c943198b36d14574d937bc7df (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005 / Resumo: Com o objetivo geral de contribuir para estudos referentes ao nível fonológico da linguagem em condições patológicas, esta tese apresenta uma análise da inserção de pausa e estruturação dos domínios prosódicos na fala de dois sujeitos disártricos em decorrência de um acidente automobilístico. O principal objetivo é descrever as características prosódicas da fala disártrica de acordo com a teoria da Fonologia Prosódica, que postula, dentre outras coisas, que a linguagem oral é estruturada em domínios prosódicos. Uma abordagem prosódica e entonacional foi considerada a mais adequada para os dados, pois envolve evidências entonacionais, segmentais e rítmicas dos três domínios mais altos da hierarquia prosódica: a frase fonológica, a frase entonacional e o enunciado fonológico. A análise dos dados foi feita de acordo com a perspectiva teórica da Fonologia Prosódica (NESPOR & VOGEL, 1986) e Fonologia Entonacional (LADD, 1996) conforme usada por TENANI (2002) para analisar dados do Português Brasileiro. Os dados analisados consistem em três conjuntos de gravações: a) leitura de um texto; b) leitura de frases controladas experimentalmente do corpus de TENANI (2002) e c) fala espontânea e entrevistas. Os processos fonológicos implementados pelos disártricos nas fronteiras dos domínios prosódicos foram analisados de acordo com a proposta de TENANI (2002). Tais processos fonológicos foram: inserção de pausas, vozeamento da fricativa, tapping, haplologia, elisão, ditongação e degeminação. Para melhor descrever a alteração da fala disártrica, foi feita uma comparação entre os resultados de TENANI (2002) para sujeitos brasileiros adultos e os disártricos. Os resultados demonstraram evidências da preservação dos domínios prosódicos na fala dos sujeitos. A inserção de pausas foi o elemento prosódico mais utilizado para estruturar os domínios prosódicos. Em relação ao uso de pausas e o contorno entonacional, foi verificado que a associação de tons corresponde ao estudo de TENANI (2002). Quanto à implementação de processos fonológicos, o vozeamento da fricativa foi feito pelos sujeitos sobretudo dentro da mesma frase fonológica. Nas demais fronteiras consideradas, eles geralmente optaram pela inserção de pausas para estruturar domínios. O tapping, quando implementado, era feito somente dentro da mesma frase fonológica. A haplologia indicou importantes aspectos rítmicos na fala dos sujeitos. Quando aplicada, promovia um ritmo mais acentual na fala do disártrico mais grave. Ao não ser implementada na fala do sujeito levemente disártrico, indicava um ritmo mais silábico, que soava, para alguns ouvintes, como um sotaque estrangeiro espanhol. No que se refere à elisão e ditongação, a fala dos disártricos confirma os resultados de TENANI (2002), uma vez que eles implementam tais processos tanto dentro da mesma frase fonológica quanto entre elas. A degeminação, porém, foi bloqueada através da inserção de pausas / Abstract: With the general aim of contributing to studies about the phonological level of language in pathological conditions, this thesis presents an analysis of pause insertion and structuring of prosodic domains in the speech of two dysarthric subjects whose dysarthria was due to a car crash. The main objective of this thesis is to describe the prosodic characteristics of dysarthric speech. This was done by using the theory of Prosodic Phonology which states, among other things, that oral language is structured into prosodic domains. A prosodic and intonational approach was considered the most adequate for the data. It took into account intonational, segmental and rhythmic evidences from the three higher domains of prosodic hierarchy: phonological phrase, intonational phrase and phonological utterance. The analysis of the data followed the theoretical perspective of Prosodic Phonology (NESPOR & VOGEL,1986) and Intonation Phonology (LADD ,1996) as used by TENANI (2002) to analyze Brazilian Portuguese data. The data we analyzed consisted of three sets of recordings: a) the reading of a text; b) the reading of experimentally controlled sentences from the corpus by TENANI (2002); and c) spontaneous speech and interviews. Phonological processes that make up the frontiers of prosodic domains were analyzed for the dysarthric subjects, following Tenani¿s proposals. The phonological processes were: pause insertion, fricative voicing, tapping, syllable determination, elision, dyphtongation and vowel degemination. To better describe the phonological alteration of dysarthic speech, a comparison was made between the results of TENANI (2002) for adult Brazilian Portuguese subjects and the dysarthric ones. The results show evidence of the preservation of prosodic domains in the speech of the subjects. Pause insertion was the most used prosodic element to structure the prosodic domains. As for the use of pauses and intonation contour, it was verified that the tonal association correspond to the study carried out by TENANI (2002). With regard to the phonological processes implementation, fricative voicing was done by the subjects mainly inside the same phonological phrase. In the other frontiers considered, they usually choose pause insertion to structure domains. Tapping, whenever used, was applied only inside the same phonological phrase. Syllable degemination indicated important rhythmic aspects in subjects speech. Whenever used, it promoted a more stressed rhythm in the speech of the most severe dysarthric subject. When it was not used in the speech of the slightly dysarthric subject it indicated a more syllabic rhythm which sounded as a Spanish foreign accent to some listeners. As for elision and dyphtongation, the speech of the dysarthric subjects confirm the results by TENANI (2002), for they implement such processes both inside the same phonological phrases and between them. Vowel degemination, however, was blocked through pause insertion / Doutorado / Linguistica / Doutor em Linguística

Background: Speech production in Bantu languages places great demands on neuromotor control, because unique speech motor behaviours such as syllabic tone variation and the aspiration of speech sounds require an additional level of vocal fold control compared to speech production in Germanic languages. As these motor behaviours play an important role in differentiating the meaning of words (Van der Merwe & Le Roux, 2014a), neuromotor speech disorders such as dysarthria may have a greater impact on communication in Bantu languages than in Germanic languages. The focus of this study was on syllabic tone variation in Bantu language speakers with dysarthria compared to typical speakers. Sepedi was the Bantu language investigated. Syllabic tone variation refers to pitch level changes for every syllable of words in a tone language (Zerbian & Barnard, 2008a) and requires manipulation of vocal fold length and mass over and above the voicing or devoicing of sounds within words. These pitch changes convey the lexical and grammatical meaning of words and may differentiate between the meanings of two orthographically identical words (Zerbian & Barnard, 2008a). Studies on lexical tone variation in speakers with dysarthria to date have focused mostly on the tone languages of Asia and Scandinavia (Kadyamusuma, De Blesser, & Mayer, 2011). No studies of tone variation in Bantu language speakers with dysarthria were found. Furthermore, past research only regarded tone variation in monosyllabic words, with no reference to how tone would be affected across bisyllabic words and within each of the two syllables of these words. No inquiries were made into the tone variation ability of speakers with dysarthria when producing short utterances compared to longer utterances and mostly speakers with congenital dysarthria were used as research participants. These shortcomings needed to be addressed to gain a more holistic and accurate view of the extent to which tone variation is a challenge for Bantu language speakers with dysarthria. Aims: The first aim of the study was to determine whether a difference exists between typical Sepedi speakers and Sepedi speakers with dysarthria, in their ability to vary tone across CVCV words with a HL tone pattern. The second aim of the study was to determine whether a difference in tone variation exists between short and longer utterances in typical Sepedi speakers and Sepedi speakers with dysarthria. Method: A quasi-experimental, between-group comparison was used in the study. Speech samples were obtained from a control group of five typical Sepedi speakers and from an experimental group of four Sepedi speakers with dysarthria. These speech samples consisted of 20 consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel (CVCV) words with high-low (HL) tone variation produced in three- and also in six- /seven-syllable utterances (resulting in a total of 40 words). The speech samples were analysed acoustically using Praat software. To achieve the first aim, the following acoustic measures were obtained from the 40 words produced by participants: (1) Mean fundamental frequency (F0) of syllable 1 (S1) and syllable 2 (S2), (2) Change in F0 across words from the highest F0 point of S1 to the lowest F0 point of S2, (3) Intrasyllabic change in F0 within S1 and S2. To achieve the second aim of the study, the change in F0 across words in short utterances was compared to the change in F0 across words in longer utterances for the typical speakers and speakers with dysarthria. Results: Wilcoxon rank tests were used for statistical analyses. Descriptive statistics were performed and median values were used to achieve research aims. All of the control participants and participants with dysarthria produced S1 with a higher mean F0 than S2, as was appropriate for the HL tone pattern ascribed to the target words. For most of the individuals from both groups, the mean F0 of S1 was significantly higher than the mean F0 of S2. However, one participant from each group produced an insignificant difference between the mean F0 values of the two syllables. The control group produced slightly greater median F0 changes across the words and within S1 than the dysarthria group, but the differences between the speaker groups for the change in F0 across words and the change in F0 within S1 were insignificant. In contrast to this, the control group produced a significantly smaller median change in F0 within S2 than the dysarthria group. Individual speakers from both groups produced unique patterns of F0 changes for all aspects of tone variation (change in F0 across words and changes in F0 within S1 and S2). Both speaker groups produced a significantly greater median change in F0 across words in short utterances compared to long utterances. The difference in the change in F0 across words between short and long utterances was significantly greater for the control group than for the dysarthria group. Conclusions: The speakers with dysarthria in the study maintained the ability to vary tone across bisyllabic words with an HL tone pattern. The dysarthria group only differed significantly from the control group with regard to the extent of tone reduction in the second syllable. This finding may point to possible difficulties in the required graded relaxation of the vocal folds. Individual differences in F0 changes were found for both typical speakers and speakers with dysarthria, indicating that unique tone variation patterns may normally exist for all speakers. For both control and dysarthria groups, greater tone variation was observed in short compared to longer utterances. The role of increased utterance length in decreased F0 variation was greater for the typical speakers than for the individuals with dysarthria. / Dissertation (M Communication Pathology)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology / M Communication Pathology / Unrestricted

Prosody plays an important role in speech communication. Many individuals with motor speech disorders have decreased prosodic control and thus lower overall intelligibility. Few studies have examined the effect of a flattened prosodic contour on the intelligibility of dysarthric speech, and little is known about the role that listener gender plays in understanding disordered speech. The purpose of this study was to quantify the impact of artificial prosodic manipulation on the intelligibility of dysarthric speech as a function of the extent of fundamental frequency (F0) contour flattening. A further goal was to examine the influence of listener gender on intelligibility. Speech recordings from two speakers (one with mild dysarthria and one with severe dysarthria) were synthetically altered by reducing F0 variability by 50%, 75%, and 100%. Fifty listeners transcribed the sentences and rated the perceived difficulty of the task. Results of the study indicated that a flattened F0 contour led to decreases in the intelligibility of both speakers with dysarthria, both in terms of transcription accuracy and ratings of listener confidence. All altered conditions resulted in poorer intelligibility than the unaltered utterances. For the mild speaker, scores and ratings decreased predictably in proportion to the extent of F0 flattening, whereas for the severe speaker, there was not a steady decrease in intelligibility as the F0 was progressively flattened. The utterances were more intelligible to female than male listeners.

No description available.

As seqüelas envolvidas nos acidentes vasculares encefálicos podem comprometer o funcionamento de diversos mecanismos, inclusive os responsáveis pela fala e voz. Desse modo, torna-se importante compreender a interface entre as manifestações vocais e o controle motor laríngeo em indivíduos idosos acometidos por acidente vascular encefálico (AVE). O objetivo deste estudo é correlacionar os resultados da diadococinesia laríngea com os aspectos perceptivo-auditivos das vozes idosos pós-acidente vascular encefálico. Participaram do estudo 29 idosos (15 homens e 14 mulheres) acometidos por AVE. Foi realizada a análise da Diadococinesia (DDC) laríngea, utilizando o programa Motor Speech Profile Advanced, da KayPentax. Também foi realizada a análise perceptivo-auditiva da voz, com base no Protocolo CAPE-V. Os resultados da DDC laríngea foram correlacionados com os resultados da análise perceptivo-auditiva da voz por meio dos Testes de Correlação de Pearson e de Spearman (p<0,05). Os resultados demonstraram haver correlação entre DDC laríngea e análise perceptivo-auditiva da voz quanto aos parâmetros de velocidade, instabilidade da duração da DDC, bem como instabilidade de intensidade. Desse modo, houve correlações entre: Grau Geral e velocidade da DDC (mP e mT) no grupo total e no grupo feminino; instabilidade da duração da DDC (dpP, cvP e jitP) no grupo total e feminino e instabilidade de intensidade (cvI) no grupo masculino. A rugosidade se correlacionou com: a velocidade (mP/a/) no grupo feminino; instabilidade do período da DDC no grupo total e feminino (dpP, cvP e jitP do /i/), bem como masculino (cvP do /i/); instabilidade de intensidade no grupo masculino (cvI /i/). A soprosidade se correlacionou com a velocidade da DDC no grupo total (mT /a/) e masculino (mP e mT /a/). Houve correlação entre tensão e: velocidade da DDC no grupo feminino (mP/a/) e masculino (mP/i/), instabilidade do período da DDC no grupo total (dpP e cvP do /a/) e instabilidade da intensidade da DDC para os homens (cvI /i/), sendo que no grupo total quanto maior a tensão, menos instável a DDC do /a/. A instabilidade do Cape-V da vogal /a/ se correlacionou com a instabilidade de duração do período (cvP/a/) para os homens e instabilidade da intensidade (cvI /a/) da DDC no grupo total e feminino. A pastosidade foi correlacionada com: velocidade da DDC (mP e mTdo /i/), instabilidade da duração (dpP e jitP do /i/) e instabilidade da intensidade da DDC (cvI /a/), no grupo total e masculino. Os resultados indicam que, quanto maior o grau de desvio vocal, mais lenta e/ou instável é a DDC para 96% das correlações significativas encontradas. Os resultados demonstraram haver correlação entre qualidade vocal e diadococinesia laríngea em homens e mulheres idosas pós Acidente Vascular Encefálico, sendo que o padrão de instabilidade da DDC demonstrou ser distinto de acordo com cada gênero. / The implications involved in stroke may compromise the function of several mechanisms, including those responsible for speech and voice. Thus, it is important to understand the interface between the vocal and laryngeal motor control in elderly subjects affected by stroke (CVA). This study aimed at correlating the vocal fold diadochokinesiss results with perceptual evaluation of elderly post stroke voices. The study included 29 elderly (15 men and 14 women) affected by stroke. The vocal fold diadochokinesis (DDK), was performed using the Motor Speech Profile Advanced software (KayPentax). Perceptual voice analysis was performed based on the CAPE-V protocol. The results of vocal fold DDK were correlated with those of perceptual voice analysis through Pearson´s and Spearman´s correlation tests (p <0.05). The results showed correlations between vocal fold DDK and the perceptual voice analysis in terms of speed, duration and intensity instability parameters of DDK. Thus, there were correlations between dysphonia degree and speed of the DDK (mP and mT) in the total group and female group, duration instability of DDK (dpP, jitP and cvP) in the total and female group, and intensity instability (cvI) in the male group. The hoarseness was correlated with: the speed (mP /a/) in the female group; instability of DDK period in the total and female group (dpP, cvP, jitP /i/) and male group (cvP/i/); intensity instability in the male group (cvI/i/). The breathiness was correlated with the speed of DDK in the total (mT /a/) and male group (mP and mT /a/). There was a correlation between strain and the speed of DDK in the female (mP /a/) and male group (mP /i/), instability of DDK period in the total group (dpP, cvP /a/) and intensity instability of DDK for men (cvI /i/); thus, in the total group, the higher the strain, the lower the instability of DDK /a/. The instability of vowel / a / in Cape-V was correlated with duration instability (cvP / a /) for men and intensity instability (cvI / in total and female group. The articulation and resonance was correlated with the speed of DDK (mP, mT /i/), duration instability (jitP, dpP /i/) and intensity instability (cvI / a /), in the total and male group. The results indicate that the higher the degree of dysphonia, the slower and/or unstable the DDK for 96% of the significant correlations found. The results showed a correlation between voice quality andvocal fold diadochokinesis in older men and women, following stroke, being the DDK instability pattern distinct, according to gender.

There is an ever-growing and increasing amount of technology options that use speech recognition software. Currently, the market includes smartphones, computers, and individual smart home personal assistants that allow for hands-free access to this technology. Research studies have explored the utility of these assistive devices for the completion of activities of daily living; however, there is limited research looking at the accuracy of voice recognition software within smart home personal assistants in populations with disordered speech. In persons with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), symptoms include changes to motor functions, speech in particular, and it is unknown how some of these devices may respond to their disordered speech. The present study aimed to examine the accuracy of the Amazon Echo to respond appropriately to commands given by dysarthric patients with ALS. Participants were asked to read a variety of commands to an Amazon Echo. The sentences and responses by the Amazon Echo were audio-recorded for transcription and intelligibility ratings, which were then analyzed to look for relationships between intelligibility, auditory-perceptual features of speech, and sentence type. Results revealed there was no significant relationship between command intelligibility and accuracy of response by the Amazon Echo, nor was there a significant relationship between any of the auditory-perceptual ratings and accuracy of response. There was, however, a significant and positive association between conversational intelligibility and accuracy of responses by the Amazon Echo. This study provides support for use of hands-free assistive technology in patients with ALS to aid in the maintenance of quality of life and activities of daily living.

Relative timing ratios are a useful measure for determining the temporal regularities of speech. The timing intervals that make up these ratios are thought to be important when creating the motor plan for an utterance (Weismer & Fennell, 1985). In fact, these ratios have been shown to be remarkably stable, even when speakers deliberately increase their rate (Tuller & Kelso, 1984; Weismer & Fennell, 1985). The constancy of these ratios also has been demonstrated in speakers with known speech timing disturbances, like the dysarthrias associated with Parkinson's and Huntington's disease (Goberman & McMillan; Ludlow, Connor, & Bassich, 1987; Weismer & Fennell, 1985), apraxia (Weismer & Fennell, 1985), and stuttering (Prosek, Montgomery, & Walden, 1988). However, a slowed rate of speech has been noted to induce variability in relative timing (Clark, 1995). The current investigation was designed to further investigate the impact of a slow rate on relative timing, as well as the impact of a different type of dysarthria on the production of these ratios. Eleven participants with MS and ten healthy controls participated. After screening the participants with MS for cognitive abilities and degree of dysathria, they produced four sentences at three different rates of speech: conversational, fast, and slow. Age-matched controls only provided the rate-controlled sentences. Relative timing ratios were extracted and an analysis of variance was conducted for each sentence to note the effects of speech rate, ratio type, and speaker condition on relative timing. The results revealed that relative timing was not constant in the slow rate for any of the participants. The noted variability in slow speech was attributed to vowel characteristics and sentence length. Finally, people with MS demonstrated larger relative timing ratios than their healthy peers when producing lengthier or motorically complex sentences. Consistent with previous research (Clark, 1995), these results indicated that relative timing ratios were not constant when rate was slowed. Hence, use of a reduced rate may have triggered the critical change required to alter relative timing. This difference may also correspond to a topological shift in the cortical planning of the utterance. These findings provide support for the use of slowed speech in the treatment of dysarthria and other speech timing disorders. It may be that slowed speech allows the speaker to access a motor plan better suited to his impaired muscular system.