Malgré le caractère multimodal du langage, peu de recherches se sont intéressées aux troubles langagiers verbaux et non-verbaux des personnes atteintes de la maladie d’Alzheimer, et encore moins à la prise en charge via la voix chantée de ces troubles. Pourtant, la remédiation de ces troubles langagiers permettrait de ralentir la progression symptomatique des troubles langagiers. Etant donné l’allongement de l’espérance de vie, la prévalence exponentielle des troubles neurocognitifs dès 65 ans – dont la cause la plus fréquente est la maladie d’Alzheimer pour laquelle il n’existe pas à l’heure actuelle de traitement curatif –, l’identification des facteurs pouvant ralentir la progression des symptômes est de première importance. Au vu de ces éléments, cette recherche s’est intéressée aux troubles de la communication verbale et non-verbale dans la maladie d’Alzheimer, ainsi qu’à l’impact de la voix chantée sur ces troubles. Pour ce faire, un protocole original a été mis en place consistant en une tâche de répétition en voix parlée ou voix chantée, avec ou sans gestes manuels communicatifs présentés. Ce protocole a permis d’évaluer les capacités de communication multimodale de personnes atteintes de la maladie d’Alzheimer et de personnes au vieillissement dit ‘normal’. A T0, de nombreux troubles du langage verbal et non-verbal ont été observés. Dès le stade léger de la maladie, les participants du groupe Patient ont produit des erreurs linguistiques et des pause(s) et/ou allongement(s) vocalique(s) de types différents des participants du groupe Contrôle. La capacité de répétition des gestes manuels des participants du groupe Patient semble également impactée, tout comme la qualité de reproduction des gestes iconiques. Dès le stade modéré de la maladie, les participants du groupe Patient ont produit davantage d’erreurs linguistiques (sur des types différents d’unités lexicales), ainsi que plus de gestes co-verbaux spontanés que les participants du groupe Contrôle. Au stade sévère de la maladie, les participants du groupe Patient ont répété moins d’énoncés et produit plus de pause(s) et/ou allongement(s) vocalique(s) que ceux du groupe Contrôle. Un impact de la voix chantée n’a été observé qu’au niveau du taux de répétition d’énoncés, moins élevé en voix chantée qu’en voix parlée pour tous les participants, ce qui pourrait être dû à un effet de double tâche. Les résultats comparatifs des capacités langagières verbales et non-verbales montrent un impact positif des ateliers en voix chantée sur la production d’erreurs linguistiques et de la répétition des gestes manuels des participants du groupe Patient. Nos résultats ont été discutés au vu de la littérature afin de distinguer les troubles langagiers verbaux et non-verbaux liés au vieillissement dit ‘normal’ et ceux symptomatiques de la maladie d’Alzheimer, d’apporter des éléments aux débats sur les diverses origines possibles du langage dans sa multimodalité, ainsi que de proposer des pistes de recherches de l’impact de la voix chantée sur les troubles langagiers des personnes atteintes de la maladie d’Alzheimer. / Despite the multimodal character of language, few researches studied the verbal and non-verbal communication abilities of people with Alzheimer’s disease, and even less of remediation via singing voice of those disorders. However their remediation could help to slowing down the symptomatic progression of language disorders. Given life expectancy, the exponential prevalence of neurocognitive disorders from 65 years old – of which most frequent cause is Alzheimer’s disease for which no curative treatment exists at this time –, the identification of factors slowing the symptoms progression is of the utmost importance. In view of those elements, this research focuses on the impact of singing on verbal and non-verbal communication disorders in Alzheimer’s disease. To do so, an original protocol has been set up consisting in a repetition task in singing or in speech, with or without the presentation of communicative manual gestures. This protocol helped evaluating multimodal communication abilities of people with Alzheimer’s disease and with ‘normal’ ageing. At the pre-tests, many verbal and non-verbal language disorders have been found. From the mild stage of the disease, the participants of the Patient group have produced more linguistic errors (of different types) and pauses and/or vocalic lengthenings than Control group participants. The manual gestures repetition ability of the participants of the Patient group also seems impacted, as the quality of iconic gestures production. From the moderate stage of the disease, the participants of the Patient group have produced more linguistic errors and on different types of linguistic unities, as well as more spontaneous co-verbal gestures than Control group participants. From the severe stage of the disease, the participants of the Patient group have repeated less utterances and produced more pauses and/or vocalic lengthenings than Control group participants. An impact of singing voice has only been noted on the utterances’ repetition rate, less high in singing and speech for all participants, which could be cause by a double task effect. The comparative results of verbal and non-verbal linguistic abilities have showed a positive impact of workshops in singing on the production of linguistic errors and the communicative gestures repetition of the participants of the Patient group. Our results have been discussed in the light of literature in order to distinguish verbal and non-verbal language disorders linked to ‘normal’ ageing and those symptomatic of Alzheimer’s disease. These findings enable us to make progress and to bring contribution in the current debate on the diverse possible origins of language in its multimodality, as well as suggest a line of research of the impact of singing voice on language disorders of people with Alzheimer’s disease.

A Escala de Avaliação de Demência (Dementia Rating Scale -DRS), proposta por Steven Mattis (1988), tem sido bastante utilizada na avaliação de pacientes com demência tanto na atividade clínica como na pesquisa. Consiste de 5 subescalas: Atenção, Iniciativa/Perseveração, Construção, Conceituação e Memória. Neste estudo, a Escala de Avaliação de Demência foi aplicada em 56 pacientes com doença de Alzheimer com demência de intensidade leve; 55 pacientes com diagnóstico de comprometimento cognitivo leve; e, 60 indivíduos controles. Na diferenciação entre pacientes com doença de Alzheimer e controles a nota de corte de < 128 demonstrou 90,0% de sensibilidade e 89,3 % de especificidade; e, entre pacientes com doença de Alzheimer e comprometimento cognitivo leve, a nota de corte foi < 123 com sensibilidade de 78,2% e 76,8% de especificidade. Na diferenciação entre pacientes com comprometimento cognitivo leve e controles, a nota de corte foi de < 134 com 73,3% de sensibilidade e 72,7% de especificidade. A DRS demonstrou ser um instrumento com boa acurácia diagnóstica na discriminação entre pacientes com doença de Alzheimer de intensidade leve e indivíduos controles. A DRS também foi capaz de diferenciar entre pacientes com comprometimento cognitivo leve de controles, e pacientes com comprometiemnto cognitivo leve de pacientes com doença de Alzheimer de intensidade leve. As subescalas Memória e Iniciativa/Perseveração demonstraram maior acurácia diagnóstica em todas as situações analisadas quando comparadas às demais subescalas. / The Dementia Rating Scale (DRS), proposed by Steven Mattis (1988), it has been very used to assess patients with dementia both in clinical practice and research. Consists of 5 subscales: Attention, Initiation/Perseveration, Construction, Conceptualization and Memory. The Dementia Rating Scale was applied to 56 patients with Alzheimer´s disease, witha dementia of mild intensity; 55 patients with diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment; and, 60 controls. Between patients with Alzheimer´s disease and controls the cutoff score of <128 showed a 90.0% of sensitivity and 89.3% of specificity; and, between patients with Alzheimer´s disease and mild cognitive impairment, the cutoff score was <123 with sensitivity of 78.2% e 76.8% of specificity. In the analysis between patients with mild cognitive impairment and controls, the cutoff score was <134 with 73.3% of sensitivity and 72.7% of specificity. The Dementia Rating Scale showed to be a instrument with good diagnostic accuracy in the discrimination between patients with mild Alzheimer´s disease and controls. The Dementia Rating Scale also was able to discriminated between patients mild cognitive impairment and controls, and between patients with mild cognitive impairment and mild Alzheimer´s disease. The Memory and Initiation/Perseveration subscales showed good diagnostic accuracy in all analysed situations.

A Escala de Avaliação de Demência (Dementia Rating Scale -DRS), proposta por Steven Mattis (1988), tem sido bastante utilizada na avaliação de pacientes com demência tanto na atividade clínica como na pesquisa. Consiste de 5 subescalas: Atenção, Iniciativa/Perseveração, Construção, Conceituação e Memória. Neste estudo, a Escala de Avaliação de Demência foi aplicada em 56 pacientes com doença de Alzheimer com demência de intensidade leve; 55 pacientes com diagnóstico de comprometimento cognitivo leve; e, 60 indivíduos controles. Na diferenciação entre pacientes com doença de Alzheimer e controles a nota de corte de < 128 demonstrou 90,0% de sensibilidade e 89,3 % de especificidade; e, entre pacientes com doença de Alzheimer e comprometimento cognitivo leve, a nota de corte foi < 123 com sensibilidade de 78,2% e 76,8% de especificidade. Na diferenciação entre pacientes com comprometimento cognitivo leve e controles, a nota de corte foi de < 134 com 73,3% de sensibilidade e 72,7% de especificidade. A DRS demonstrou ser um instrumento com boa acurácia diagnóstica na discriminação entre pacientes com doença de Alzheimer de intensidade leve e indivíduos controles. A DRS também foi capaz de diferenciar entre pacientes com comprometimento cognitivo leve de controles, e pacientes com comprometiemnto cognitivo leve de pacientes com doença de Alzheimer de intensidade leve. As subescalas Memória e Iniciativa/Perseveração demonstraram maior acurácia diagnóstica em todas as situações analisadas quando comparadas às demais subescalas. / The Dementia Rating Scale (DRS), proposed by Steven Mattis (1988), it has been very used to assess patients with dementia both in clinical practice and research. Consists of 5 subscales: Attention, Initiation/Perseveration, Construction, Conceptualization and Memory. The Dementia Rating Scale was applied to 56 patients with Alzheimer´s disease, witha dementia of mild intensity; 55 patients with diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment; and, 60 controls. Between patients with Alzheimer´s disease and controls the cutoff score of <128 showed a 90.0% of sensitivity and 89.3% of specificity; and, between patients with Alzheimer´s disease and mild cognitive impairment, the cutoff score was <123 with sensitivity of 78.2% e 76.8% of specificity. In the analysis between patients with mild cognitive impairment and controls, the cutoff score was <134 with 73.3% of sensitivity and 72.7% of specificity. The Dementia Rating Scale showed to be a instrument with good diagnostic accuracy in the discrimination between patients with mild Alzheimer´s disease and controls. The Dementia Rating Scale also was able to discriminated between patients mild cognitive impairment and controls, and between patients with mild cognitive impairment and mild Alzheimer´s disease. The Memory and Initiation/Perseveration subscales showed good diagnostic accuracy in all analysed situations.