ABSTRACT
As many as 50-90% of individuals with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD) will develop speech and voice disorders. The most common perceptual features of these disorders are reduced loudness (hypophonia), reduced prosodic pitch inflection (hypoprosodia or monotone speech), hoarse voice, and imprecise articulation (1-12). These disorders may be among the first signs of PD (13), with hypophonia and hoarseness typically preceding hypoprosodia and imprecise articulation (6,14,15). The voice and speech abnormalities associated with PD have been termed hypokinetic dysarthria (16). Hypokinetic dysarthria in individuals with PD typically results in reduced intelligibility, negatively affecting interpersonal communication and quality of life, including the ability to socialize, convey important medical information, interact with family members, and maintain employment (8,17).
