The overall goal of this clinical research center is to advance our understanding and treatment of motor speech disorders. We are in the process of achieving this objective through an integrated series of investigations involving perceptual, acoustic, aerodynamic, electromyographic, movement and force analyses, in many cases conducted simultaneously and/or on the same subjects for critical comparative interpretations. Specifically, our research program involves four major areas of concurrent activity: (1) intelligiblity, acoustic and aerodynamic analyses of dysarthric speech, (2) the development of motor control impairment profiles for speech mechanism subsystems, (3) system physiology-based investigations directed at the neural substrates of speech motor function and dysfunction, and (4) development, evaluation, and refinement of improved techniques for rehabilitation of motor speech disorders.
