Spasmodic dysphonia (SD) remains a controversial and enigmatic disorder of communication. Our goal is to further elucidate and characterize the mechanisms, lesions and etiologies underlying SD. This project is extended to encompass other disorders with one similar compelling feature, a significant dysfunction in vocal motor control. Stuttering has been selected, because, like SD, neuropathology is unknown. Dysarthria of speech of cortical origin has been selected to represent a known lesion. A comparison/contrast approach will provide greater insight into SD and the other disorders than is possible when each is studied alone. It will also increase the understanding of mechanisms of normal speech production. We will evaluate and relate the peripheral motor manifestations of the three disorders to the identified CNS dysfunction. The neurophysiologic test battery includes well known methods of auditory, visual and somatosensory evoked potentials, and ENG. Newer technological advances, such as magnetic resonance imaging, electrocortical topographic measures, and regional cerebral blood flow, will be used. Each measure has been chosen to provide a systems analytic approach to understanding the neural dysfunction in vocal motor control disorders. The design was created to simultaneously achieve two goals: 1) to distinguish the presence of either an anatomic or systems disorder and 2) to evaluate a vertical hierarchy of nervous system function, particularly of motor, auditory and somatosensory systems. Commonalities and differences among the three subject groups will be investigated. Of particular interest is the relationship between auditory system abnormalities and vocal motor control disorders.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01NS018276-04
Application #
3398316
Study Section
Communication Sciences and Disorders (CMS)
Project Start
1983-01-01
Project End
1989-08-31
Budget Start
1986-09-01
Budget End
1987-08-31
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
1986
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Texas-Dallas
Department
Type
Other Specialized Schools
DUNS #
City
Richardson
State
TX
Country
United States
Zip Code
75080
Watson, B C; Freeman, F J; Devous Sr, M D et al. (1994) Linguistic performance and regional cerebral blood flow in persons who stutter. J Speech Hear Res 37:1221-8
Watson, B C; Pool, K D; Devous Sr, M D et al. (1992) Brain blood flow related to acoustic laryngeal reaction time in adult developmental stutterers. J Speech Hear Res 35:555-61
Finitzo, T; Pool, K D; Chapman, S B (1991) Quantitative electroencephalography and anatomoclinical principles of aphasia. A validation study. Ann N Y Acad Sci 620:57-72
Watson, B C; Freeman, F J; Pool, K D et al. (1991) Laryngeal reaction time profiles in spasmodic dysphonia: relationship to cortical electrophysiologic abnormality. J Speech Hear Res 34:269-78
Cannito, M P (1991) Emotional considerations in spasmodic dysphonia: psychometric quantification. J Commun Disord 24:313-29
Pool, K D; Devous Sr, M D; Freeman, F J et al. (1991) Regional cerebral blood flow in developmental stutterers. Arch Neurol 48:509-12
Cannito, M P; Kondraske, G V (1990) Rapid manual abilities in spasmodic dysphonic and normal female subjects. J Speech Hear Res 33:123-33
Devous Sr, M D; Pool, K D; Finitzo, T et al. (1990) Evidence for cortical dysfunction in spasmodic dysphonia: regional cerebral blood flow and quantitative electrophysiology. Brain Lang 39:331-44
Pool, K D; Finitzo, T; Hong, C T (1990) Quantitative topographic electrophysiology and functional neurologic status in right middle cerebral artery infarction. Brain Topogr 3:321-8
Pool, K D; Finitzo, T; Hong, C T et al. (1989) Infarction of the superior temporal gyrus: a description of auditory evoked potential latency and amplitude topology. Ear Hear 10:144-52

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