5551V - Effects of Deep Brain Stimulation on Speech in Parkinson’s Disease: Perceptual and Acoustic Data

Despite growing research, the effect of deep brain stimulation (DBS) on speech has been inconsistent, and the source of DBS-induced intelligibility deterioration remains unclear. We present acoustic and auditory-perceptual data on the effects of DBS on speakers with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Audio recordings were obtained from a total of 27 participants (10 PD-No DBS, 9 PD-DBS, and 8 healthy controls [HC]) and analyzed for 5 perceptual ratings (articulation precision, voice quality, prosody, speech intelligibility, listener effort) and 7 acoustic measures pertaining to phonatory, articulatory and prosodic characteristics. The results will be discussed in the presentation, focusing on comparisons across the four speaker group conditions (PD-No DBS, PD-DBS-On, PD-DBS-Off, HC) and the contributors to DBS-induced intelligibility changes.