| Dysarthria Type |
Distinguishing Perceptual Speech Characteristics |
Distinguishing Physical Speech Characteristics |
| Flaccid |
- hypernasality
- continuous breathiness
- diplophonia
- audible inspiration or stridor
- nasal emission
- short phrases
- rapid deterioration of speech quality and performance, with notable recovery with rest
- imprecise alternating motion rates (AMRs)
- speaking on inhalation
|
- weakness
- flaccidity
- atrophy
- fasciculations
- hypoactive gag reflex
- facial myokymia (involuntary muscle twitching)
- rapid weakening of muscles with use and recovery with rest
- synkinesis (unwanted facial contractions during attempted movements; e.g., an eye involuntarily closing when voluntarily smiling)
- nasal backflow while swallowing
|
| Spastic |
- slow rate
- strained or harsh voice quality
- pitch breaks
- slow and regular AMRs
|
- pathologic oral reflexes (sucking reflex; snout reflex; jaw jerk reflex)
- lability of affect
- hypertonia
- hyperactive gag reflex
|
| Ataxic |
- excess and equal stress
- irregular articulatory breakdowns
- distorted vowels
- irregular AMRs
- excessive loudness variation
- telescoping or slurring of syllables
|
- dysmetria (lack of coordination) in jaw, face, and tongue, most noted in execution of AMRs
- head tremor
|
| Hypokinetic |
- monopitch
- monoloudness
- loudness decay, and reduced stress and loudness
- normal speech rate or tendency for rapid or accelerated speech rate
- inappropriate silences
- rapidly repeated phonemes
- palilalia (automatic repetition of own words or phrases)
- rapid, “blurred” AMRs
|
- masked facial expression
- tremulous jaw, lips, tongue
- reduced range of motion on AMR tasks
- resting tremor
- rigidity
|
| Hyperkinetic |
- prolonged intervals
- sudden forced inspiration or expiration
- transient breathiness
- transient vocal strain or harshness
- voice stoppages/arrests
- voice tremor
- myoclonic vowel prolongation (e.g., tremor-like “beats” in the voice)
- intermittent hypernasality
- marked deterioration with increased rate
- inappropriate vocal noises
- intermittent breathy or aphonic segments
- distorted vowels
- excessive loudness variation
- slow and irregular AMRs
|
- involuntary head, jaw, face, tongue, velar, laryngeal, and respiratory movements
- relatively sustained deviation of head position
- multiple motor tics
- myoclonus (sudden and involuntary jerking) of palate, pharynx, larynx, lips, nares, tongue, or respiratory muscles
- jaw, lip, tongue, pharyngeal, or palatal tremor
- facial grimacing during speech
|
| Unilateral Upper Motor Neuron |
- slow rate
- imprecise articulation
- irregular articulatory breakdowns
- strained voice quality
- reduced loudness
|
- unilateral lower-face weakness
- unilateral lingual weakness without atrophy or fasciculations
- nonverbal oral apraxia
|
