A new patient asked: “am I coming to see you to find out how bad my voice is?” “NO,” I replied, “you’re coming to find out how good it could be!” Research has shown us that vocal behavior is hierarchically organized and that...
Last week while driving home from work on one of my usual routes, I got caught in a speed trap. When I told a few patients about it, no one was surprised, as they have seen me zipping around in my little FIAT. Fortunately, the police officer was kind, and only gave me...
Many years ago, early in my career, there was an argument that existed, that if a deaf child was taught sign language, it would be a disincentive to speak. One only has to spend some time with deaf adults to see that they communicate using all of the tools available...
Most behavioral speech and voice treatment approaches for patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) depend on a conscious response from patients to self-monitor some aspect of speech production such as vocal intensity (loudness) or speech rate. However, research...
If you know anything about Parkinson’s disease, you know that it is a sneaky disease that often causes changes in the body even before symptoms occur, and this includes speech. A low voice, monotone pitch, and altered rate are some of the common speech problems...
