Articulation Rate, Pauses, and Disfluencies in Professional Fighters: Potential Speech Biomarkers for Repetitive Head Injury.

This analysis compared groups rather than following individuals over time. The controls came from two different projects and were recorded in different rooms with different equipment, so some differences could come from data collection rather than the participants. The reading task cannot cleanly separate speech motor problems from cognitive, linguistic, literacy, or dialect effects. Reading ability was not assessed, although the passage had a grade level of 5.5 and all participants had completed at least the 10th grade. Only men whose primary language was American English were included, so results may not apply to women or speakers of other languages. Boxers were older, had more fights, and had fewer years of education than MMA fighters, so differences between fighting styles cannot be separated. The paper did not diagnose chronic traumatic encephalopathy or traumatic encephalopathy syndrome, and speech impairment is not a core feature of traumatic encephalopathy syndrome.

The article is listed as supported by NIH extramural funds, and the authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Do not conclude that slow articulation, pauses, or disfluencies diagnose repetitive head injury or chronic traumatic encephalopathy. These were group differences in one reading task, and the authors say more specific investigation is required to determine causal relationships.