Oropharyngeal geometry and acoustic parameters of voice in healthy and Parkinson's disease subjects.
Joice Maely Souza da Silva, Adriana de Oliveira Camargo Gomes, Maria das Graças Wanderley de Sales Coriolano and 5 others
PMID 37075413WHAT IT FOUND
People with Parkinson's disease had smaller oropharyngeal areas than healthy adults, but standard voice tests showed no group differences.
Acoustic measures varied by sex and age, suggesting anatomy changes before voice quality does.
Key findings
01Glottal area and oropharyngeal junction area were significantly smaller in the Parkinson's disease group than in healthy controls.
02No significant differences were found between the Parkinson's disease and healthy groups in any acoustic voice parameters.
03When stratified by sex and age, fundamental frequency was lower in men with Parkinson's disease, and jitter was higher in younger adults with the disease.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size was small, which reduced the statistical power for subgroup analyses by sex and age. The study used a convenience sample rather than random selection. Auditory-perceptual voice assessments and patient self-report measures were not included. The study did not control for race or ethnicity, which can influence oropharyngeal geometry.
Declared interests
The work was supported by CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil) with Finance Code 001. No commercial conflicts were declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that normal acoustic voice parameters mean the vocal tract anatomy is unaffected. The study found significant anatomical differences in the oropharynx of Parkinson's patients despite no group-wide differences in standard acoustic measures.