Speech therapy and singing can help improve voice problems in patients with Parkinson’s, one of the symptoms of the disease, a study has found.
- Speech therapy and singing are effective in reducing the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease on the voice of patients.
- These therapies have also given patients with this disease better perception of their voice.
- This behavioral treatment brings many benefits and is recommended for people with Parkinson’s according to researchers.
Researchers may have found a way to help people with Parkinson’s. Indeed, a new study published in the International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders demonstrated that speech therapy exercises, combined with singing lessons, were effective in combating the speech and voice disorders common in these patients.
Parkinson’s: Working on your voice can reduce speech disorders
Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the destruction of a specific population of neurons: the dopamine neurons of the substantia nigra of the brain. These neurons are involved in the control of movements.
In the study, 33 people with Parkinson’s disease were randomly assigned to a therapy that combinedspeech therapy (aimed at correcting speech defects) and singing, conventional speech therapy alone and intervention through singing alone.
Each patient participated in 12 sessions over a four-week period. Voice tests were performed one week before the first intervention session, one week after the last intervention session, and three months after the last assessment, the authors explain. The results showed significant improvements in all three groups.
Parkinson’s: Singing and speech therapy combined are particularly effective
Two groups, however, had more benefits. Indeed, patients in the combination therapy and speech therapy alone group, showed a greater increase in their voice intensity and what is known as the Voice Handicap Index (VHI) compared to patients of the intervention group by singing only.
The VHI measures patients’ perception of the impact of their voice disorder.
Furthermore, the combination therapy, compared to singing lessons alone or speech therapy alone, had significantly greater effects on the maximum frequency range that the patients’ voice emitted.
Parkinson’s therapy: Singing and speech therapy have many benefits
This therapy is interesting in many ways: “Combination therapy is an inexpensive and enjoyable behavioral treatment“, write the authors who conclude:
“The advantages of this method are that it is easy to access, it is suitable for many stages of the voice problems of Parkinson’s disease, it does not require previous training in singing, it promotes health voice and self-management, and maximizes the therapeutic resources available to people with Parkinson’s disease”.
