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Sorry, what did you say? Living with dysarthria (unclear speech) after stroke

I’m in good health. I should be feeling great. BUT, any mention of my dysarthria had me reaching for the tissues. I’ve finally got my head round my wobbly post-stroke body. I can’t get my head around my wobbly speech.

A stroke 2 years ago left me with dysarthria (sounding as though I’ve drunk a few pints too many; reduced intelligibility; difficulty forming words; an inability to increase volume and pace).

I am a 64 year old female. Pre-stroke, a bit of a social butterfly … and a talker! I am a changed person since developing dysarthria. I prefer being alone and in familiar places. Dysarthria’s effects are many, and profound. Why draw attention to my speech difficulties?…

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Featured

 Tech Firms Train Voice Assistants to Understand Atypical Speech

Voice assistants like Alexa and Siri often can’t understand people with dysarthria or a stutter; their creators say that may change.

 Voice Assistants Don’t Understand Us. They Should

In other words, companies have rarely prioritized those of us whose speech doesn’t match what engineers assume to be the norm.

Articles of Interest

A Writer Lost His Singing Voice, Then Discovered The 'Gymnastics' Of Speech

Colapinto says even the simplest of sentences — like "give me the salt" — also requires a complex set of the vocal "gymnastics" of the tongue and throat that relies on timing and gives rise to a sort of music that is human speech.

‘I’ve come to rely on the kindness of strangers’

There’s probably a funny side to dysarthria, says the prizewinning author, but she hasn’t found it yet.

Resources

MND Association

Many people with MND experience weakness in the bulbar region, affecting muscles of the mouth, throat and tongue. This can lead to problems with speech and voice, which will affect ability to communicate.

National Aphasia Association

Dysarthria is a speech disorder that is characterized by poor articulation, respiration, and/or phonation. This includes slurred, slow, effortful, and prosodically abnormal speech. Dysarthrias are characterized by weakness and/or abnormal muscle tone of the speech musculature that moves the articulators such as the lips and tongue.

Tactus Therapy

Dysarthria is a motor-speech disorder that results in unclear speech. This inability to speak clearly is because of weakness, slowness, or lack of coordination in the muscles of the mouth, voice, and lungs.

Physiopedia

Damage to the nervous system causes hypotonicity in the muscles that create speech sounds.