Lee Silverman Voice Treatment

Lee Silverman Speech Therapy (LSVT) is mainly used as a speech therapy for patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), but its main focus is improving sound and improving healthy functions (Countryman S, Hoehn M, O'Brien C, Pawlas A, Ramig). L and Sapir S, 2001) (Ramig L, Sapir S, Fox C and Countryman S, 2001). This treatment has also been successful for dysarthria with stroke and traumatic brain injury as well as for children with cerebral palsy and Down's syndrome (Marchant, J., McAuliffe, M., & Huckabee, M.).

One of the most widely practiced treatments for speech disorders related to Parkinson's disease is Lee Silverman Speech Therapy (LSVT). Language therapy, especially LSVT, can improve the language. Occupational Therapy (OT) is aimed at improving health and quality of life by allowing people with disease to participate in daily life as much as possible. There is little research on the effectiveness of OT and its quality is low, but there are some indications that it can improve motor skills and quality of life during treatment.

The intensive speech therapy program (called "Lee Silverman speech therapy" named after the first patient) is effective in reducing the speech abnormality (Ramig) of Parkinson's patients compared to placebo Has been shown by research. Countryman, O'Brien, Hoehn, and Thompson, 1996). LSVT emphasizes the use of large vocals and high intensity vocal exercises to improve breathing, throat and vocal function during speech. In the LSVT study, positive and long-term effects, such as sustained vowel duration and fundamental frequency range, have been reported to improve vowel generation parameters. These improvements were maintained even 12 months after the end of treatment (eg Ramig et al, 2001). Recent studies showed that the bass component LSVT was added and the low frequency range of utterance helps to reduce the pressure on the throat muscle (DeStewart, Willemse, Maassen, and Horstink, 2003).

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long term (24 months) effect of Lee Silverman Language Therapy (LSVT). The LSVT program is designed to improve the voice function of patients with Parkinson's disease. Thirty-three patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease were randomly assigned and assigned to two treatment groups. The first group will accept LSVT and focus on high acoustic respiratory effort. The second group received respiratory therapy (RET) focusing only on respiratory effort, patients in each treatment group maintained vowel utterances around 24 months, read segments and underwent monologue treatment under the same conditions I was instructed. They use acoustic acoustic analysis (measured as the sound pressure level) and changes in the fundamental frequency of the voice (measured in half standard deviation) to measure changes in their sound function.