An Investigation of the Effect of Intensive Voice Therapy on Changes in Speech Articulation and Voice in Patients with Wilson Disease

Wilson disease is a rare metabolic disorder and damaged areas of the brain in this disease are related to the coordination of movements. Therefore, the disease is considered as a motor disorder. Dysarthria is the most common speech problem in these patients. The purpose of this research is to study the effect of intensive voice therapy based on principles of LSVT on improvement of articulation skills and voice features and finally, its impacts on speech intelligibility as well as voice handicap index in patients with Wilson. A 23-year-old female was diagnosed with Wilson's disease. Acoustic assessment of voice, speech articulation, speech intelligibility, and voice handicap index were performed before and after Intensive Voice Therapy based on the LSVT principles.bn After the treatment, significant increases in acoustic parameters of voice, speech articulation and also speech intelligibility were observed which consequently resulted in a considerable reduction of voice handicap index (VHI). Intensive Voice Therapy based on LSVT principles was effective in improving the acoustic parameters of voice, speech articulation, voice handicap index, and speech intelligibility, and generally, improving verbal communication which has the positive impact on the quality of patient’s life.