Test Tests Top Speech Therapy for Parkinson’s Patients

Based on a pilot study funded by The Dunhill Medical Trust, participants were recruited from 40 UK NHS sites and randomized into three groups. One group received LSVT LOUD®, one received current NHS speech and language treatment and the third received no therapy.

LSVT LOUD® is an effective speech therapy for people with PD and other neurological conditions. The treatment trains people with PD to use their voice at a more normal loudness level while speaking at home, at work or in the community. Patients are given voice exercises to do this.

NHS treatment is a personalized program delivered by a therapist and is less intensive. It is delivered over six to eight sessions, rather than LSVT LOUD®, which is delivered in 16 sessions over four weeks.

Between September 2016 and March 2020, 388 people with PD and dysarthria (speech difficulty) took part in the trial. 130 were allocated to the LSVT LOUD® group, 129 to the NHS therapy group and 129 to neither.

LSVT LOUD® consisted of four 50-minute face-to-face or remote sessions each week over four weeks, with additional practice at home. NHS speech and language therapy was determined by the local therapist in response to a participant’s individual needs, an average of one fortnightly session was delivered over 11 weeks.

The study findings showed that LSVT LOUD® was more effective in reducing the impact of dysarthria than no speech and language therapy and the NHS version. NHS therapy showed no evidence of benefit compared to any speech and language therapy.

Adrian Wrigley, who has Parkinson’s, said: “Research into speech and language therapy is very important to me personally as I have seen first-hand how the loss or reduction of our primary means of communication leads to higher levels of frustration and anxiety not only for those. of us with Parkinson’s, but our partners and friends. So developing a treatment that works is very important to the Parkinson’s community.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health Research, Health Technology Assessment Program.