> Dear list members, > > Those of you who have enjoyed the many contributions of Tom Riess to > various PD topics may remember his SPEECH SURVEY a little over 2 years > ago, also his experiments with Delayed Audio Feedback devices. > > Tom's information has been extremely helpful to my relative, another PD > patient (55/20). Both gentlemen discovered, some years ago, their strong > receptiveness to certain auditory stimulation; the effect is as an > IMMEDIATE ENHANCEMENT IN SPEECH AND FINE MOTOR CONTROL; for these two > patients it works every time, there is no wearing off with time. > > What this effect IS NOT: not a miracle cure; not a sales pitch; it is not > gradual speech rehabilitation therapy, in which the organs relearn their > function; although rhythmic music may have a similar effect, this is not > an emotional soothing trick > > What it probably IS: simply stated, the neural network in the brain > appears to switch from one phase to another under certain circumstances > (yet to be scientifically identified); the ON/OFF phase switches under > L-dopa treatment are another example; another similar example is the > famous kinesia paradoxa investigated and described by Dr. Oliver Sacks in > the book and movie AWAKENINGS; it seems to only occur in a limited number > or acoustically sensitive PD patients, after long-time dopamine > replacement medication; from a neurological and motor control point of > view it is probably an important neural dynamic phenomenon. > > If you are interested and feel that it may help your impaired speech, then > here is what you can do: > * first review the attachment > * next review in the Parkinsn List archives the some 25 relevant posts > on this topic (late 1996 - early 1997, search keyword "speech") > * here is how to try out such a sensory feedback system: you may have > a home audio system allowing you to talk into a microphone and feed right > back to your ear; talk, talk, talk for at least 30 sec, the effect should > be immediate; alternately go to your local electric guitar or music > synthesizer/electronic keyboard store; they probably have a sound room > with a mike, speakers, and a Reverb/Delay unit; you may wish to vary the > delay parameter; note that a normal person would find such delayed voice > feedback disturbing to his continued speech > > We would like to hear, by return e-mail, from any of you with a similar > experience; for statistical purposes, we'd like to have a short note even > from those of you with no noticeable effect. We'll gather and follow up on > data supplied in the period aug.1 - sept.30.1999. If the response is > significant enough, we may be able to interest a multi-disciplinary group > of specialists to investigate the phenomenon; this may provide tremendous > help to some PD sufferers. > > Andrew Mera > Seatlle, WA > > ---------------------------------- > > Extract from a technical paper: Auditory stimulation of fine motor control > in a Parkinson patient (in preparation) > > ...One significant therapeutic effect occurs... while listening to some > favorite rhythmic music. Previously stiff fingers are immediately enabled > to tap rhythm or write text; arms can wave, legs dance, moving lips > verbalize. Certain tones, tempos and rhythms are preferable: reggae or > classic rock (e.g. Don McLean's American Pie) are more effective than > allegro Mozart or Beethoven; the difference could be the presence in > electronically altered music of heavy base (low frequencies have a > stronger effect on the body), or of vibrato and delay; offbeat rhythms in > Latin tango and Greek bouzouki; but just a drum solo or metronome ticking > won't do. > When the music stops, the dexterity disappears, he quickly reverts to a > hypokinetic state. His successive on/off phases, recorded on camera, are > as impressive to a casual audience as neurosurgeons' demonstrations of a > patient with/without electrical stimulator. > > Another experiment in assisted loud reading is also worth describing. > Reciting is much easier with another person reading the text along. Rather > than follow the other voice, he is entrained to lead by one or two words; > when the other person stops, his own lips stop moving within a few seconds > and his voice deteriorates into an inarticulate groan. > > Next he tried feeding his own voice back via a > microphone-amplifier-earphone system: the stiff lips again are able to > phonate, even to whistle a song. The effect is further enhanced upon > including a reverberation and delay device (effect of a concert hall or > echo chamber) into the audio loop. Other motor functions also come alive: > finger dexterity, gait balance, facial expression. The effect is > strongest in a sound room with multiple speakers and subwoofer, the delay > being just a few milliseconds. He and [Riess 1997] have experimented with > several portable delayed audio feedback (DAF) devices: echo pedals used by > electric guitarists, speech enhancement devices developed for stutter > therapy. When the reverb is turned off, the effect is reduced; when the > sound feedback is completely removed, the stiffness and pain come back > stronger than before; there appears to be no adaptive learning in the > neural system, no lasting therapeutic effect. The audio device takes input > sound at each frequency (say 262 Hz midrange C plus overtones) and > modulates the output amplitude at 5-10 Hz, or delays it by up to 225 msec. > By comparison ... the heart pulsation rate is around 1-2 Hz. Effectively, > he has a portable device, which he turns on whenever he needs it. .. > > Many questions remain for additional study. Is the effect selective to > individual motor functions, or does it address connected functions? Are > the most effective stimuli tied to certain physiological rhythms, such as > pulse rate, breathing, tremors? One needs to also consider aperiodic, > random, and impulsive neural processes... > >