LSVTC – A PDA Supported Speech Treatment for Parkinson’s disease.

A Halpern, C Matos, L Ramig, J Petska, J Spielman

This study describes the use of a personal digital assistant (PDA), as an assistive device for LSVT ®, an intensive voice treatment for individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD). This PDA, named the LSVT Companion (LSVTC), was designed to meet the challenges of treatment accessibility that individuals with PD often encounter. The LSVTC is specially programmed to collect data and provide feedback as it guides individuals through the LSVT® exercises, enabling individuals to participate in therapy sessions at home.

Findings for this abstract are based upon a current completed sample size of six subjects with PD. The subjects participated in 9 voice treatment sessions with a speech therapist, and completed 7 sessions independently at home utilizing the LSVTC. Acoustic data collected in a sound treated booth before and after the 16 sessions of treatment demonstrated that following treatment the Ss made significant gains in vocal loudness across a variety of voice and speech tasks. The goal of the LSVTC is to make speech treatment a reality for more individuals with PD and allow them to reap the benefits of improved functional communication. These data demonstrate the progress towards this goal.