Articulation disorders affect more people than most realize, with only 10% having “normal” speech. They can be caused by neurological disorders, injury, or disease, and can also be linked to genetic factors. Common types include voice disorders, stuttering, slurring, and dysarthria. Scientists are making progress in identifying specific genetic causes.
Articulation disorders, also known as speech disorders, affect more children and adults than most people realize. In fact, only about 10% of the general population display perfectly “normal” speech in terms of the total absence of tonal imperfections or articulation and phonological disturbances. In children, articulation disorders are most frequently associated with neurological disorders due to birth complications or genetically inherited medical conditions that can affect speech, such as neurofibromatosis and cystic fibrosis. Adult speech, on the other hand, is more commonly impaired later in life due to a stroke, brain trauma, or the onset of dementia. However, joint disorders can also appear in adults and children without any known specific cause.
The most common classification of articulation disorders is simply called voice disorders. Although voice disorders include a wider range of problems than articulation, some of these difficulties can impact speech quality as a secondary consequence. For example, abnormal voice quality due to injury, disease, or surgical removal of the larynx will likely produce articulation disorders as well as difficulty regulating the volume, pitch, and pitch of speech.
Other general speech disorders that can negatively affect articulation include stuttering and slurring, which are characterized by involuntary repetition of words or a disordered rhythm of speech, respectively. These factors are significant because a large percentage of people with these disorders also have joint disorders. Additionally, those with speech reception difficulties are likely to adopt incorrect phonetic patterns due to an inability to adequately process and learn sounds. This may be due to hearing problems or an inability to distinguish differences between particular sounds. For example, children with articulation disorders often have trouble with certain consonants and may pronounce them all the same in a speech event known as phoneme collapse.
Similarly, articulation disorders can result from impaired speech comprehension due to some form of injury to the brain, such as a stroke. In these cases, in addition to speech recognition, there is often an inability to reproduce speech. This type of acquired joint disorder is known as aphasia. However, if speech becomes slurred specifically due to difficulty swallowing due to a stroke or neurological disorder, the condition is referred to as dysphagia.
Dysarthria is another speech disorder that can also develop after a stroke or brain injury. However, dysarthria produces joint disorders due to weakness or paralysis of the facial muscles. Dysarthria also occurs in those with progressive neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
While joint disorders can occur due to a variety of causes, scientists are making steady progress in identifying specific genetic factors. In fact, the Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders recently published the results of a study that was part of a 20-year program designed to investigate the genetic causes of speech and language disorders. The study confirmed previous findings that these disorders are linked to the KIAA20 gene on chromosome 0319.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
