Communication, Quality Of Life And Advance Care Planning For People With Motor Neurone Disease And Their Caregiver.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$108,902.00
Summary
People with motor neurone disease experience devastating deterioration in movement, communication, swallowing and ultimately breathing. Research is required to determine if the advance care planning (ACP) process for people with MND is impacted by communication impairment. This study will build evidence to improve the ACP process for this vulnerable patient group. It also aims to investigate the impact communication impairment has on caregivers’ quality of life in order to improve carer support.
Telerehabilitation: Assessing Acquired Neurogenic Communication Disorders Online.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$172,446.00
Summary
People who suffer brain damage as a result of a stroke, head injury, or a disorder such as Parkinson's disease frequently develop difficulty in either speaking, writing, reading, or understanding the spoken language. As a result, the person's ability to communicate with his or her family and friends, and the community in general is seriously affected. Individuals who experience these speech and language disorders are treated by a speech pathologist who focuses on improving the person's ability t ....People who suffer brain damage as a result of a stroke, head injury, or a disorder such as Parkinson's disease frequently develop difficulty in either speaking, writing, reading, or understanding the spoken language. As a result, the person's ability to communicate with his or her family and friends, and the community in general is seriously affected. Individuals who experience these speech and language disorders are treated by a speech pathologist who focuses on improving the person's ability to communicate. The treatment of these disorders is frequently long-term requiring speech pathology management beyond existing hospital care. For many people with these communication disorders, accessing speech pathology services after their discharge from hospital may be very difficult due to their physical difficulties, the distances they are required to travel, and the limited availability of speech pathologists in their local community. This project aims to overcome these access issues through the development of a telerehabilitation system that will enable speech pathologists to assess people with these speech and language difficulties across the Internet using videoconferencing. It is intended that this research will ultimately enable people with these types of communication difficulties to be assessed and treated within their own home or local community.Read moreRead less
A Telehealth Application For The Assessment And Treatment Of Disordered Speech In Parkinson's Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$362,875.00
Summary
People with Parkinson's disease frequently develop soft, indistinct, and monotonous speech that significantly affects the person's ability to communicate with his or her family, and the community in general. To date, the most effective treatment for the speech disturbance seen in persons with Parkinson's disease is the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT ) program that focuses on improving the individual's vocal loudness and quality, resulting in improved speech intelligibility. For many people ....People with Parkinson's disease frequently develop soft, indistinct, and monotonous speech that significantly affects the person's ability to communicate with his or her family, and the community in general. To date, the most effective treatment for the speech disturbance seen in persons with Parkinson's disease is the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT ) program that focuses on improving the individual's vocal loudness and quality, resulting in improved speech intelligibility. For many people with this disease, accessing this effective treatment for their speech disorder is very difficult due to their physical disabilities, the distances they are required to travel, and the availability of speech pathologists. This project aims to overcome these access issues through the development of a telehealth system that will enable speech pathologists to assess and treat people with Parkinson's disease who have a speech disorder across the Internet using videoconferencing. It is intended that this research will ultimately enable people with Parkinson's disease to be treated within their own home or local community.Read moreRead less
Physiological And Neurophysiological Assessment Of Lip And Tongue Function For Speech In Multiple Sclerosis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$356,250.00
Summary
Speech difficulties are commonly experienced by people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and can have a devastating, restrictive effect on social interactions, work and education opportunities, ultimately reducing quality of life. Research has shown that a major factor underlying impaired speech in MS is disturbed functioning of the structures that articulate speech, particularly the tongue and lips. In order to effectively treat these speech disturbances, it is imperative that the nature and severit ....Speech difficulties are commonly experienced by people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and can have a devastating, restrictive effect on social interactions, work and education opportunities, ultimately reducing quality of life. Research has shown that a major factor underlying impaired speech in MS is disturbed functioning of the structures that articulate speech, particularly the tongue and lips. In order to effectively treat these speech disturbances, it is imperative that the nature and severity of the tongue and lip impairments be identified, so that specific treatment methods can be employed to directly target those impairments. The present project will use state-of-the-art technology to track and record movements of the tongue and lips during speech and to investigate how well the neural command pathways leading from the brain to the lip and tongue muscles are functioning in persons with MS. The results of the study will direct the development of more specific and effective speech therapy procedures that will empower persons with MS with intelligible speech.Read moreRead less