LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 21:5 May 2021
ISSN 1930-2940

Editors:
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Managing Editor & Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

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Effect of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy on Speech Production in
Children with Cerebral Palsy

Santhosh Varghees, Prabha Dawadee and Shwetha Prabhu

Abstract

Introduction

Cerebral palsy (CP) is non-progressive, non-contagious, permanent neurological abnormality. It is caused by damage to or abnormalities inside the developing brain that disrupt the brain’s ability to control movement and maintain posture and balance. CP is associated with a peri-natal hypoxic event, placental abnormalities, prolonged labor, or infection transmitted during delivery.

Studies which investigate acoustic characteristics in CP are both challenging and informative. Children with CP have a smaller overall vowel space and more variability of formant values of individual vowels and the vowel space of individual vowels thus overlap more.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) uses a pressurized chamber, which may be rigid or flexible construction and means of delivering 100% oxygen. 100% oxygen under increased pressure saturates bodily fluids and tissue with 10 to 20 times more oxygen. Many researchers have shown HBOT has effective outcome in CP children.

In Indian scenario there is little documentation for the effect of HBOT on speech and language CP children.

Aim

The aim of the study is to observe the changes in acoustic characteristics of vowels before and after the oxygen therapy in CP children.

Methodology

Prior to HBOT speech sample was collected from seven Malayalam speaking CP children. The age range of the subject was 3-8 years. The subjects chosen had normal hearing sensitivity and with borderline or mild intellectual. Stimuli taken were the most familiar words with CVC or CCVC combination. For the spectral characteristics both audio and visual presentation was done and recorded with PRAAT. The vowels selected were 5 cardinal vowels /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/ and 5 sustained vowels /a:/, /e:/, /i:/, /o:/ and /u:/. The selection of stimulus was done on the basis of familiarity rating.

Acoustic analysis consisted of extracting the formant frequencies F1 and F2. For vowel spacing the psychological distance between f1 and f2 formant frequency data was converted to Barks scale and plotted. Finally, vowel space areas based on bark values were derived from each vowel by both the groups.

Results and Discussions

After HBOT, for vowels like |a|, |e|, |i|, |a:|, |i:| & |u:| had inconsistent variation in formant frequencies. However, there was a consistent pattern of variation in vowels like |o|, |u|, |e:|, |o:|. The maximum change in formant frequency is seen for the vowels like |a|, |i|, |u:|.

Conclusion

The subjective impression on vowel space following the treatment showed improvement in the distinctiveness of production, there by indicating better speech intelligibility. Overall, the results of the current study compliment the effectiveness of the HBOT on speech production in children with Cerebral Palsy.

Keywords: Cerebral Palsy, Oxygen therapy, HBOT, Vowels, Acoustics. Malayalam-speaking CP children.

Introduction

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a collective term encompassing a group of neurological syndromes resulting from abnormalities in the brain development or an acquired non-progressive cerebral lesion (Bax, 1964; Bobath,1980; Platt & Pharoah,1995). In the industrialized world, the prevalence of cerebral palsy is about 2 per 1000 live births. About 20% of children who have cerebral palsy acquire the disorder after birth, while 80 percent of cases are congenital.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Santhosh Varghees
Mangalore University
Santhosbaslp7@gmail.com

Prabha Dawadee
Maharajgunj Medical Campus
prabhadawadee@gmail.com

Shwetha Prabhu
Associate Professor
Yenopoya University
Shwethaprabhu@gmail.com
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