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 difficulties, 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.

The aims of the study are:
1. To validate an online protocol for the assessment of the dysarthric speech and voice disturbance associated with PD by comparison with clinical face-to-face assessments.
2. To validate an online protocol for the delivery of the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT) program to dysarthric speakers with PD by comparison with clinical face-to-face treatments.