Acoustic Analysis of Voice and Speech Characteristics in Presymptomatic Gene Carriers of Huntington's Disease: Biomarkers for Preclinical Sign Onset?(Report‪)‬

Purpose: The study compared presymptomatic carriers of expanded CAG repeat in the huntingtin gene with matched control participants to determine whether measures of speech motor variability and timing, already found to be significantly different in manifest Huntington's disease (HD), are significantly different for individuals at risk for HD. Measures included spectral characteristics of sustained vowel phonation, voice onset time, diadochokinetic variability, utterance duration, and speech rate changes. Method: Eighteen carrier participants and matched control participants performed diadochokinetic tasks, produced vowels, and repeated sentences at habitual and increased speed.