Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) is the most frequent recessive ataxia in the Western world. Dysarthria is a cardinal feature of FRDA, often leading to severe impairments in daily functioning, but its exact characteristics are only poorly understood so far. We performed a comprehensive evaluation of dysarthria severity and the profile of speech motor deficits in 20 patients with a genetic diagnosis of FRDA based on a carefully selected battery of speaking tasks and two widely used paraspeech tasks, i.e., oral diadochokinesis and sustained vowel productions.

Read More: Friedreich Ataxia: Dysarthria Profile and Clinical Data