PROSODIC CHARACTERISTICS OF SPEECH PRE-RIGHT HEMISPHERE STROKE AND POST-RIGHT HEMISPHERE STROKE

Case-control studies have shown right hemisphere specialization in the production of intonation in speech. We examined spontaneous prosody i n audiotapes of interviews with a 77-year-old right-handed woman recor ded 6 months before and 6 weeks after she suffered a stroke affecting the right frontotemporo-parietal regions and the right basal ganglia. Post-stroke, the patient had a normal Mini-Mental Status Examination S core of 29, hemispatial neglect, and impairments in the comprehension of facial expression and prosody. Self-rated mood was within normal li mits. We compared beginning, peak, and ending fundamental frequencies (fo) in breath groups, the timing of these fo changes, rate of speech, pause duration, and breath-group duration. We found that post-stroke, the patient had a more restricted fo contour, no changes in the timin g of peak fo, an increased rate of speech, less variability in pause d uration, and no changes in breath-group duration. (C) 1995 Academic Pr ess, Inc.