EVALUATION OF POSTOPERATIVE DYSARTHRIA IN ORAL CANCER PATIENTS WITH ASAHI SPEECH MECHANISM TEST

—COMPARISON WITH SPEECH INTELLIGIBILITY TEST—

Abstract

Postoperative dysarthria was evaluated in 20 oral cancer patients usig the Asahi speech mechanism test in comparison with the speech intelligibility test. The Asahi speech mechanism test was performed using a simple version and evaluated according to the criteria. The speech intelligibility test was performed using 100 Japanese syllables. The results of the Asahi speech mechanism test ranged from 44 to 99% and those of the speech intelligibility test from 46 to 91%. There was a significant correlation between them with a correlation coefficient of r=0.703 (P<0.01). A significant correlation was also observed between the results of the selected items concerned with tongue movement in the Asahi speech mechanism test and those of the speech intelligibility test with a correlation coefficient of r=0.893 (P<0.01) in tongue cancer patients. These results show that the Asahi speech mechanism test is well correlated with the speech intelligibility test and is useful for evaluating the degree of speech disorders in postoperative patients for oral cancer, since it is easily performed without any special environment or equipment.