Abstract
Oral diadochokinesis is one of the oral functional indices. The following three methods are used to evaluate it : the IC method, in which the experimenter measures the recorded sound wave on a recorder ; the calculator method, in which the experimenter taps the memory function key of a calculator, synchronized with the syllables ; and the dot method, in which the experimenter dots with a pen, synchronized with the syllables. Recently, we developed a new measurement device, KENKOU-KUN, which automatically measures oral diadochokinesis. The purpose of this study was to compare the accuracy of oral diadochokinesis measurement by the IC-method, the calculator-method, and the KENKOU-KUN method.
Forty nine 79-year-old people (26 men, 23 women) participated in a cohort study conducted in 2007, and 355 elderly people (175 men, 180 women) participated in the 2008 study. They were instructed to repeat the syllables /pa/, /ta/, and /ka/ as well as possible for five seconds. The oral diadochokinesis was measured with the IC-method, the calculator-method, and the KENKOU-KUN method.
The average numbers of /pa/, /ta/, and /ka/ were 6.0±0.9, 6.0±0.9, and 5.7±0.8/sec, respectively. There was a strong positive correlation between the IC method and the KENKOU-KUN method (p<0.01) . On the other hand, the correlation between the IC method and the calculator method was weaker than that between the IC method and the KENKOU-KUN method. The number of miscounts with the calculator-method increased in cases over 7.0/s with the IC-method. This might relate the slower speed of finger tapping compared to oral diadochokinesis.
It was shown that the KENKOU-KUN method could precisely measure the oral diadochokinesis, while the calculator method was less accurate. Further studies are required to establish criteria by age and the degree of care needed.
