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Logopenic and nonfluent variants of primary progressive aphasia are differentiated by acoustic measures of speech production
Ballard KJ, Savage S, Leyton CE, Vogel AP, Hornberger M, Hodges JR.. PloS one, 2014-02-28
Topic: Brain proteins, microglia and lab models
Differentiation of logopenic (lvPPA) and nonfluent/agrammatic (nfvPPA) variants of Primary Progressive Aphasia is important yet remains challenging since it hinges on expert based evaluation of speech and language production. In this study acoustic measures of speech in conjunction with voxel-based morphometry were used to determine the success of the measures as an adjunct to diagnosis and to explore the neural basis of apraxia of speech in nfvPPA. Forty-one patients (21 lvPPA, 20 nfvPPA) were recruited from a consecutive sample with suspected frontotemporal dementia. Patients were diagnosed using the current gold-standard of expert perceptual judgment, based on presence/absence of particular speech features during speaking tasks. Seventeen healthy age-matched adults served as controls. MRI scans were available for 11 control and 37 PPA cases; 23 of the PPA cases underwent amyloid ligand PET imaging. Measures, corresponding to perceptual features of apraxia of speech, were periods of silence during reading and relative vowel duration and intensity in polysyllable word repetition. Discriminant function analyses revealed that a measure of relative vowel duration differentiated nfvPPA cases from both control and lvPPA cases (r(2) = 0.47) with 88% agreement with expert judgment of presence of apraxia of speech in nfvPPA cases. VBM analysis showed that relative vowel duration covaried with grey matter intensity in areas critical for speech motor planning and programming: precentral gyrus, supplementary motor area and inferior frontal gyrus bilaterally, only affected in the nfvPPA group. This bilateral involvement of frontal speech networks in nfvPPA potentially affects access to compensatory mechanisms involving right hemisphere homologues. Measures of silences during reading also discriminated the PPA and control groups, but did not increase predictive accuracy. Findings suggest that a measure of relative vowel duration from of a polysyllable word repetition task may be sufficient for detecting most cases of apraxia of speech and distinguishing between nfvPPA and lvPPA.
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APA 7th
Ballard, K. J., Savage, S., Leyton, C. E., Vogel, A. P., Hornberger, M., & Hodges, JR. (2014). Logopenic and nonfluent variants of primary progressive aphasia are differentiated by acoustic measures of speech production. PloS one. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0089864
Vancouver
Ballard KJ, Savage S, Leyton CE, Vogel AP, Hornberger M, Hodges JR. Logopenic and nonfluent variants of primary progressive aphasia are differentiated by acoustic measures of speech production. PloS one. 2014. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0089864. PMID: 24587083.
BibTeX
@article{ballard2014-24587083,
author = {Ballard, K. J. and Savage, S. and Leyton, C. E. and Vogel, A. P. and Hornberger, M. and Hodges, JR.},
title = {{Logopenic and nonfluent variants of primary progressive aphasia are differentiated by acoustic measures of speech production}},
journal = {PloS one},
year = {2014},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0089864},
pmid = {24587083},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0089864}
}
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Key findings
- Discriminant function analyses revealed that a measure of relative vowel duration differentiated nfvPPA cases from both control and lvPPA cases (r(2) = 0.47) with 88% agreement with expert judgment of presence of apraxia of speech in nfvPPA cases.
- VBM analysis showed that relative vowel duration covaried with grey matter intensity in areas critical for speech motor planning and programming: precentral gyrus, supplementary motor area and inferior frontal gyrus bilaterally, only affected in the nfvPPA group.
- Findings suggest that a measure of relative vowel duration from of a polysyllable word repetition task may be sufficient for detecting most cases of apraxia of speech and distinguishing between nfvPPA and lvPPA.
Why it matters
This study found that a measure of relative vowel duration helped distinguish nonfluent from logopenic primary progressive aphasia, matching expert judgment in most cases. It is a diagnostic study of speech and does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 47/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (PloS one) |
| Journal's citation record | 4 / 4 | PLoS ONE: journal h-index 594 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2014 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 5 / 7 | Cited 103 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 2 / 5 | 7.4 citations a year over 14 year(s) since 2014 |
| Impact for its field and year | 3 / 6 | Cited 7.0× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 2 / 6 | Cited by 6 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 2 / 4 | Cited 16 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 3 / 4 | Last-listed author John R. Hodges: h-index 99 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 1 / 3 | The University of Sydney: institution h-index 1,466 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 5 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 24587083) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Total | 47 / 100 | — |
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