Consonant and Vowel Duration in Parkinsonian French Speech

The current study compared vowel and consonant duration in speech read by 10 French Parkinsonian speakers and 10 control speakers. The results show a different impact of Parkinson’s disease (PD) on speech segments. Consonants were shortened in PD speech while vowels were significantly longer. This results from the concomitance of articulatory movements of reduced amplitude of articulatory movements and orofacial bradykinesia. As a consequence syllabic productions are of the same overall duration in PD speech as in normal speech. The durational contrast of consonants was maintained, although for vowels there was less agreement with the normal pattern of intrinsic durations, especially for high vowels.