Affective prosodic disturbance subsequent to right hemisphere stroke: A clinical application

Abstract We examined Ross' (1981) hypothesis regarding the disruption of affective prosody subsequent to right hemisphere brain damage (RHD). Twenty patients who had suffered a right hemisphere stroke were compared with 18 normal, non-brain-damaged subjects for affective prosody in spontaneous speech, gesturing accompanying spontaneous speech, repetition of affective prosody, comprehension of affective prosody, and comprehension of affective gestures. In addition, we attempted to classify our RHD subjects with Ross' prosodic taxonomy, determine the relationship between classification and site of lesion, and explore the contribution of coexisting dysarthria to prosodic disturbance. All RHD subjects displayed affective prosodic disturbance in spontaneous speech. Only one normal subject was judged mildly dysprosodic. The RHD group had significantly more difficulty in repeating affective prosody and comprehending affective gestures. There were no significant group differences in gestures accompanying spontaneous speech or comprehending affective prosody. Eighty percent of the RHD subjects were classified with the Ross taxonomy, however there was no systematic relationship between classification and site of lesion. And, while dysprosody without a coexisting dysarthria was present in three RHD subjects, 17 displayed a coexisting dysarthria. We conclude that affective dysprosody is common subsequent to RHD, however the relationship between classification of dysprosody and site of lesion or the contribution of coexisting dysarthria to dysprosody is not clear.