This study examines whether simple speech tasks and a swallowing screening test can help identify swallowing risk in adults of different ages. Participants will complete basic questions, a swallowing self-assessment, a saliva swallowing test, and short voice recordings of rapid syllables. The study is non-invasive, takes about 75 minutes, and may help develop an easy, low-cost screening tool for early swallowing problems.
This is a cross-sectional observational study examining the relationship between diadochokinetic (DDK) speech performance and swallowing function in community-dwelling adults aged 18 years and older. Participants will complete a single study visit, during which demographic and health-related information will be collected, the EAT-10 swallowing self-assessment will be administered, the Repetitive Saliva Swallowing Test (RSST) will be performed, and short DDK speech recordings of /pa/, /ta/, and /ka/ will be obtained in a quiet setting. Acoustic features will be extracted from the recordings and analyzed together with RSST and EAT-10 results to explore age-related differences and to develop a predictive screening model for swallowing risk. All data will be de-identified, securely stored, and retained according to study requirements.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
720
Department of Sports Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan
Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, Taiwan
Repetitive Saliva Swallowing Test Classification
Classification of swallowing function based on the Repetitive Saliva Swallowing Test (RSST). Participants will be classified as having normal RSST performance if they complete greater than or equal to 3 swallows in 30 seconds, and abnormal RSST performance if they complete fewer than 3 swallows in 30 seconds.
Time frame: Day 1
Eating Assessment Tool-10 Total Score
Total score on the Eating Assessment Tool-10 (EAT-10), a 10-item self-report questionnaire used to assess swallowing-related symptoms. The total score ranges from 0 to 40, where higher scores indicate worse swallowing-related symptoms. A score of 3 or higher suggests possible swallowing difficulty.
Time frame: Day 1
Diadochokinetic Speech Rate
Rate of repeated diadochokinetic speech productions of /pa/, /ta/, and /ka/. The rate will be reported as syllables per second.
Time frame: Day 1
Diadochokinetic Speech Fundamental Frequency
Fundamental frequency (F0) extracted from repeated diadochokinetic (DDK) speech recordings of /pa/, /ta/, and /ka/. Fundamental frequency will be reported in Hertz (Hz).
Time frame: Day 1
Diadochokinetic Speech First Formant Frequency
First formant frequency (F1) extracted from repeated diadochokinetic (DDK) speech recordings of /pa/, /ta/, and /ka/. F1 reflects the first resonance frequency of the vocal tract and will be reported in Hertz (Hz).
Time frame: Day 1
Diadochokinetic Speech Second Formant Frequency
Second formant frequency (F2) extracted from repeated diadochokinetic (DDK) speech recordings of /pa/, /ta/, and /ka/. F2 reflects the second resonance frequency of the vocal tract and will be reported in Hertz (Hz).
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Time frame: Day 1
Diadochokinetic Speech Jitter
Jitter extracted from repeated diadochokinetic (DDK) speech recordings of /pa/, /ta/, and /ka/. Jitter reflects short-term cycle-to-cycle variability in fundamental frequency and will be reported as a percentage.
Time frame: Day 1
Diadochokinetic Speech Shimmer
Shimmer extracted from repeated diadochokinetic (DDK) speech recordings of /pa/, /ta/, and /ka/. Shimmer reflects short-term variability in voice amplitude and will be reported in decibels (dB).
Time frame: Day 1
Diadochokinetic Speech Harmonics-to-Noise Ratio
Harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR) extracted from repeated diadochokinetic (DDK) speech recordings of /pa/, /ta/, and /ka/. HNR reflects the ratio of periodic harmonic energy to noise energy in the voice signal and will be reported in decibels (dB).
Time frame: Day 1
Diadochokinetic Speech Root Mean Square Amplitude
Root mean square (RMS) amplitude extracted from repeated diadochokinetic (DDK) speech recordings of /pa/, /ta/, and /ka/. RMS amplitude reflects the average acoustic energy of the speech signal and will be reported in normalized amplitude units.
Time frame: Day 1
Diadochokinetic Speech Zero-Crossing Rate
Zero-crossing rate (ZCR) extracted from repeated diadochokinetic (DDK) speech recordings of /pa/, /ta/, and /ka/. ZCR reflects the rate at which the speech signal changes sign over time and will be reported as the number of zero crossings per second.
Time frame: Day 1