Ataxias are a group of movement disorders that are characterized by progressive loss of balance, impaired coordination and speech disturbance, which together lead to markedly reduced quality of life. Speech disturbance is clinically diagnosed, but methods for objective assessment of severity are lacking. Using 71 sets of speech recordings from ataxia patients, we developed an automated classification system. With a tolerance of ±1 point, this classification system correctly predicted experts’ ratings of speech disturbance according to item 4 of the Scale for Assessment and rating of ataxia (SARA) in 80% of cases. We thereby demonstrate feasibility of computer-assisted voice analysis for automated assessment of severity of speech disturbance.

共济失调是一组运动障碍，其特征是进行性失去平衡、协调受损和言语障碍，这些共同导致生活质量显着下降。言语障碍是临床诊断出来的，但缺乏客观评估严重程度的方法。我们使用共济失调患者的 71 组语音录音，开发了一个自动分类系统。在 ±1 分的公差下，该分类系统在 80% 的案例中根据共济失调评估和评级量表 (SARA) 第 4 项正确预测了专家对言语障碍的评级。因此，我们证明了计算机辅助语音分析用于自动评估言语干扰严重程度的可行性。