Will you help?

A study is being undertaken by researchers in New Zealand, Australia and the U.S. into Parkinson's and speech problems. The researchers are looking for New Zealanders who would like to help with this research; their request is published below.

If you are interested, contact the research team directly

Speech Difficulties and Parkinson’s Disease

For some people with Parkinson’s disease, speech problems such as reduced volume or speech imprecision affect their ability to participate in everyday activities. The problem can be mild – just a quiet voice when you are tired – or quite severe, with family and friends noting that your speech is very difficult to understand. Dr Megan McAuliffe (NZ Institute of Language, Brain & Behaviour) and Professor Tim Anderson (Van der Veer Institute of Parkinson’s and Brain Research) are collaborating with colleagues in the USA and Australia to find out how these speech problems affect the daily lives of people with Parkinson’s disease. This research aims to develop a tool that will enable us to measure the extent of these difficulties. Ultimately, we hope it will result in better communication and health outcomes for all people affected by Parkinson’s.

We are looking for a minimum of 200 people from across New Zealand to complete some questionnaires that relate to speech and Parkinson’s. If you choose to participate, it should take about an hour of your time. Those who participate should have Parkinson’s disease and some difficulty with their speech. The type of speech problem that you have could be very mild – for example, you might notice that your voice gets quiet and sounds breathy after you have been talking for a while. Or, it could be severe and cause you great difficulty communicating all the time. We are looking for people who report these problems, and everyone in between.

The questionnaires can be completed on paper and returned to us (we will pay for postage), or they can be completed via our online survey tool. If you think you might fit the criteria, and wish to participate or would like more information, please contact Louise Hughes at the New Zealand Institute of Language, Brain, & Behaviour. Louise will answer any of your questions and, if you decide to participate, arrange for you to login to the website or receive the packet of questionnaires via post. Thank you for your time – we greatly appreciate any assistance that people can provide for this research.

Louise Hughes New Zealand Institute of Language, Brain & Behaviour University of Canterbury Private Bag 4800 Christchurch, 8140 Email: louise.hughes@canterbury.ac.nz Phone: (03) 364 2987 ext. 8264