Dysarthria

Overview

What is dysarthria?

Dysarthria is a motor speech disorder that happens when changes in the strength, speed, range, steadiness, tone, or coordination of the muscles used for speech make it harder to speak clearly. It can affect the lips, tongue, jaw, soft palate, vocal folds, and the muscles used for breathing for speech.

Depending on the type and severity, speech may sound slurred, slow, fast, quiet, strained, breathy, or hard to understand. A person may also notice changes in voice quality, pitch, loudness, speech rhythm, or breath support.

Dysarthria can happen after a stroke or traumatic brain injury, or with other neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, ALS, or cerebral palsy. The exact speech pattern depends on which parts of the nervous system are affected.

Speech-language pathologists evaluate the systems used for speech, including respiration, phonation, resonance, articulation, and prosody. This helps identify how dysarthria is affecting communication and guides an individualized treatment plan.

Common signs

What adults and families may notice

• Speech sounds slurred, mumbled, or less precise than before
• Voice is softer, strained, breathy, or harder to hear
• Speaking clearly takes extra effort or feels tiring
• Rate of speech feels unusually slow or sometimes rushed
• People ask for repetition more often
• Communication feels harder in noisy places or longer conversations