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Sing it, say it, sort it: singing for Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) occurs in 1% of the population aged over 60. Changes in voice and speech are among the earliest and most prevalent symptoms of PD; reduced vocal intensity, monopitch, monoloudness, breathy and hoarse voice quality, imprecise articulation, vocal...

Does speech and language therapy provide value for money?

Within the NHS (and outside it), managers, commissioners and consumers will consider value for money as a key component in making a decision about whether to pay for speech and language therapy (or any other service for that matter). Yet...

Therapeutic alliance: more than the ‘nice person’ effect

Therapeutic relationship is considered a key component of many healthcare interventions, including speech and language therapy. Yet definitions and descriptions of what this concept comprises are ambiguous and sparse. This scoping review used the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines to guide...

Are cardiovascular risk factors associated with hearing loss?

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors are associated with microvascular damage that can impair molecular transport across capillary walls and cause inflammation and oxidative stress that may damage cochlear structure and function. This study determined, among a population-based sample of Canadian...

A song for my future self

People with aphasia experience a loss of friendships and social networks and, with this, a loss of identity. Interventions targeting participation, social and emotional wellbeing for people with aphasia have received more attention in the research literature. Storytelling is a...

Parkinson’s humour: recognising social communication difficulties

Parkinson’s results in a progressive motor disease with symptoms including tremor, rigidity and bradykinesia. However, people with Parkinson’s also experience non-motor symptoms such as cognitive difficulties that can impact social communication, often due to their co-existing speech difficulties, auditory and...

Acute mastoiditis pre- and post-Covid-19 pandemic

This retrospective single centre study evaluated the influence of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) like use of face masks, hand hygiene, and contact restrictions on the incidence and severity of acute mastoiditis during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study collected data of acute...

A viable solution for isolated post-nasal drip?

This retrospective, single-centre case series looked at a cohort of patients with postnasal drip as their primary symptom. Exclusions were patients with chronic rhinosinusitis. The interventions offered were temperature-controlled radio frequency (TCRF) ablation of the posterior nasal nerve delivered by...

Demonstrating unobservable effects of therapy through PROMS: a review

Ultimately, healthcare should meet the needs of the people it is designed for. One way of measuring this is using patient-reported outcome measures (PROMS). These tools capture the patient’s perspective and have been described as demonstrating the unobservable effects of...

Say what you don’t mean: cognitive difficulties in Parkinson’s can worsen intelligibility

Hypokinetic dysarthria, seen in 70–90% of people with Parkinson’s, causes reduced range of movement during speech production, reduced volume, rate, pitch and intelligibility. This study aimed to explore the role of higher cognitive function in speech production by asking 20...