scholarly journals Characteristics of Writing in Parkinson’s Disease: Focused on Pen Pressure, Letter Size, and Writing Speed

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-74
Author(s):  
Han Sol Lee ◽  
Jinyoung Youn ◽  
Jin Whan Cho ◽  
Jong Hyeon Ahn ◽  
Ji Hye Yoon ◽  
...  
2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui-Ing Ma ◽  
Wen-Juh Hwang ◽  
Shao-Hsia Chang ◽  
Tsui-Ying Wang

All published studies on micrographia, a diminution of letter size, examine handwriting in the horizontal direction. Writing horizontally typically requires increased wrist extension as handwriting progresses from left to right. Chinese characters, however, can be written not only horizontally from left to right, but also vertically from top to bottom. We examined the effect of handwriting direction on character size and stroke length. Fifteen participants with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and 15 age-matched controls wrote the same Chinese characters both horizontally and vertically. Handwriting performance was recorded with a digitizing tablet, and a custom-written computer program was used to provide objective data about character size and stroke length. The PD group had a linear decrease in overall character size and horizontal strokes along the writing sequence in the horizontal direction, but not in the vertical direction. The controls had shorter horizontal strokes in the horizontal than the vertical direction, but there was no progressive shortening of stroke length along the writing sequence. The results suggest that traditionally reported progressive micrographia in horizontal writing may not be generalizable to vertical writing. The observed decrease of handwriting size in the horizontal direction suggests that micrographia in PD may be associated with wrist extension. For clinical implications, patients may mitigate their micrographia by changing handwriting direction.


Author(s):  
Nuriye Yıldırım Gökay ◽  
Bülent Gündüz ◽  
Fatih Söke ◽  
Recep Karamert

Purpose The effects of neurological diseases on the auditory system have been a notable issue for investigators because the auditory pathway is closely associated with neural systems. The purposes of this study are to evaluate the efferent auditory system function and hearing quality in Parkinson's disease (PD) and to compare the findings with age-matched individuals without PD to present a perspective on aging. Method The study included 35 individuals with PD (mean age of 48.50 ± 8.00 years) and 35 normal-hearing peers (mean age of 49 ± 10 years). The following tests were administered for all participants: the first section of the Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale; pure-tone audiometry, speech audiometry, tympanometry, and acoustic reflexes; and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) and contralateral suppression of DPOAEs. SPSS Version 25 was used for statistical analyses, and values of p < .05 were considered statistically significant. Results There were no statistically significant differences in the pure-tone audiometry thresholds and DPOAE responses between the individuals with PD and their normal-hearing peers ( p = .732). However, statistically significant differences were found between the groups in suppression levels of DPOAEs and hearing quality ( p < .05). In addition, a statistically significant and positive correlation was found between the amount of suppression at some frequencies and the Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale scores. Conclusions This study indicates that medial olivocochlear efferent system function and the hearing quality of individuals with PD were affected adversely due to the results of PD pathophysiology on the hearing system. For optimal intervention and follow-up, tasks related to hearing quality in daily life can also be added to therapies for PD.


2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 10-13
Author(s):  
Linda Worrall ◽  
Jennifer Egan ◽  
Dorothea Oxenham ◽  
Felicity Stewart

2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-11
Author(s):  
Lorraine Ramig ◽  
Cynthia Fox

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