Wertz, Robert T.

Thirty patients with apraxia of speech, 10 patients with aphasia and no apraxia of speech, and 30 normal subjects were tested by three oral sensory-perceptual measurements: oral form identification, two-point discrimination, and mandibular kinesthesia. The apraxia-of-speech group was significantly inferior to the aphasic and normal groups on all three oral sensory-perceptual tests. The normal and aphasic groups did not differ significantly from each other. Apraxia of speech and oral sensory-perceptual deficit were related in that the more severe the apraxia of speech, the more profound the oral sensory-perceptual deficit. Not all patients with apraxia of speech demonstrated impaired oral sensation and perception; however, higher cortical sensory dysfunction frequently accompanied apraxia of speech.

Laryngo-esophagectomy was performed with a colon transplant to replace the excised esophagus. The patient did not develop functional “colonic” speech but does function adequately using an artificial larynx. Cineradiologic evidence reveals that the transplanted segment of colon permits development of a pseudoglottis to produce sound. He was capable of injecting air and forming the pseudoglottis, but he interfered with the production of colonic voice by retropositioning his tongue to close the hypopharynx.