Symptoms
A person with dysarthria may experience any of the following symptoms, depending on the extent and location of damage to the nervous system:
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"Slurred" speech
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Inability to speak louder or barely able to whisper
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Slow rate of speech
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Rapid rate of speech with a "mumbling" quality
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Abnormal intonation (rhythm) when speaking
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Changes in vocal quality
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Hoarseness
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Breathiness
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Drooling or poor control of saliva
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Difficulty chewing, swallowing, and moving the tongue or facial muscles
Causes
Many conditions can cause dysarthria. Some common causes are
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Stroke
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Brain tumor, Brain trauma
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Infection
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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
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Bell’s palsy, Cerebral palsy
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Guillain-Barre syndrome
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Huntington’s disease
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Lyme disease
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Multiple sclerosis
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Muscular dystrophy
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Myasthenia gravis
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Parkinson’s disease
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Wilson’s disease
- Medications such as narcotics or tranquilizers that affect the central nervous system