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Adult Speech Therapy Case Study: THE BREATHER® Respiratory Muscle Trainer

Client Medical Diagnosis	Parkinson’s Disease
Client Speech-Language Pathologist Diagnosis	Aphonia/Dysphonia
Client Age/Gender	Adult Female
Treatment Tool(s) Used	THE BREATHER® Respiratory Muscle Trainer
Treating Clinician Name/Title	Taylor Dry, M.A., CCC-SLP, CDP, CMDCP Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP)
Facility Type/Department	Skilled Nursing Facility/Rehab Department

Summary of Evaluation and Care for Female Adult with Parkinson’s Disease presenting with new onset of Aphonia/Dysphonia 

Diagnosis Definitions

• Parkinson’s Disease: Brain disorder that causes unintended or uncontrollable movements, such as shaking, stiffness, and difficulty with balance and coordination (National Institute on Aging). 

 

• Aphonia/Dysphonia: Characterized by loss of phonation or altered vocal quality, pitch, loudness, or vocal effort due to organic disease or nonorganic/neurogenic/psychogenic causes (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association).

Background of Medical and Speech-Language Pathologist Diagnosis 

• Treating Clinician worked with female client diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease for over 5 years. Client presented with a new onset of dysphonia.
• Clinician utilized an intensive voice treatment with an increase in loudness, but vocal quality was not improving.
• Client was still very "shaky" when she spoke.
• Towards the end of treatment, clinician recommended the client try THE BREATHER Respiratory Muscle Trainer.

Treatment Tool Outcome

• Within one week of using THE BREATHER, the client returned to the treating clinician and said she felt like a new person.
• She was able to talk loudly and do her work tasks without fear of her voice sounding "off”.
• Client continued to use THE BREATHER every day for the remainder of her treatment and the most improvement noted was after beginning THE BREATHER.
• Sound level meter showed vocal quality increased significantly from evaluation to discharge (see chart).
• Other results: Client did note some improvement and confidence in her swallowing, though she was not being treating for that.

Treatment Tool Recommendation

• Client recommended the use of THE BREATHER to her neurologist and other people.
• Treating clinician comments: We are BIG fans!

Learn more about the benefits of THE BREATHER and all its applications, plus watch videos and find more resources here.

Case Study Disclaimer: The information and data contained in this case study was voluntarily provided by a licensed clinician and is not a representative of AliMed, Inc. Individual methods of treatment and results using any represented speech therapy tool or product may vary. Images are for illustrative purposes only and are not a representation of actual client use.