AIRS 3rd Annual Conference: 2011
Title: Singing Improves Self Assessed Intelligibility in People with Parkinson’s Disease
Authors: Merrill Tanner (Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital/ University of Alberta), Lili Liu (University of
Alberta), Leonard Ratzlaff (University of Alberta), Melanie Campbell (University of Alberta), Linda
Rammage (University of British Columbia)
Presentation format: Short oral
Sub-themes: 3.3
Introduction
The loss of voice quality and loudness as Parkinson’s disease progresses is difficult to manage. Effective
voice treatment is available, but is hard to maintain over the long course of the disease. A community based
voice improvement program drawing on vocal pedagogy and voice therapy was developed and tested as a
PhD project.
Method
Participants attended 90-minute vocal exercise and choral singing sessions twice weekly. In addition to
other measures each participant completed a Self Assessment of Intelligibility (Kent, 1994).
Results
A statistically significant change at the .01 level of significance was found on Self Assessment of
Intelligibility using a student’s t test comparing means of the group before and after treatment.
Discussion
Participants perceived a difference in how easily others understood their speech after the voice treatment.
They also organized funding for a continuation voice group, which has had good attendance despite -35
degrees Celsius on more than one occasion.
Bios
Merrill Tanner is a registered speech language pathologist (SLP) and a singer (Bachelor and Master of
Music in Voice Performance). She works part time as an SLP at the Glenrose Hospital with stroke and
voice outpatients, teaches singing privately, performs in a duo with classical guitarist Ernst Birss and leads
a singing group in the community for people with Parkinson’s disease. Currently, Merrill is also pursuing a
PhD to demonstrate the value of “singing voice therapy” for people with Parkinson’s disease
http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/rehabmed/merrilltanner.cfm
Dr. Lili Liu is the Chair of the Occupational Therapy Department in the Faculty of Rehabilitation
Medicine at the University of Alberta. Her research focuses on three themes: technologies and aging,
Universal design and aging, and rehabilitation outcome measures and interventions for older adults with
cognitive and functional limitations. Currently, she is leading a study with a team to examine how
continuing care centers can provide efficient care while maintaining homelike environments for elderly
residents. She is also collaborating with the Division of Industrial Design, and the Departments
of Computing Science, Pharmacy and Mechanical Engineering to design the "Smart Condo", a project
supported by the Health Sciences Education and Research Common (HSERC) at the University of Alberta.
Dr. Liu is the Chair of the Occupational Therapy Department in the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine at
the University of Alberta. Web page: http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/ot/Lili_Liu.cfm Lili.liu@ualberta.ca

Dr. Leonard Ratzlaff, CM, AOE is the choral conductor for Edmonton's Richard Eaton Singers. He
obtained his graduate degree in choral conducting from the University of Iowa, and his doctoral dissertation
on Anton Bruckner's Te Deum earned him the American Choral Directors Association Julius Herford
Dissertation Prize. A professor of Choral Music at the University of Alberta since 1981, he also conducts
the University of Alberta Madrigal Singers, and co-supervises the largest graduate program in choral
conducting in Canada. His honors include induction into the City of Edmonton Hall of Fame, the Queen
Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal for distinguished service to Canadian choral music, induction into the
Alberta Order of Excellence, and being named to the Order of Canada. In 2006, he and RES celebrated 25
years of his leadership as conductor. Leonard.ratzlaff@ualberta.ca
Dr. Melanie Campbell is an Associate Professor in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology at
the University of Alberta, which she joined in July, 2001. She teaches in the areas of voice disorders, voice
and speech production, and aural (re)habilitation. Her research interests include a) in general, the role of
auditory feedback in speech and voice (including resonance) production, and b) developmental aspects of
speech production in hearing, hard-of-hearing and deaf children who use hearing aids/cochlear implants.
Melanie completed a B.Sc. in Speech and Hearing Science: Education of the Hearing Impaired at
Washington University/Central Institute for the Deaf (CID) in St. Louis, Missouri. She also went on to earn
a M.Sc. in Speech and Hearing Science: Education of the Hearing Impaired at Washington University/CID.
This was followed by an M.A. in Speech and Hearing: Speech Pathology at Herbert H. Lehman College of
the City University of New York (CUNY) and a Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Sciences at the Graduate
School and University Center of CUNY.
Dr. Rammage is Director of the B.C. Provincial Voice Care Resource Program and a faculty member in
the Department of Surgery and the School of Audiology and Speech Sciences at the University of British
Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. She is a co-founder of the interdisciplinary Pacific Voice Clinic, and has
been specializing in Voice Science and Voice Disorders in her research, teaching and clinical activities for
over twenty-five years. Dr. Rammage has published and lectured internationally on instrumental
assessment of voice disorders, psychopathology of voice disorders, voice care or professional and
occupational voice users, muscle misuse voice disorders, and various voice research topics. She is currently
engaged in research on the prevalence, nature and risks of occupational voice problems in teachers, and
outcomes for occupational voice rehabilitation. She is author of VOCALIZING WITH EASE: A SelfImprovement Guide, and co-author of the texts MANAGEMENT OF THE VOICE AND ITS
DISORDERS, 2nd Edition, (A MANAGEMENT GUIDE FOR THE DISORDERED VOICE and VOICE
CARE IN THE MEDICAL SETTING. Dr. Rammage is also very involved in professional volunteer work,
and has served twice as President of the BC Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and
Audiologists, and is currently President of CASLPA