Dysprosody
When speaking with someone with aphasia, you might notice that their speech doesn’t have the typical rhythm that you are used to. This is because of dysprosody. Dysprosody is a common characteristic in some types of aphasia.
Dysprosody refers to speech that has an atypical or absent rhythm, intonation, melody, or start/stop pattern. When people without aphasia speak, their connected speech has prosody. Prosody includes:
- A fluid rhythm
- Variations in intonation (help convey meaning and mood)
- Pauses at sentence breaks
- Varying volume
Prosody tends to occur naturally as someone speaks; it can also be intentionally altered to convey a certain mood or tone, such as sarcasm. However, people with dysprosody might find that their speech is halting, in a monotone, and does not have the typical speech rhythm.
Dysprosody is most common in non-fluent, or Broca’s aphasia. Dysprosody is also very common in people with apraxia, which can often co-occur with aphasia.
Click on the tiles below to learn more about the most common symptoms of aphasia.
Difficulty with Reading Comprehension
Difficulty with Language Comprehension
Difficulty with Written Expression
Difficulty With Spoken Language
Agrammatism
Dysprosody
Paraphasia
