Scanning Speech

Scanning Speech

Scanning speech is a motor speech disorder (i.e., a dysarthria) comprising slow, deliberate, dysprosodic, monotonic verbal output. It may be confused with nonfluent aphasia (Broca’s aphasia).
Scanning speech was originally considered a feature of cerebellar disease in multiple sclerosis (after Charcot), and the term is often used with this implication. However, cerebellar disease typically produces an ataxic dysarthria (variable intonation, interruption between syllables, "explosive" speech) which is somewhat different to scanning speech. Scanning speech correlates with midbrain lesions, often after recovery from prolonged coma.

Cross References

Asynergia; Aphasia; Broca’s aphasia; Cerebellar syndromes; Dysarthria