Researchers suggest that the following areas are affected by both acute and non-acute Sports Related Concussion (SRC): neurometabolic function, balance, vestibular/ocular function, cognition, and motor movement of the limbs. However, significant gaps in our knowledge still exist regarding the potential speech production effects of concussion. Additionally, the effect of concussion in complex speech contexts has gone largely unreported in published research. This dissertation set out to determine how the speech production of individuals with a history of concussion is affected. It also examined speech production between these groups during increasingly complex contexts: single syllable alternating motion rate (AMR) diadochokinetic (DDK) tasks, real and non-word multisyllabic sequential motion rate (SMR) DDK's, reading passages (Rainbow and Caterpillar), and spontaneous speech. Data was gathered from 30 individuals with a history of concussion and 30 matched controls with no history of concussion to understand potential speech differences. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate potential speech timing and acoustic differences between individuals with a history of concussion (one or more previous concussions) measured during speech tasks. Speech timing and acoustic differences have not yet been reported between those in the with a history of concussion and individuals with no history of concussion. The secondary purpose of the current study was to explore the potential perceived speech production differences of those with a history of concussion and those without a history of concussion to fill the research gaps that currently exist. Limited research is available on the perceived speech effects of concussion history. While previous research addresses speech intelligibility several unanswered questions remained, which are addressed in this dissertation. Results revealed a significant interaction effect of concussion status and speech timing analysis method where both objective (p < .001) subjective (p = .041) timing analysis were significantly different between participants with a history of concussion and those with no history of concussion. This and future work stemming from this dissertation will focus on standardizing measures for the potential use of identifying individuals at risk of long-term functional damage and those with acute speech production issues.
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