Department of Emergency Medicine

UMEM Educational Pearls

Title: Signs and Symptoms of Dysarthria

Category: Neurology

Keywords: dysarthria, stroke (PubMed Search)

Posted: 8/12/2009 by Aisha Liferidge, MD (Updated: 3/13/2025)
Click here to contact Aisha Liferidge, MD

Depending on the location of infarct, stroke patients with dysarthria (a motor speech disorder) may exhibit the following signs and symptoms:

  • "Slurred" speech
  • Speaking softly or barely able to whisper
  • Slow rate of speech
  • Rapid rate of speech with a "mumbling" quality
  • Limited tongue, lip, and jaw movement
  • Abnormal intonation (rhythm) when speaking
  • Changes in vocal quality ("nasal" speech or sounding "stuffy")
  • Hoarseness
  • Breathiness
  • Drooling or poor control of saliva
  • Chewing and swallowing difficulty

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