APROSODIA: what is it, symptoms, causes and treatment

When we communicate through the word we usually use different forms of expression. There are people who are more emphatic when they express an emotion or an idea and others vary their tone of voice when referring to a particular fact. In most cases, we are most likely to emphasize the most important points of our experience.

Celebrities who appear in the media are interested in provoking some kind of emotion in us when we listen to them, so they try to generate nuances with their voices. In everyday life this also happens without us noticing. Without realizing it, we sing various melodies, but there are people who find it difficult to interpret these variations of the voice. If you want to know more about this, in this Psychology-Online article, we will provide you with information about the aprosodia: what is it, symptoms, causes and treatment.

Index

1. what is aprosodia
2. Types of aprosodia
3. Symptoms of aprosodia
4. Causes of aprosodia
5. Treatment of aprosodia

When we mention aprosodia, we refer to a language disorder linked to difficulties in oral expression due to lesions produced in the right hemisphere of the brain. In other words, aprosodia consists of a inability to correctly interpret the different intonations, accents and tones of voice that occur when speaking.

Although it is not completely delimited, it is possible to distinguish aprosodia within the group of specific language disorders based on the characteristics implied by the condition clinical. In this way, a series of diagnostic criteria are established that must be present in order to make the diagnosis:

• Difficulties in the acquisition and use of language in all its modalities (written, oral) due to comprehension problems. Find out what are the functional and structural features of verbal language.
• Limited vocabulary.
• Limited grammatical structure.
• Disadvantages in the use of speech: problems connecting sentences, explaining meanings, etc.
• Language abilities are below age parameters.
• Deterioration in job performance, social and academic.
• The abnormalities are not explained by another neurological disorder.

Aprosodia can manifest itself in different ways. For this reason, we are going to show you what are the three types of aprosodia that exist:

• expressive aprosodia: As its name indicates, this type of aprosodia leads to difficulties in communicating the message that is to be conveyed. In these cases, there is often a monotony in the voice, as well as a lack of intonation and emotion.
• understanding aprosodia: this type of aprosodia refers to difficulties related to understanding the words and gestures of other people. It is important to mention that, in some cases, it is not an inconvenience to express ideas.
• mixed aprosodia: is a combination of the elements present in both expressive and comprehensive aprosodia. As a result of these circumstances, it is possible to glimpse aspects of both types.

Aprosodia manifests itself in various ways. Knowing your symptoms allows you to address the problem and avoid further complications. In this sense, we will now highlight the main symptoms of the aprosodia:

• Difficulty recognizing variations in the voice of other people.
• Neutral and monotone voice.
• Lack of intonation, rhythm, emphasis and tonalities in the voice.
• Problems expressing ideas.

Although these clinical indicators can help to glimpse the symptoms of aprosodia, it is necessary to take into account that the diagnosis must be carried out by a professional of mental health, since it will be in charge of evaluating the characteristics of each patient.

First of all, it is necessary to understand that there are factors that affect the development of this language disorder. Next, we will explain the most frequent causes of aprosodia:

• cerebrovascular accidents: At a general level, this language disorder is linked to brain lesions located mainly in the right hemisphere of the brain. This sector is responsible for emotional processing and expression. When one of these areas is injured, one of the possible consequences can be some type of aprosodia. To understand it better, we recommend you read this article about the Right and left cerebral hemispheres: characteristics, functions and differences.
• genetic alterations: Genetic inheritance plays a fundamental role in the origin of aprosodia. In this sense, if any of the parents has certain chromosomes with some modification, it is possible that they may suffer from aprosodia. Thus, the transmission of genes may be one of the causes of aprosodia.

Despite the difficulties involved in the symptoms of aprosodia, fortunately today there are treatments that have shown good prognosis against this disorder. In the following items, we will talk about the main approaches to treat aprosodia:

• Neurology: taking into account the organic basis of aprosodia, neurological treatment emphasizes the recomposition of some affected areas of the cerebral cortex that affect the development of the clinical picture.
• psychoeducation: this type of approach tries to establish tools that can facilitate communication of patients with aprosodia. This is done thanks to the implementation of social situations in which you gradually learn about emotional expressions and the nuances of people's voices.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Aprosodia: what is it, symptoms, causes and treatment, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.

• American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.). Arlington: Pan American Medical Publisher.
• Leiva, S., Difalcis, M., López, C., Margulis, L., Micciuli, A., Abusamra, V., Ferreres, A. (2017). Dissociations between emotional and linguistic prosody in patients with brain lesions in the right hemisphere. Liberabit, Journal of Psychology, 23 (2), 211-232.