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To provide a comprehensive description of motor speech function in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD).

Forty-eight individuals (24 bvFTD and 24 age- and sex-matched healthy controls) provided speech samples. These varied in complexity and thus cognitive demand. Their language was assessed using the Progressive Aphasia Language Scale and verbal fluency tasks. Speech was analyzed perceptually to describe the nature of deficits and acoustically to quantify differences between patients with bvFTD and healthy controls. Cortical thickness and subcortical volume derived from MRI scans were correlated with speech outcomes in patients with bvFTD.

Speech of affected individuals was significantly different from that of healthy controls. The speech signature of patients with bvFTD is characterized by a reduced rate (75%) and accuracy (65%) on alternating syllable …