What Are the Causes of Speech Problems?

Do you ever imagine how it feels like having speech problems? You have to give your best to make the other person understand a simple message. There are several types of speech problems; some people stammer and stumble while talking, while others can’t forge sounds to communicate.

Usually, speech problems develop over time, but in many cases, these exist by birth. You must be wondering what triggers this, so, before anything else, let’s dive into the causes of speech problems.

1.  Muscle Weakness

It is popularly known by the label of ‘dysarthria’. In this condition, the muscles put to work for talking are weak. Are you wondering which muscles? Well, for speaking, your face, throat, neck, and tongue muscles are set in motion. You face difficulty while speaking, giving rise to slow, stammering sounds that are arduous for others to understand.

Dysarthria doesn’t come knocking the door; rather it’s an upshot of brain injuries, tumors, or stroke. After all, the brain conveys the message, and any neurological injury can cook up speech problems. However, many experts have come up with treatments and therapies. You can check out occupational therapy Liverpool to knock out speech problems.

2.  Brain Damage

The brain is an integral element of the human body. After all, it is the one controlling everything, from sending messages, manipulating actions, and your thought processes, it’s all in the brain. Thus, even a minor brain injury can disrupt the smooth functioning of the whole body. Any brain damage opens doors for speech problems due to hindrance in conveying the message.

Usually, people can’t deliver their message because they fail to structure their sentences or find appropriate words. Besides, since the brain injuries result in swelling and damage in particular areas, it also affects understandability. People fail to understand jokes, phrases, jargon, etc. This sort of speech problem can only get back together by surgical procedures to recover brain damage.

3.  Wrecked Vocal Cords

Do you know what larynx is? Well, it is your voice box, the place from where your voice comes out and becomes audible to the people around. Thus, if anything goes wrong with the larynx, it can give rise to some severe speech problems. In stringent cases, it can result in vocal cord paralysis too. It’s an alarming situation because it not only halts speech but gives an invitation to serious breathing problems too.

Moreover, the vocal cords don’t get damaged by chance; instead, it gets triggered by excessive coughing, throat clearing, and other diseases. Instead of ignoring these minor signs, take the necessary precautions and medications to avoid opening doors for bigger problems like this in the future.

4.  Autism

One of the significant signs of autism are problems with conversing and comprehending a message. After all, autism is the name for the inability to understand due to the lack of language skills. Thus, speech problems can also occur if the other person is autistic. Besides, speech therapies are super useful for autism and help increasing understandability. Many individuals have overcome these speech problems by carrying on with speech therapy sessions.

5.  Dementia

Many people are incognizant about this term; it’s nothing but a name given to a combination of diseases. Practitioners use this term to describe cognitive decline – Alzheimer’s, communication, and thinking impairment.  If you notice, all this can have a major impact on speech. Thus, giving rise to potential speech problems.

The core reason for the speech problems is because dementia surrounds and affects the brain. By now, we are mindful of how brain injuries promote speech problems. However, this problem usually flies in the face of elderly people who are 60 years of age or above. Hardly anyone younger has suffered from dementia.

6.  Down Syndrome

Children are a target for this deadly disease as a result of which it causes physical and mental disabilities. Speech problems can be one of them too. On the grounds of mental disabilities, children suffer from language development issues. They are unable to comprehend and deliver messages because of uneven disabilities in their mouth area, and the upper jaw is smaller, muscles are weak, etc.

All these problems halt the effective speech process. Besides, many children suffer from hearing loss as a part of down syndrome. Thus, initiating further speech problems. However, there are potential treatments for down syndrome. Feel free to head over to a practitioner if you notice any such signs in the early growing months.

7.  Hearing Impairment

How can you speak when you don’t know what the other person is saying? This is the most common issue with people suffering from hearing impairment. The inability to hear creates speech problems too. Since you can’t properly hear, which gives a broken message to your brain, leading to a stammering and stumbling reply. However, this problem can get better with hearing aids.

It can be more baffling with children if they are suffering from hearing impairment because the area of the brain used for communicating won’t develop. Since no messages are being delivered to the brain, development is not possible, which can give rise to ever-lasting speech problems.

8.  Brain & Oral Cancer

Cancer is one of the most harmful diseases. Previously, it was not curable, but thanks to modern technology, that has made everything possible now. Alongside the numerous side effects of cancers, speech problems are one of them. It usually happens in the case of oral cancer since it puts an impact on your whole mouth.

Similarly, in the case of brain cancer, if the part of the brain that is used for communication is impacted, it can also bring up speech problems. You don’t just have an obstacle while talking, but it also makes it impossible to chew and swallow food.

Final Word

Speech problems are awful because no one likes stammering while talking to the other person. It does nothing but shatters confidence. Surprisingly, there’s a treatment for every potential problem out there. But firstly, you need to know what causes speech problems. Thus, take a look at the above-mentioned causes of speech problems.