الفهرس 
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Abstract
Prosody or suprasegmental aspects of speech include number of features that together form prosodic components, that extend across series of speech segments. Prosodic components include tempo, stress, rhythm and intonation. The prosodic features include pitch, loudness, duration and pause. Functions of prosody include semantic, affective, pragmatic and grammatical functions, it also aids in memory. Dysprosody is a failure to process suprasegmental linguistic and emotional features of language. It may dramatically alter communicative intent and accentuate social isolation.
Assessment methods for disordered prosody range from brief check lists, elaborated scaling tasks, to a variety of instrumental approaches to display and quantify relevant acoustic correlates.
The aim of this study was designing a protocol for evaluation of prosody in Egyptian adults, and its application on patients with different neurogenic communication disorders in order to test its reliability and validity in evaluating adults with prosodic disorders.
This study was conducted on 60 adults of both sexes attending Phoniatrics Unit in Alexandria Main University Hospital, they included 30 normal adults as control and 30 dysarthric patients.
The formulated protocol combined prosodic features and components perceptual assessment together with instrumental measures. In addition to searching for the causative elements that underlie the detected dysprosody.
The study showed reliability and validity of the Arabic Prosody Assessment Tool (APAT) in assessing prosody of Egyptian adults. Significant differences were found in perceptual assessment between cases and controls, and in some of the acoustic parameters of instrumental measures. Sensitivity, specificity and cut off scores were calculated for the different instrumental measures.
Data from the current study suggests that the formulated protocol is valid and reliable in assessing prosody in Egyptian adults, and to our knowledge it is the first comprehensive assessment tool for prosody in Arabic speaking adults.