Behavioral speech therapy usually involves a series of voice exercises administered by a trained and certified speech therapist. These exercises include training in control of speech rate, stress/intonation or expression of emotion, loudness, articulation and breathing so as to support the voice. Sometimes the therapist uses assistive instruments, such as delayed auditory feedback, voice amplification devices or pacing boards.

Some investigators have claimed significant success with PD patients by using the so-called Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT), an intensive program of voice exercises that targets vocal intensity, quality and variation -- precisely the areas of difficulty for persons with PD.

The LSVT approach centers on a single therapeutic target at a time so that effort can be invested in achieving that target alone. A therapeutic target might be ‘increasing vocal loudness’ or ‘enhancing speech intelligibility’. In pursuing these sorts of therapeutic targets, the patient is drilled on a series of voicing exercises and is taught to be aware of sensory feedback from the voice, as well as to self-monitor voicing patterns and voice quality. The increased self-awareness of voice allows for correction of errors and for faster progress toward the target.

The LSVT regimen usually involves 4 training sessions per week for one month (16 sessions).

The available evidence suggests that these sorts of behavioral speech therapy regimens really work, so there is no reason for you to keep having frustrating conversations with others who pretend they understand what you are saying. Instead, you will re-learn to clearly and loudly speak your mind.