Acoustic effects of carbamazepine in benign rolandic epilepsy

Subtle specific interference with language function has been suspected in benign rolandic epilepsy (BRE) because of the location of the seizure focus. The aim of this study was to investigate the language and speech problems in BRE and the changes after medication with carbamazepine. Benign rolandic epilepsy patients (n = 11) who met ILAE criteria were assessed for standardized full articulation. Speech problems were present in BRE patients and worsened after medication. The error pattern of laryngeal articulation in BRE was exclusively the substitution of stop consonants, and these errors increased after medication (6% vs 13%). In this study, the variation in acoustic parameters after carbamazepine was similar to the hypokinetic pattern of articulation abnormalities. Our findings suggest that BRE patients treated with carbamazepine should be monitored for language and speech problems.