Scanning speech is a type of ataxic dysarthria in which spoken words are broken up into separate syllables, often separated by a noticeable pause, and spoken with varying force.
The name is derived from literary scansion, because the speech pattern separates the syllables in a phrase much like scanning a poem counts the syllables in a line of poetry.
[2] Some sources require only a noticeable pause between syllables, while others require other speech abnormalities, such as the unusual stress pattern on syllables.
[2] Scanning speech, like other ataxic dysarthrias, is a symptom of lesions in the cerebellum.
[4] Scanning speech may be accompanied by other symptoms of cerebellar damage, such as gait, truncal and limb ataxia, intention tremor, inaccuracies in rapidly repeated movements and sudden, abrupt nausea and vomiting.