Aphasia vs. Dysarthria — What's the Difference?

Aphasia is an inability to comprehend or formulate language because of damage to specific brain regions. The major causes are a cerebral vascular accident (stroke) or head trauma.

Dysarthria is a motor speech disorder resulting from neurological injury of the motor component of the motor–speech system and is characterized by poor articulation of phonemes. In other words, it is a condition in which problems effectively occur with the muscles that help produce speech, often making it very difficult to pronounce words.

Inability (or impaired ability) to understand or produce speech, as a result of brain damage.

Difficulty in articulating words, caused by impairment of the muscles used in speech.

Partial or total loss of the ability to articulate ideas or comprehend spoken or written language, resulting from damage to the brain from injury or disease.

Difficulty in articulating words due to a disturbance in the form or function of the structures that modulate voice into speech; one of the first indicative symptoms of myasthenia gravis, brought about by an autoimmune response to acetylcholine receptors.

(pathology) A partial or total loss of language skills due to brain damage. Usually, damage to the left perisylvian region, including Broca's area and Wernicke's area, causes aphasia.

Impaired articulatory ability resulting from defects in the peripheral motor nerves or in the speech musculature

Loss of the power of speech, or of the appropriate use of words, the vocal organs remaining intact, and the intelligence being preserved. It is dependent on injury or disease of the brain.

Inability to use or understand language (spoken or written) because of a brain lesion