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Assessing articulatory speed performance as a potential factor of slowed speech in older adults.
- Source :
-
Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR [J Speech Lang Hear Res] 2014 Apr 01; Vol. 57 (2), pp. 347-60. - Publication Year :
- 2014
-
Abstract
- PURPOSE To improve our understanding about the underlying factors of aging-related speaking rate decline, the authors sought to determine if lip and jaw speeds are physiologically constrained in older adults. METHOD Thirty-six females-10 young adults (ages 22-27 years), 9 middle-aged adults (ages 45-55 years), 10 young-old adults (65-74 years), and 7 very old adults (ages 87-95 years)-completed metronome-paced syllable repetitions while moving the lower lip or jaw to a fixed target with each repetition. Metronome paces incrementally increased from 1.4 Hz to 6.7 Hz. Lip and jaw movements were tracked using a 3-dimensional motion capture system. RESULTS Older adults' maximum percent increase in lip and jaw peak speed was comparable to or tended to be even greater than that of middle-aged and young adults. By contrast, lip and jaw stiffness, indexed by peak speed-displacement ratios, tended to decrease with age during fast and very fast repetition rates and were associated with mildly prolonged movement durations. CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest that lip and jaw speeds are not constrained in older adults. The trend of reduced stiffness during fast rates, however, suggests that fine-force regulation becomes difficult for older adults. Thus, older adults may implement reduced habitual speaking rates as a behavioral strategy to compensate for diminished articulatory control.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Efferent Pathways physiology
Female
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted methods
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted standards
Jaw innervation
Lip innervation
Male
Middle Aged
Movement physiology
Phonetics
Psychomotor Performance physiology
Reproducibility of Results
Young Adult
Aging physiology
Articulation Disorders physiopathology
Jaw physiology
Lip physiology
Speech physiology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1558-9102
- Volume :
- 57
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 24686555
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1044/2014_JSLHR-S-12-0261