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Aging- and Disease-related Changes in Speech Production

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Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Languages (ISSN 2226-471X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 July 2021) | Viewed by 13350

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Anne Hermes

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Laboratoire de Phonétique et Phonologie, UMR 7018, CNRS/Sorbonne-Nouvelle, Paris, France
Interests: speech production, laboratory phonology, speech motor control, coordinative structures, variability, aging, motor speech disorders

Dr. Antje Mefferd

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
Interests: speech production; speech motor control; articulatory-to-acoustic relations; dysarthria; aging; speech behavioral modification effects;articulatory performance

Mrs. Tabea Thies

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

1. Faculty of Arts and Humanities, IfL Phonetics, University of Cologne, 50931 Cologne, Germany
2. Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Department of Neurology, University of Cologne, 50924 Cologne, Germany
Interests: speech production; articulation; prosody; laboratory phonology; speech motor control; movement disorders; deep brain stimulation; therapy optimization

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce a call for papers for a special issue on aging- and disease-related changes in speech production.

Physiologic aging as well as many neurological diseases are known to impact cognitive-linguistic and speech motor performance (Liss & Weismer 1991, Light & Burke 1993, Lowit et al. 2006, Seidler et al. 2010, Salazar et al. 2017, Duffy 2019) – two important processes fundamental to oral communication (Mefferd & Corder 2014, De Looze et al. 2017, Hermes et al. 2019, Thies et al. 2020, Guenther 2016). Although disease-related changes presumably impact oral communication to a greater extent than aging-related changes, both pose an increased risk to result in social isolation, depression, and an overall decrease in quality of life.

Although substantial research efforts have been directed towards a better understanding of the developmental aspects of oral communication (e.g. language acquisition, speech development), aging-related changes on oral communication remain understudied. The current knowledge gaps hinder a timely and accurate differentiation between aging-related changes and early disease progression, which can delay the implementation of therapeutic interventions. In addition, the relative contributions of cognitive-linguistic and motor processes to changes in oral communication remain unclear, preventing the identification of treatment targets to improve oral communication.

Languages is pleased to invite submissions to this Special Issue, considering inter alia studies that use a wide range of methodological approaches (e.g., imaging, physiologic, acoustic, auditory-perceptual) to better understand the impact of aging-related and/or disease-related changes on oral communication (speech production, language use).

Interested authors are asked to submit a preliminary title and a preliminary abstract (400-600 words) summarizing their research question(s) and methodologies. Please send this information to Anne Hermes ([email protected]) or to /Languages/ editorial office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors to ensure that the manuscript will fit within the scope of the special issue. Full manuscripts will undergo a double-blind peer-review process.

The tentative completion schedule is as follows:

Abstract submission deadline: February 15^th, 2021
Notification of abstract acceptance: March 1^st, 2021
Full manuscript deadline: 15th July 2021

List of references:

De Looze, C., Moreau, N., Renié, L., Kelly, F., Ghio, A., Rico, A., ... & Petrone, C. (2019). Effects of cognitive impairment on prosodic parameters of speech production planning in multiple sclerosis. Journal of Neuropsychology, 13(1), 22-45.

Duffy, J.R. (2019). Motor Speech Disorders: Substrates, Differential Diagnosis, Management. (4th ed.). Elsevier: St. Louis, MO.

Guenther, F. (2016). Neural control of speech. The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA.

Hermes, A., Mücke, D., Thies, T., & Barbe, M. T. (2019). Coordination patterns in Essential Tremor patients with Deep Brain Stimulation: Syllables with low and high complexity. Laboratory Phonology: Journal of the Association for Laboratory Phonology, 10(1), 6. DOI: http://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.5334/labphon.141

Light, L. & Burke, D.M. (1993). Language, Memory, and Aging. Cambridge University Press: New York, NY.

Liss, J.M. & Weismer, G. (1991). Speech Motor Control and Aging. In D.N. Ripich (Ed.). Handbook of Geriatric Communication Disorders. College Hill Press: San Diego, CA.

Lowit, A., Brendel, B., Dobinson, C., Howell, P., 2006. An investigation into the influences of age, pathology and cognition on speech production. J. Med. Speech Lang. Pathol. 14 (4), 253–262.

Mefferd AS, Corder EE. Assessing articulatory speed performance as a potential factor of slowed speech in older adults. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2014 Apr 1;57(2):347-60. DOI: https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1044/2014_JSLHR-S-12-0261

Salazar, R.D., Ren, X., Ellis, T.D., Toraif, N., Barthelemy, O.J., Neargarder, S., Cronin-Golomb, A., 2017. Dual tasking in Parkinson’s disease: cognitive consequences while walking. Neuropsychology 31 (6), 613.

Seidler, R. D., Bernard, J. A., Burutolu, T. B., Fling, B. W., Gordon, M. T., Gwin, J. T., ... & Lipps, D. B. (2010). Motor control and aging: links to age-related brain structural, functional, and biochemical effects. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 34(5), 721-733. DOI: https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2009.10.005

Thies, T., Mücke, D., Lowit, A., Kalbe, E., Steffen, J., & Barbe, M. T. (2020). Prominence marking in parkinsonian speech and its correlation with motor performance and cognitive abilities. Neuropsychologia, 137, 107306. DOI: https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107306

Dr. Anne Hermes
Dr. Antje Mefferd
Mrs. Tabea Thies
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Languages is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

aging
speech production
speech acoustics
speech kinematics
articulation
speech intelligibility
speech motor control
motor speech impairments
language use
language impairment
dysarthria
movement disorders
prosody
neurodegenerative diseases
cognitive impairment, brain imaging

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 5212 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Compensation in Time and Space: Prominence Marking in Aging and Disease

by Tabea Thies, Anne Hermes and Doris Mücke

Languages 2022, 7(1), 21; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/languages7010021 - 27 Jan 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2434

Abstract

This study aims to explore the effects of healthy aging and Parkinson’s disease on speech motor performance. One area of speech production which requires fine speech motor control is prominence marking. Therefore, strategies of prominence marking of three speaker groups with four speakers each were investigated: younger speakers, older speakers, and speakers with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Acoustic and articulatory data were collected. Speech data were analyzed focusing on prominence-related adjustments of vowel production and tongue body movements in the temporal and spatial domain. Longer durations, varying initiation of the tongue movements and smaller vowel sizes in older speakers and in speakers with PD were found compared to younger speakers. The data indicate further that all speaker groups mark prominence by changing relevant parameters in the vowel articulation; however, strategies seem to differ between the groups: (i) in the temporal domain, articulatory movement durations increase with age and are further prolonged in speakers with PD; (ii) in the spatial domain, the articulation space is resized by the older speakers in a non-symmetrical way, while no systematic vocalic modulations were found for speakers with PD. To conclude, the speech system seems to be affected by age and disease, but speakers develop compensatory strategies to counteract influences in the spatial domain. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aging- and Disease-related Changes in Speech Production)

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24 pages, 3379 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Longitudinal Study of Speech Acoustics in Older French Females: Analysis of the Filler Particle euh across Utterance Positions

by Susanne Fuchs, Laura L. Koenig and Annette Gerstenberg

Languages 2021, 6(4), 211; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/languages6040211 - 20 Dec 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3072

Abstract

Aging in speech production is a multidimensional process. Biological, cognitive, social, and communicative factors can change over time, stay relatively stable, or may even compensate for each other. In this longitudinal work, we focus on stability and change at the laryngeal and supralaryngeal levels in the discourse particle euh produced by 10 older French-speaking females at two times, 10 years apart. Recognizing the multiple discourse roles of euh, we divided out occurrences according to utterance position. We quantified the frequency of euh, and evaluated acoustic changes in formants, fundamental frequency, and voice quality across time and utterance position. Results showed that euh frequency was stable with age. The only acoustic measure that revealed an age effect was harmonics-to-noise ratio, showing less noise at older ages. Other measures mostly varied with utterance position, sometimes in interaction with age. Some voice quality changes could reflect laryngeal adjustments that provide for airflow conservation utterance-finally. The data suggest that aging effects may be evident in some prosodic positions (e.g., utterance-final position), but not others (utterance-initial position). Thus, it is essential to consider the interactions among these factors in future work and not assume that vocal aging is evident throughout the signal. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aging- and Disease-related Changes in Speech Production)

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14 pages, 2204 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Changes in Anticipatory VtoV Coarticulation in French during Adulthood

by Daria D’Alessandro and Cécile Fougeron

Languages 2021, 6(4), 181; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/languages6040181 - 29 Oct 2021

Viewed by 1457

Abstract

In this study, we test whether anticipatory Vowel-to-Vowel coarticulation varies with age in the speech of 246 adult French speakers aged between 20 and 93. The relationship between coarticulation and the known age-related change in speech rate is also investigated. The results show a gradual decrease in the amount of coarticulation for speakers from 20 to mid-50s, followed by a more abrupt decrease for speakers older than 70. For speakers in between, diverse coarticulation profiles emerge. Speech rate is also found to evolve from early to late adulthood and not only for older speakers; it shows a gradual decrease for speakers up to mid-50s and a more abrupt deceleration afterwards. Yet, the relationship between rate and coarticulation is not linear; it appears stronger for the younger speakers, with faster speakers coarticulating more, than for the adults over 70 y.o.a. Results are discussed in relation to possible changes in the parametrization and coordination of speech units at different ages. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aging- and Disease-related Changes in Speech Production)

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25 pages, 5503 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multi-Dimensional Variation in Adult Speech as a Function of Age

by Cécile Fougeron, Fanny Guitard-Ivent and Véronique Delvaux

Languages 2021, 6(4), 176; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/languages6040176 - 25 Oct 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2873

Abstract

We present a multidimensional acoustic report describing variation in speech productions on data collected from 500 francophone adult speakers (20 to 93 y.o.a.) as a function of age. In this cross-sectional study, chronological age is considered as a continuous variable while oral productions, in reading and speech-like tasks, are characterized via 22 descriptors related to voice quality, pitch, vowel articulation and vocalic system organization, time-related measures and temporal organization, as well as maximal performances in speech-like tasks. In a first analysis, we detail how each descriptor varies according to the age of the speaker, for male and female speakers separately. In a second analysis, we explore how chronological age is, in turn, predicted by the combination of all descriptors. Overall, results confirm that with increasing age, speakers show more voice instability, sex-dependent pitch changes, slower speech and articulation rates, slower repetition rates and less complexity effects in maximal performance tasks. A notable finding of this study is that some of these changes are continuous throughout adulthood while other appear either at old age or in early adulthood. Chronological age appears only moderately indexed in speech, mainly through speech rate parameters. We discuss these results in relation with the notion of attrition and with other possible factors at play, in an attempt to better capture the multidimensional nature of the notion of “age”. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aging- and Disease-related Changes in Speech Production)

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14 pages, 1039 KiB

Open AccessArticle

On the Primary Influences of Age on Articulation and Phonation in Maximum Performance Tasks

by Fredrik Karlsson and Lena Hartelius

Languages 2021, 6(4), 174; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/languages6040174 - 21 Oct 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1844

Abstract

Maximum performance tasks have been identified as possible domains where incipient signs of neurological disease may be detected in simple speech and voice samples. However, it is likely that these will simultaneously be influenced by the age and sex of the speaker. In this study, a comprehensive set of acoustic quantifications were collected from the literature and applied to productions of sustained [a] productions and Alternating Motion Rate diadochokinetic (DDK) syllable sequences made by 130 (62 women, 68 men) healthy speakers, aged 20–90 years. The participants were asked to produce as stable (sustained [a] and DDK) and fast (DDK) productions as possible. The full set of features were reduced to a functional subset that most efficiently modeled sex-specific differences between younger and older speakers using a cross-validation procedure. Twelve measures of [a] and 16 measures of DDK sequences were identified across men and women and investigated in terms of how they were altered with increasing age of speakers. Increased production instability is observed in both tasks, primarily above the age of 60 years. DDK sequences were slower in older speakers, but also altered in their syllable and segment level acoustic properties. Increasing age does not appear to affect phonation or articulation uniformly, and men and women are affected differently in most quantifications investigated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aging- and Disease-related Changes in Speech Production)

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