Diadochokinetic rate in Thai adults using between auditory-perceptual and instrumental methods

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Background: Diadochokinetic (DDK) rate refers to the time taken to execute rapid repetitive movements of articulators during speech. DDK rate assessment has been used to screen or as part of an assessment to diagnose and plan treatment for motor speech disorders. It contained alternating motion rate (AMR) and sequential motion rate (SMR) assessments. There were two main methods for DDK assessment: perceptual speech assessment and instrumental speech assessment. Objective: This study aimed to compare the DDK rate measured by auditoryperceptual and instrumental methods and investigate the effects of age and gender on the DDK rate in normal Thai adults. Materials and methods: In this cross-sectional study, the participants were Thai adults aged 21-78. Sixty participants were divided equally into three age groups: young adult, middle-aged adult, and older adult group. All participants were asked to repeat four speech tasks as rapidly as possible, namely, AMR as [ph a:], [th a:], [kh a:], and SMR as [ph a:-th a:-kh a:]. DDK rates were measured using two methods, namely, the auditory-perceptual method and the instrumental method, which used the Praat program. The paired sample t-test examined the difference in average DDK rates between the two methods. The one-way ANOVA was utilized to analyze the average rate differences among three age groups, while gender differences were analyzed through an independent sample t-test. Results: The averages of SMR between the auditory-perceptual method and thePraat program were significantly different (p<0.05), whereas the averages of AMRwere not significantly different. The findings also found that averages of SMR hadsignificant differences (p<0.05) between three age groups and two genders. The young adult group had a higher average of SMR than middle-aged adult and olderadult groups. Males had a higher average of SMR than females. Conclusion: This result indicates that different assessment methods result in different DDK rates, especially SMR. Therefore, choosing the DDK rate assessment method should be careful and consider its accuracy. Moreover, the SMR task may be more sensitive than the AMR task to age-related change and gender factors.