Effects of alcohol on speech: I. Durations of isolated words, sentences, and passages in fluent speech.

Abstract

Although the effects of alcohol on speech production have not been widely investigated, previous research has suggested that utterances produced while a talker is intoxicated may be longer than those produced while the talker is sober [e.g., Sobell etal., Folia Phonetica 34, 316–323 (1982); D. B. Pisoni and C. S. Martin, Alcoholism: Clinical Exp. Res. 13, 577–587 (1989)]. As part of a larger investigation of the effects of alcohol on speech, nine talkers were recorded while sober and intoxicated. Talkers produced isolated monosyllabic words, isolated spondees, isolated sentences, and passages of fluent speech. Two questions of utterance duration were addressed: (1) Does alcohol affect the duration of utterances? (2) Does alcohol affect the duration of different utterance types in the same way? The results revealed that isolated sentences and sentences from within passages produced in the intoxicated condition were reliably longer than those produced in the sober condition. However, for isolated monosyllabic words and spondees, utterance durations were not reliably different between the sober and intoxicated conditions. Results are discussed in terms of the effects of alcohol on speech motor control.