Oral-diadochokinetic rate for healthy young Jordanian adults

Abstract

ABSTRACT We used a sequential motion rate (SMR) oral-diadochokinetic (oral-DDK) rate task to examine speech motor performance in healthy young adults. The goals of this study were to: (1) establish SMR oral-DDK rate values for healthy young adult Jordanians, (2) examine the effect of gender on oral-DDK rate, and (3) examine the trial-to-trial variability of mean oral-DDK rate in consecutive trials. One hundred and six healthy young adults (53 males and 53 females, age range 18–26) participated in this study. One hundred and six healthy young adults (53 males and 53 females, age range 18–26) participated in this study. Participants repeated the trisyllable /pataka/ as fast as they could in three consecutive trials. For each participant and group, (a) the number of syllables per second were examined and analyzed, and (b) the oral-DDK rate values were compared across the three trials in order to examine trial-to-trial variability. The results of the study indicated that: (1) SMR oral-DDK mean rate for the participants in the study was 6.57 syllables/s (SD = 0.84); (2) There were no significant differences between gender groups in oral-DDK rate; (3) Mean oral-DDK rate for repetitions was comparable across the three trials for participants. Gender does not seem to affect oral-DDK rate in healthy young adult Jordanian speakers. Also, performance is stable in consecutive trials of SMR oral-DDK rate tasks. Implications of these findings are presented and discussed.