Speech disfluency in centenarians

Abstract

Other than a single case presentation of a 105-year-old female, no other studies have addressed the speech fluency characteristics of centenarians. The purpose of this study was to provide descriptive information on the fluency characteristics of speakers between the ages of 100–103 years. Conversational speech samples from seven speakers were evaluated for the frequency and types of disfluencies and speech rate. The centenarian speakers had a disfluency rate similar to that reported for 70-, 80-, and early 90-year-olds. The types of disfluencies observed also were similar to those reported for younger elderly speakers (primarily whole word/phrase, or formulative fluency breaks). Finally, the speech rate data for the current group of speakers supports prior literature reports of a slower rate with advancing age, but extends the finding to centenarians. Learning outcomes As a result of this activity, participants will be able to: (1) describe the frequency of disfluency breaks and the types of disfluencies exhibited by centenarian speakers, (2) describe the mean and range of speaking rates in centenarians, and (3) compare the present findings for centenarians to the fluency and speaking rate characteristics reported in the literature.