Temporal structure in the speech of persons with Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type (DAT)

Abstract

Although cognitive and language processes in dementia have been studied extensively, the question of motor speech degeneration in the course of dementing illness is a relatively unexplored area. The potential for early dissociation of motor functions of language at the level of speech production has not been explored; an interaction between motor speech and language production and perception changes should inform our understanding of the deterioration in dementia. In previous reports on two persons with DAT, we have shown inconsistent final lengthening and effects of syllable-final consonant voicing on vowel duration for one of the two speakers. We recorded one of the speakers again, and his speech was markedly slower. In this report, we expand our analysis to include three additional persons with mild-to-moderate DAT, from whom a series of 4-word phrases containing a target word occurring in phrase-medial or phrase final position was elicited. We will present the results of our analysis of final lengthening, compensatory shortening, and the effects of final consonant voicing on vowel duration.