Acoustics of Clear and Noise-Adapted Speech in Children, Young, and Older Adults

Abstract

Findings have implications for a model of speech production in healthy speakers as well as the potential to aid in clinical decision making for individuals with speech disorders, particularly dysarthria.

Clear speech adaptations in spontaneous speech produced by young and older adults

“…In their conversational speech produced in good communicative conditions, YA and OA talkers varied in terms of their articulation rate, mid-frequency energy and F0 characteristics. The finding of a slower speech rate in older adults mirrors previous findings (Smith et al, 1987;Sadagopan and Smith, 2013;Smiljanić and Gilbert, 2017a). However, the finding of an age-related difference in midfrequency energy does not concur with the acoustic analyses of the speech produced by younger and older adults in Smiljanić and Gilbert (2017a), as shown in their Table 1 for the 'conversational quiet' condition.…”

“…The finding of a slower speech rate in older adults mirrors previous findings (Smith et al, 1987;Sadagopan and Smith, 2013;Smiljanić and Gilbert, 2017a). However, the finding of an age-related difference in midfrequency energy does not concur with the acoustic analyses of the speech produced by younger and older adults in Smiljanić and Gilbert (2017a), as shown in their Table 1 for the 'conversational quiet' condition. This may potentially be due to the use of different elicitation approaches (spontaneous vs read speech) used in these studies.…”

“…when asked to speak as if to an imagined person with a hearing loss or who is not a native speaker. A recent lifespan study including young and older adults has directly investigated the acoustic characteristics of their casual and instructed clear speaking styles, among other conditions (Smiljanić and Gilbert, 2017a). When asked to read sentences clearly in a quiet environment, older adults reduced their speech rate and produced longer pauses than when speaking casually.…”

“…A first aim of this study is therefore to investigate changes in articulation rate across communicative conditions in older adults and young adult controls. Even when speaking without interference, differences in articulation rate across the lifespan have been documented in a number of studies (e.g., Duchin and Mysak, 1987;Jacewicz, Fox and Wei, 2010;Bilodeau-Mercure and Tremblay, 2016;Bóna, 2014;Smiljanić and Gilbert, 2017a). For example, a lifespan study showed that articulation rate measured from spontaneous speech monologues increased from childhood into adulthood and did not peak until adults were in their mid-40s (Jacewicz et al, 2010).…”

Intelligibility of Noise-Adapted and Clear Speech in Child, Young Adult, and Older Adult Talkers

“…Conclusions: Results provide evidence that intelligibility variation related to age and communicative barrier has the potential to aid clinical decision making for individuals with speech disorders, particularly dysarthria. I n a companion article (Smiljanic & Gilbert, 2017), we examined acoustic-articulatory adjustments that children, young adults, and older adults implemented when speaking in response to noise (noise-adapted speech [NAS]) and when instructed to speak clearly (clear speech [CS]), both separately and in conjunction. The results showed some overlapping CS and NAS strategies (boost in spectral energy, increase in sound pressure levels [SPLs], longer voiced segments, slower speaking rate, and increased vowel space area [VSA]) as well as some divergent ones (increased F0 mean, jitter, and shimmer in NAS vs. increased pausing in CS).…”