Potential Causes and Consequences of Overlap in Talk between Speakers with Parkinson’s Disease and Their Familiar Conversation Partners

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) can cause both motor speech and cognitive deficits, with those affected perceiving a negative effect on their everyday experiences of communication. One specific concern reported by people with PD is that people "talk over" them. Psychosocial reactions to communication changes in PD are highly individualized and do not correlate strongly with measures of disease severity. With the aim of developing a better understanding of the individual's everyday experience of being talked over, this study uses Conversation Analysis to examine videoed instances of naturally occurring overlapping talk. Two phenomena emerge. First, aspects of speech specific to PD can cause overlap, which in turn leads to the need for repair. Second, opportunities to repair disordered talk, further compromised in terms of intelligibility by overlap, are often not followed up. This leads to the deletion of PD turns at talk and therefore reduced participation in conversations. The implications of these phenomena for both client well-being and clinical interventions are discussed.

Communication impairment in patients with Parkinson's disease: challenges and solutions

“…Several consistent patterns emerged. First, Griffiths et al 54 focused on talk overlap. Although overlapping talk occurs in conversation, it is relatively infrequent and typically handled quickly and efficiently with repair (ie, attempts to correct) sequences.…”

Maintenance of speech in Parkinson’s disease: The impact of group therapy

“…Given the findings in cognitive studies, and the interaction amongst cognition, linguistic ability and motor-speech function, 13,169,173 it seems reasonable to hypothesise that cognitive-linguistic difficulties may prove problematic in conversation, 182 especially in circumstances with cognitive load. People with PD have reported experiencing difficulties getting into, and keeping a place in conversation.…”

“…74,207 Conversation analysis (CA) has revealed a tendency for people with PD to overlap with their communication partners, especially after a pause. 182 The speech of people with PD has been reported to have more pauses and hesitations. 57,157,182 Difficulties initiating speech and slowed cognitive processing may have caused participants with PD to miss their turn, and then subsequently overlap their communication partner.…”

“…182 The speech of people with PD has been reported to have more pauses and hesitations. 57,157,182 Difficulties initiating speech and slowed cognitive processing may have caused participants with PD to miss their turn, and then subsequently overlap their communication partner. 182 Overlap was reported to result in the PD speaker experiencing difficulties in being heard.…”

“…57,157,182 Difficulties initiating speech and slowed cognitive processing may have caused participants with PD to miss their turn, and then subsequently overlap their communication partner. 182 Overlap was reported to result in the PD speaker experiencing difficulties in being heard. 182 These difficulties were compounded by articulation and voice deficits.…”