Some Prosodic Characteristics of Repeated Talk following Conversation Repair Requests by Adults with Hearing Impairment

Abstract

When miscommunications occur in conversation, participants have access to both speech-and language-based cues to clarify the miscommunicated talk. This article investigates what changes occur in prosodic speech patterns between initial and repeated talk in a brief free and unstructured conversation between an adult bilateral cochlear implantee and his chosen familiar communication partner, his wife, conducted in a clinical setting. The 23-minute conversation between the two participants included 37 self-repetitions of one or more words by the familiar communication partner. Most instances were repetitionas-repair sequences. Each of the 37 instances was subjected to acoustic analysis to identify frequency, loudness, and duration of word tokens in both the initial and repeated talk as well as pause length between tokens. Data suggest that loudness, pitch, and duration are commonly all increased in the prominent words repeated by the communication partner by contrast with the initial utterance. Repeated sequences included more pauses, but not longer ones, than the initial utterances. Prosodic patterns of repetition were influenced by the turn(s) preceding the repeated talk and the co-occurrence of prosodic and lexical elements in the repair/repetition turn. The success of the repeated talk in resolving miscommunications for this dyad suggests that prosodic speech cues in conjunction with lexical cues are effective repair strategies.

Conversation breakdowns in the audiology clinic: the importance of mutual gaze

“…As well as repeating their talk, audiologists typically used a combination of the following repair strategies: (1) redirecting their gaze to the client; (2) prosodic variation (including increase in loudness or change in pitch) (Lind et al . ); (3) simplifying complex utterances (Schegloff ); (4) omitting ‘dispensable’ elements of the turn (Schegloff ); (5) replacing specialized terms; and (6) providing further explanation or expanding on an indexical (e.g., ‘it’) (Schegloff ). While it was variable which of these strategies were used by audiologists in their repair turns, in all but one case where mutual gaze had not been present during the trouble source turn, the speaker sought to meet the client's gaze within the repair turn.…”

“…In response, when repairing their talk, conversation partners will often vary the prosodic delivery of their repeated turn (Lind et al . ). For example, speakers may increase the loudness, pitch, and duration of their repair turn.…”

“…, Tye‐Murray and Witt , Lind et al . , Caissie and Rockwell ). Most of these previous studies examined communication breakdowns and repairs in brief 5–10‐min conversations set up for the purposes of the experimental research study (Wilson et al .…”

“…For people with a communication impairment, breakdowns in communication are a particularly consistent concern (e.g., Erber , Lind et al . , Helasvuo et al . , Wilkinson , Laakso and Klippi ), which can have a significant impact on their everyday life activities and social relationships (Tye‐Murray ).…”

“…The few studies that have examined a more extended conversation (15–20 min) have been based on a case example, and have focused on conversations with the person with HI and their significant other (Caissie and Rockwell , Lind et al . , ). Less research has focused on the causes of hearing‐related communication breakdowns that occur within appointments with healthcare professionals.…”