Compensation in Time and Space: Prominence Marking in Aging and Disease

Abstract

This study aims to explore the effects of healthy aging and Parkinson’s disease on speech motor performance. One area of speech production which requires fine speech motor control is prominence marking. Therefore, strategies of prominence marking of three speaker groups with four speakers each were investigated: younger speakers, older speakers, and speakers with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Acoustic and articulatory data were collected. Speech data were analyzed focusing on prominence-related adjustments of vowel production and tongue body movements in the temporal and spatial domain. Longer durations, varying initiation of the tongue movements and smaller vowel sizes in older speakers and in speakers with PD were found compared to younger speakers. The data indicate further that all speaker groups mark prominence by changing relevant parameters in the vowel articulation; however, strategies seem to differ between the groups: (i) in the temporal domain, articulatory movement durations increase with age and are further prolonged in speakers with PD; (ii) in the spatial domain, the articulation space is resized by the older speakers in a non-symmetrical way, while no systematic vocalic modulations were found for speakers with PD. To conclude, the speech system seems to be affected by age and disease, but speakers develop compensatory strategies to counteract influences in the spatial domain.