2026/03/11 by B. V. M. Mahesh, Devappa Shashank, Narayan Manasa +1 · 1 voice
Health Professions · Medicine · #Dysphagia Assessment and Management #Temporomandibular Joint Disorders #Voice and Speech Disorders
paper · doi:10.1080/14015439.2026.2635712
openalex publication_date 2026/03/11 · openalex created_date 2026/03/12 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
PURPOSE: Aging affects speech motor performance, particularly articulatory skills, often measured through oral diadochokinetic (ODDK) rates. The purpose of this was to examine the effects of age and gender on two tasks, namely alternating and sequential motion rates (SMRs) in healthy elderly Kannada speakers, and compared performances across tasks. METHODS: Sixty native Kannada speakers aged 61-80 performed rapid repetition tasks (/pa/, /ta/, /ka/ for alternating motion rate (AMR); /pataka/ for SMR). ODDK rates were recorded and analyzed using the Motor Speech Profile. RESULTS: Age had no significant effect on ODDK rates. However, a significant two-way interaction emerged between the type of task and gender. Subsequent analyses of the interaction effects demonstrated that the SMR was 16.52% and 14.73% faster than the AMRs in males and females, respectively. With regard to gender, the diadochokinetic (DDK) rates of the elderly male participants were significantly higher than those of the female participants for stimuli /pa/ (5.52 syllables/s and 4.90 syllables/s), /ta/ (5.06 syllables/s and 4.22 syllables/s), and /pataka/ (6.17 syllables/s and 5.43 syllables/s), with the exception of the syllable /ka/ (4.86 syllables/s and 4.77 syllables/s). CONCLUSIONS: The study findings highlighted that the decline in DDK rates may be language-specific. While disagreeing with some of the recent study findings on age-related decline in DDK rate, current findings underscore the need to use gender-specific reference values while assessing the articulatory motor integrity in the Kannada-speaking elderly population.