Prosodic changes with age: a longitudinal study with three public figures in European Portuguese

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Acoustics
• Gerontology

Background:

• Acoustic parameter analysis is crucial for understanding human communication development.
• Suprasegmental features of speech change throughout the human lifespan.
• Longitudinal studies are vital for tracking developmental changes in communication.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze suprasegmental features of European Portuguese in longitudinal conversational speech.
• To investigate age-related changes in prosodic parameters in male public figures.
• To examine speech characteristics across approximately 30 years of aging.

Main Methods:

• Semi-automatic extraction of twenty prosodic features (intonation, intensity, rhythm, pauses).
• Analysis of 360 speech intervals from three male speakers across different age groups.
• Longitudinal data collection from conversational speech samples in uncontrolled environments.

Main Results:

• Twelve prosodic parameters showed significant age effects in at least one speaker.
• Significant differences observed between 50-year-old and 80-year-old age groups in seven parameters.
• Older speakers exhibited lower/less variable fundamental frequency (fo), higher fo minimum, wider fo peaks, increased vocal effort, more variable intensity, slower speech/articulation rates, and more frequent/longer pauses.

Conclusions:

• The study characterizes normal aging in speech, identifying specific prosodic changes.
• Findings are significant for human-machine communication and speech recognition systems.
• Results can inform strategies for communication with older adults and applied linguistics.