Sensorimotor Adaptation to a Nonuniform Formant Perturbation Is Preserved in Healthy Aging

Area of Science:

• Speech motor control
• Auditory feedback
• Sensorimotor adaptation
• Human aging

Background:

• Sensorimotor adaptation is a key mechanism for speech motor learning and intelligibility.
• Previous research on speech sensorimotor adaptation has primarily focused on young adults.
• Age-related declines in motor performance raise questions about the impact of healthy aging on speech motor learning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effects of healthy aging on speech sensorimotor adaptation.
• To examine how age influences adaptation to auditory feedback perturbations and generalization of learning.

Main Methods:

• Forty-three healthy adults (18-73 years) participated.
• Participants read words while auditory feedback was perturbed towards vowel centralization.
• Adaptation was measured by changes in acoustic vowel contrast; generalization was tested on untrained vowels.

Main Results:

• Participants successfully adapted to the auditory perturbation, increasing acoustic vowel contrast.
• This adaptation generalized to untrained vowels.
• Age did not significantly impact the magnitude of adaptation or generalization.

Conclusions:

• Healthy aging does not impair sensorimotor adaptation in speech.
• Sensorimotor adaptation remains a viable mechanism for improving speech in older adults.
• Findings support the use of auditory feedback interventions for older adults with motor speech disorders.