Amaç: Yaşlı bireyler, diğer yaş dönemlerinden farklı olarak bu döneme özgü dil ve konuşma özellikleri sergilerler. Bu özelliklerden biri, dilsel, bilişsel ve motor süreçlerle yakından ilişkili olan konuşma akıcılığıdır. Bu çalışma, Türkçe konuşan yaşlı bireylerin konuşma akıcısızlıklarına dair ilk ön normatif verileri sunmayı amaçlamaktadır. Gereç ve Yöntemler: Çalışmaya, 65-85 yaş aralığında, ana dili Türkçe olan 60 birey katılmıştır. Katılımcılar, genç yaşlılar (65-74 yaş) ve orta yaşlılar (75-85 yaş) olmak üzere 2 gruba ayrılmıştır. Demans durumunu dışlamak için Standart Mini Mental Test kullanılmıştır. Her katılımcının 5 dk'lık konuşma örneğinden 400 hecelik bir kesit değerlendirilmiştir. Tüm örneklerin rastgele seçilmiş, %20'si bir dil ve konuşma terapisi yüksek lisans öğrencisi tarafından incelenmiş ve 2 değerlendirici arasındaki uyumun yüksek olduğu tespit edilmiştir (κ=0,61-1,00). Verilerin analizi için Mann-Whitney U testi ve Spearman korelasyon analizi kullanılmıştır. Bulgular: En sık gözlemlenen akıcısızlık türleri sesli (doldurulmuş) duraklama (%2,30) ve tereddütler (%1,18) olmuştur. Yaş ile tek heceli kelime tekrarları ve toplam kekemelik benzeri akıcısızlıklar arasında pozitif yönde anlamlı bir ilişki bulunmuştur (p<0,05). Ancak yaş ile normal akıcısızlıkların toplam yüzdesi arasında anlamlı bir ilişki saptanmamıştır (p>0,05). Sonuç: Türkçe konuşan yaşlı bireylerde görülen akıcısızlıkların dağılımı literatür dikkate alındığında çocukluk, ergenlik ve yetişkinlik dönemlerindeki bireylerden farklı görünmektedir. En sık görülen sesli (doldurulmuş) duraklama ve tereddütlerin bu yaş grubunun bilişsel ve dilbilgisel özelliklerini yansıttığı düşünülmektedir. Ayrıca, bu akıcısızlıkların konuşma sürecini yönetmek ve zaman kazanmak için bir strateji olarak kullanıldığı da öne sürülebilir.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Konuşma; yaşlılık; cinsiyet faktörleri
Objective: Older individuals exhibit language and speech features specific to this stage of life, distinguishing them from other age groups. Among these, speech fluency, closely related to linguistic, cognitive, and motor processes, stands out. This study aims to provide preliminary normative data on speech disfluencies observed in Turkish-speaking old-age individuals. Material and Methods: The study involved 60 native Turkish speakers aged 65 to 85, divided into two groups: young-old (ages 65 to 74) and middle-old (ages 75 to 85). The Standardized Mini-Mental Test was conducted to exclude participants with dementia. A 400-syllable segment from a 5-minute speech sample of each participant was evaluated. A speech-language pathology graduate student examined a randomly selected 20% of all samples, and the inter-rater agreement between the two raters was substantial (κ=0.61-1.00). The Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman correlation analysis were employed to analyze the data. Results: The most commonly observed types of disfluencies were filled pauses, accounting for 2.30%, and hesitations, which represented 1.18%. Age significantly correlated with monosyllabic word repetitions and total stuttering-like disfluencies (p<0.05). However, no significant relationship was observed between age and the total percentage of normal disfluencies (p>0.05). Conclusion: The distribution of disfluencies observed in Turkish-speaking elderly individuals appears to differ from those in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, considering the literature. The most common filled pauses and hesitations are thought to reflect the cognitive and linguistic characteristics of this age group. Additionally, these disfluencies are also hypothesized to serve as a strategy to manage the speech process and gain time for processing.
Keywords: Speech; aging; sex factors
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