Oral-diadochokinetic rates among healthy Malaysian-Mandarin speakers: A cross linguistic comparison

Chu SY 1 , Lee J 2 , Barlow SM 3 , Ben-David B 4 , Lim KX 1 , Foong JH 1

Affiliations 

  • 1 Faculty of Health Sciences, Centre for Healthy Ageing and Wellness (H-CARE), Speech Sciences Programme, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 2 Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA
  • 3 Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA
  • 4 Communication Aging and Neuropsychology Lab (CANlab), Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliya, Israel
Int J Speech Lang Pathol, 2021 08;23(4):419-429.
PMID: 33059474 DOI: 10.1080/17549507.2020.1808701

Abstract

PURPOSE: This study examined the effects of non-word versus real word, age, and gender on oral-DDK rates among healthy Malaysian-Mandarin speakers. Comparison between non-word of Malaysian-Mandarin and Hebrew speakers was examined.

METHOD: One-hundred and seventeen speakers (18-83 years old, 46% men) were audio-recorded while performing non-word (repetition of "pataka") and real-word oral-DDK tasks ("butter cake" and " ([pha4tha1khan4])"). The number of syllables produced in 8 seconds was counted from the audio recording to derive the oral-DDK rates. A MANOVA was conducted to compare the rates between age groups (young = 18-40 years, n = 56; middle = 41-60 years, n = 39; older = 61-83 years, n = 22) and gender. In a second analysis, "pataka" results were compared between this study and previous findings with Hebrew speakers.

RESULT: No gender effects were found. However, rates significantly decreased with age (p  non-words (5.29 ± 1.23) > Mandarin words (4.91 ± 1.13). Malaysian-Mandarin speakers performed slower than Hebrew speakers on "pataka" task.

CONCLUSION: Aging has a large impact on oromotor functions, indicating that speech-language pathologists should consider using age-adjusted norms.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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