BACKGROUND

a number of changes in the speech of normally aging adults have been described in the literature. However age-related changes in fluency have received little attention.

AIM

to verify the Fluency Profile of elderly regarding all of the different fluency parameters.

METHOD

participants were 128 elderly, of both genders, aged above 60 years. Speech samples of all participants were gathered. They were analyzed according to: type of speech disruption; speech rate and frequency of speech disruptions, based on the analyses of 200 fluent syllables. Participants were compared between themselves regarding the decades of life. Individuals with ages above 80 years constituted a single group.

RESULTS

statistical analysis indicated significant differences between the decades only for syllables per minute. For the group of individuals with ages above 80 years, statistical significance was observed indicating an increase in the number of speech disruptions and a decrease in speech rate.

CONCLUSION

regarding the fluency parameters analyzed in this study, the effect of aging seems to be more expressive after the age of 80 years.