title: Word length and vowel duration in apraxia of speech: the use of relative measures.
abstract: Previous research has established that the duration of stressed word stem vowels is shorter in polysyllabic words than in monosyllabic words for normal speakers and for speakers with aphasia and apraxia of speech (AOS). However, the results are inconsistent across studies with regard to the magnitude and pattern of the duration reduction for apraxic speakers. We hypothesized that this inconsistency may be explained based on different relative measures of duration reduction. A speech sample was obtained from 10 aphasic speakers with AOS, 10 aphasic speakers without AOS, and 10 normal controls. As predicted, the use of two different relative measures resulted in different vowel reduction patterns, both of which were consistent with previous reports. The results further indicate that the production of polysyllabic words is particularly taxing in AOS and is associated with a substantial reduction of speaking rate compared to other aphasic and normal speakers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Allied Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27599-7190, USA. khaley@med.unc.edu
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Haley
authors.forename: H B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Overton
mesh_terms: D001072:Apraxias / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010700:Phonetics; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D013997:Time Factors; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D014825:Vocabulary