AN 11-YEAR FOLLOW-UP OF MOTOR SPEECH ABILITIES IN ELDERLY ADULTS

An 11-year follow-up study of a group of elderly adults suggested a sp eed-accuracy trade-off for labial and lingual movements associated wit h syllable repetition tasks. Pre-post repetition data from one subject , apparently healthy in 1980 but diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1984-85, were analysed separately from the rest of the group. Rate/ti ming variability relationships for this subject differed significantly from 'normally ageing' peers. As perturbation measures have been show n to be relevant indicators of laryngeal behaviour, rate/timing contro l measures may also prove to be useful, age-sensitive indices of supra laryngeal speech motor control.