S. Kemper et al., USE OF ELDERSPEAK BY YOUNG AND OLDER ADULTS TO IMPAIRED AND UNIMPAIRED LISTENERS, Neuropsychology, development, and cognition. Section B, Aging, neuropsychology and cognition, 5(1), 1998, pp. 43-55
This study examined the use of elderspeak, a speech register targeted
at older listeners, by young and older adults. A simulation paradigm w
as used: The participants were asked to provide a set of instructions
for navigating a route drawn on a map and they were given photographs
and short biographical descriptions of listeners who were described ei
ther as healthy, active adults living independently or as older adults
who were experiencing cognitive problems including memory lapses, dis
orientation, and failing to recognize family members. The fluency, pro
sody, grammatical complexity, semantic content, and discourse style of
the instructions were compared. In addition, the participants were as
ked to rate the appropriateness of various speech accommodations, such
as using long sentences, exaggerated intonation, and repetition, for
the listeners. The results indicated that both young and older adults
rated the speech accommodations as appropriate for use with cognitivel
y impaired older adults. The young adults actually used such speech ac
commodations in response to the referential communication task whereas
the older adults adopted a more limited range of speech accommodation
s for the impaired listeners.