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Measuring age effects on communicating with distractions: Implications for aphasia assessment
What is it about?
Everyday communication often occurs in distracting conditions, such as while having a conversation in a noisy restaurant or multitasking. Additionally, there are known impacts of age on language production. Aphasia, a language disorder caused by damage to the brain, can also impact many aspects of language production. This study was divided into two parts. First, we studied how a variety of distracting situations impacted language production for adults without aphasia across ages. Second, we compared four people with mild aphasia to the sample to find out if they performed as expected when compared to their healthy peers. The findings of study 1 highlight that there are a variety of differences in language production during distracting conditions for adults between ages 26-85. Study 2 found that three out of four participants with aphasia showed impaired language production in distracting conditions compared to their same-aged peer group. Each person with aphasia had a unique response to the distracting conditions.
Why is it important?
Language therapy for chronic aphasia often occurs in quiet environments. As recovery progresses, this can impact a person with aphasia’s ability to succeed in everyday communication. This study emphasizes the importance of individualized evaluation for each PWA to best support successful everyday communication.