Rhythm as a Coordinating Device: Entrainment With Disordered Speech

Abstract

Purpose The rhythmic entrainment (coordination) of behavior during human interaction is a powerful phenomenon, considered essential for successful communication, supporting social and emotional connection, and facilitating sense-making and information exchange. Disruption in entrainment likely occurs in conversations involving those with speech and language impairment, but its contribution to communication disorders has not been defined. As a first step to exploring this phenomenon in clinical populations, the present investigation examined the influence of disordered speech on the speech production properties of healthy interactants. Method Twenty-nine neurologically healthy interactants participated in a quasi-conversational paradigm, in which they read sentences (response) in response to hearing prerecorded sentences (exposure) from speakers with dysarthria (n = 4) and healthy controls (n = 4). Recordings of read sentences prior to the task were also collected (habitual). Results Findings revealed that interactants modified their speaking rate and pitch variation to align more closely with the disordered speech. Production shifts in these rhythmic properties, however, remained significantly different from corresponding properties in dysarthric speech. Conclusion Entrainment offers a new avenue for exploring speech and language impairment, addressing a communication process not currently explained by existing frameworks. This article offers direction for advancing this line of inquiry.

From participatory sense-making to language: there and back again

“…The wheel of languaging model features the circular feedback between social environment, embodiment, and sense-making. This also fits with recent findings about the limited nature of entrainment that takes place in interactions between healthy participants and participants with communication disorders (Borrie and Liss 2014). Histories of frequent interaction breakdowns with others may have a reinforcing effect on socialcommunicative limitations.…”

Choral singing therapy following stroke or Parkinson’s disease: an exploration of participants’ experiences

“…Participants described how they watched the choir leader for cues, and used group flow and rhythm to entrain to melody and words; similar to other therapies suggested for Broca's aphasia and dysarthria [95,96]. This lends support for rhythm as a therapeutic agent in music [18,97], rhythmic cueing for word production in song [36], and the benefits of singing in synchrony with an auditory model (provided by the choir and choir leader) [98].…”

Do Conversational Partners Entrain on Articulatory Precision?

“…Conversational partners have been found to modify or adapt their behaviors to become more like one another. Known as conversational entrainment or alignment, the phenomenon is considered a potentially powerful communicative device that facilitates success by enhancing both social connection and mutual understanding [1]- [3]. Entrainment has been observed in body language, lexical content, acoustic-prosodic features such as pitch and intensity, and acoustic articulatory features (e.g.…”