Year : 2018, Volume : 6, Issue : 2
First page : ( 32) Last page : ( 47)
Print ISSN : 0000-0000. Online ISSN : 2320-6233.

Semantic fluency: A speech marker for persons with dementia of alzheimer’s type

Varghese Reuben Thomas¹, Scientist B, Goswami S.P.², Prof. in Speech Pathology

¹Center for Speech- Language Sciences

²Department of Speech – Language PathologyAll India Institute of Speech & Hearing, Mysuru, India

Abstract

Semantic verbal fluency tasks are used as a measure for checking the cognitive function in individuals. However, there is a dearth of semantic fluency studies using speech analysis for Persons with Dementia of Alzheimer’s type (DAT) and Healthy controls (HC).The aim of the present study was to compare the mean time duration between DAT and HC using semantic fluency task. Forty participants were recruited for the present study. These participants were categorized under two subgroups, twenty normal healthy controls (HC) and twenty persons with Mild Dementia of Alzheimer’s type (DAT). Both the groups were again sub divided into three age-groups [(60-65yrs, 65-70 yrs &70-75 yrs)].The results of the study revealed that persons with DAT exhibited more time duration in semantic fluency tasks compared to HC suggesting cognitive impairments and word retrieval deficits. The present study throws light on speech markers which can help in the differential diagnosis among both the groups. Further research with more number of samples is warranted.

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Key words:

Dementia of the Alzheimer type, Semantic fluency, Word retrieval deficits.

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