Effect of age, gender and task on speech rate of Farsi speakers

Rate of speech as a supra-segmental feature, directly affects the speech fluency and Intelligibility. Studies have shown some factors such as gender, age, living place, and accent can influence on speaking rate. So, it is important to consider norms of each language during assessment and diagnosis. Since studies to determine the standards for speaking rate is very limited in Farsi language, this survey was done to compare speaking rate and articulation rate in young and elderly Farsi speakers who live in Tehran city.
52 young and elderly men and women participated in this cross sectional study and convenience sampling approach was used for this selection. Two different speaking samples were recorded for each participant including a reading text sample and a 3 minute spontaneous speech sample. Speaking rate was determined and articulation rate in reading and spontaneous speech were considered after excluding filled and empty pauses.
The highest rate belonged to articulation during speaking, articulation during reading and spontaneous speech respectively. Both of speaking rate and articulation rates were significantly less in elderly than youth and also more in men than women.
Age, gender and task affect on speaking rate. Hence, such factors are important to be considered by speech and language pathologists during diagnosing and assessing the fluency problems