Motor–Speech Performance in Very Old Speakers: Associations With Physio‐Anatomical and Cognitive‐Linguistic Factors

What is already known on the subject Motor-speech performance slows down with ageing because of physio-anatomical and cognitive-linguistic changes. Speech tempo is, thus, a sensitive biomarker for neurological alterations. What this study adds to existing knowledge Formerly missing data on very old (VO) speakers' typical motor-speech skills and their predictors. Within-group differences are promoted by age, dentition, language skills and educational level. What are the clinical implications of this work? DDK, speaking and articulation rates are suitable means for clinical motor-speech assessment even in the oldest speakers. In addition to chronological age, speech-language pathologists should consider a range of individual physio-anatomical and cognitive-linguistic factors that contribute to speech performance. We recommend conducting AMR tasks /pa/, /ta/ and /ka/ together with an SMR /pataka/ task and comparing the results with culturally valid age-specific norms (if available), as their atypical relationship may indicate neuropathology.