Turntaking in dialogue in populations with communicative impairment

This project constructs and tests an interactional paradigm to assess the impact of various spoken-language impairments on naturalistic language use. It investigates whether, and if so, how smooth turn-taking is achieved in conversations involving healthy younger and older adults, persons with Parkinson’s disease, and persons with severe hearing loss. This entails an investigation into (1) when speech planning starts in these groups, and (2) which cues they use or prioritise to plan and launch their response.