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Elongation of Pause-Time in Speech: A Simple, Objective Measure of Motor Retardation in Depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

E. Szabadi ,
C. M. Bradshaw  and
J. A. O. Besson
E. Szabadi
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of South Manchester, West Didsbury, Manchester M20 8LR
C. M. Bradshaw
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of South Manchester, West Didsbury, Manchester M20 8LR
J. A. O. Besson
Affiliation:
Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF
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Summary

A sample of ‘automatic speech’ (counting from 1 to 10) was tape-recorded and the times taken up by phonation and pauses measured. In four healthy volunteers, both phonation times and pause times remained constant over a period of two months. In four moderately depressed patients, with no history of manic illness and with no obvious clinical signs of motor retardation, the pause times were significantly elongated while the patients were depressed compared to pause times measured after recovery. The phonation times were constant throughout the period of observation (4–6 months). Other tests for motor retardation (tapping time; Nurses' rating scale; Hamilton Retardation Scores) did not give consistent results. It is concluded that the simple test described here may reveal a degree of motor retardation in cases where other tests fail to do so.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 129 , Issue 6 , December 1976 , pp. 592 - 597
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1976 

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