Date of Award

5-2026

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Honors Thesis

Department

Communications

First Advisor

Tonya Bergeson

Second Advisor

Tara Lineweaver

Abstract

Dementia is associated with progressive cognitive and communicative impairments that can contribute to social withdrawal and reduced quality of life. Although prior research has explored musical interventions and the use of prosodic features for early diagnosis, little is known about how expressive prosody is linked to engagement and communicative state during dyadic conversation in individuals with dementia. The present study examines different speech characteristics present in expressive prosody during conversation and explores whether these characteristics are associated with differences in conversational and behavioral engagement. Acoustic measures of pitch and speaking rate were analyzed during conversational interactions. Results indicated that prosodic features varied across emotional tone and conversational style, suggesting that expressive speech characteristics reflect communicative state in individuals with dementia. These findings highlight the importance of examining acoustic properties of speech in addition to behavioral symptoms and suggest that prosodic analysis may provide insight into real-time changes in communication during social interaction.

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