An acoustic study of temporal aspects of discourse under the influence of alcohol in Spanish speakers

Although the effects of alcohol on the temporal parameters of speech have been approached in various studies in numerous languages, there is no such study analyzing the acoustic manifestations of said effects in the Spanish language. The aim of this preliminary study is to observe in which ways certain strategies, such as silent pauses, filled pauses, and syllable lengthening —both in frequency and duration—, as well as speaking and articulatory rates are affected by the alcoholization in utterances realized by Spanish speakers. Ten female subjects participated in this experiment, each performing four tasks—two in order to obtain semi-spontaneous speech and two in order to obtain read speech—in each of the three sessions maintained. In the first session the participants were completely sober, in the second they were under a moderate influence of alcohol, and in the third session they were in a more intoxicated state than in the previous session. The results show that the quantity of speech disrupting strategies is not determinately related to the level of intoxication of the subject, whereas in contrast the duration of such strategies, as well as speaking and articulation rate constitute notable indicators of intoxication. That is to say, that alcohol, as it affects the central nervous system, produces a slowing of speech that creates a relationship with the length of pauses and slowness of speech that is directly proportional with blood alcohol content.