Clinical Outreach Seminar
A talk by Dr. Pascale Tremblay - Associate Professor, Rehabilitation Sciences - Laval University
Aging of speech functions in singers and non-singers
Despite the importance of speaking on communication and social interactions throughout the entire lifespan, little is known about the neuromotor and neurocognitive mechanisms that underlie age-related changes in speech production and how this affects communication. In this talk, I will present recent work from my lab that explored the impact of aging on speech and voice production. I will also describe the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie these changes, focusing on neuroplasticity. Finally, the moderating impact of singing on voice and speech production in aging will also be discussed.
Biography:
Pascale Tremblay is associate professor in Rehabilitation Sciences at Université Laval in Québec City, Canada, researcher at the CERVO Brain Research Center and holder of a Chercheur-boursier Junior 2 career award from the FRQS.
Dr. Tremblay is co-director of the Quebec City brain imaging Consortium (CINQ), and co-founder of the Society for the Neurobiology of Language (SNL). Her laboratory, the Speech and hearing Neurosciences Laboratory (www.speechneurolab.ca), focuses on understanding the behavioural and neural substrates of speech/voice perception and production in adulthood and throughout aging using cognitive neurosciences methods.
Her research combines high-end brain imaging methods, such as structural, functional and diffusion-weighted imaging, brain stimulation methods and carefully designed experimental manipulations. Current work is focused on identifying the factors that affect speech functions in aging, including neurocognitive and sensorimotor aging and on strategies that can alleviate age-related changes to human communication such as singing though experience-induced brain plasticity.
