Michael Kleiman, PhD

Project Title: “Assessing trajectories of discrete measures of speech behavior in age-related decline”

As we age, it becomes common to require extra time to search for the “right” word to use. Speech production is a complex process that requires an array of cognitive processes working together. As we age, aspects of cognition slow, resulting in difficulties connecting a thought with words to express it. Some degree of speech degradation is associated with both age-related and pathological decline (e.g., due to Alzheimer’s disease). Age-related decline, however, has not been well studied. 

Dr. Kleiman’s research will study speech behavior in older adults and identify social and medical factors that cause a decline in speech. Identifying these factors may lead to the development of remote, virtual, or phone screenings that can identify pathological cognitive decline.

Dr. Kleiman is a postdoctoral fellow in cognitive research at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

This research is funded by the McKnight Brain Research Foundation through the American Brain Foundation, in collaboration with the American Academy of Neurology.