# Looking for information related to speech analysis



## ingenious (Oct 26, 2004)

I've been working with a female cowork for over four years now and every time she speaks, I think to myself that I have got to research this.

Whenever she speaks, the last half of the sentence or thereabouts is supplemented with giggling/laughter.  Doesn't matter what the subject is or who she is talking to.  I've never seen that before and figure (forgive me here) that 'something must be wrong with her'.  Poor choice of words but I'm sure you get my meaning.

Anyway, trying to look for things like 'speech' on the Internet yields to many false results and I'm at a loss of what, specifically, to look for.

Any help appreciated.  I'm researching this to satisfy my own curiousity only, not to label her or anything like that.

Thanks.


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## David Baxter PhD (Oct 26, 2004)

I'd suspect this is related to nervousness/anxiety, if not current nervousness then a habit left over from an earlier time when she was nervous or lacked self-confidence in social interactions.

As for how to search for more information, I'm not sure you'll find much directly relevant. It's not likely to be a speech disorder _per se_ so using that as part of a search term will just muddy the results. You might look for information on "social anxiety and conversation" or the like.

One other (less likely) possibility is that it is a form of tic disorder (e.g., Tourette's).


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## ingenious (Oct 26, 2004)

Thank you Dr. Baxter.  Very helpful.  I wasn't thinking speech disorder either but just didn't know what else to try and search on.  It is an interesting phenomenon to witness in person, that's for sure.

Very much appreciate the response!


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