What might cause an elderly person to slur their words during a conversation?

Slurred speech in an elderly person is often a symptom associated with medication effects. Many medications can cause side effects that impact cognitive functions and motor skills, leading to difficulties in speech clarity. For the elderly, who may be taking multiple prescriptions for various health conditions, the risk of drug interactions or side effects that affect the central nervous system can increase. These effects might include sedation, confusion, or neuromuscular impairment, all of which can contribute to slurred speech during a conversation.

While fatigue, anxiety, and hearing loss can have their own impacts on communication, they do not directly cause slurred speech in the same way that medication can. Fatigue might lead to a lack of energy or slower speech but is not typically associated with slurring. Anxiety may cause a person to speak rapidly or with an uptight tone, but it does not usually interfere with the clarity of words as medication side effects might. Hearing loss can affect how well a person understands and responds in a conversation, but it generally does not affect the articulation of their speech itself. Thus, medication stands out as the most relevant cause in this context for slurred speech among elderly individuals.