Conversational Flow

The natural rhythm and progression of a conversation, including the smooth exchange of turns, timely responses, appropriate pauses, and coherent topic development. Conversational flow depends on both partners' ability to produce and perceive turn-taking cues, backchanneling signals, and topic transitions in real time. AAC communication frequently disrupts conversational flow due to message composition delays, missed non-verbal cues when users attend to devices, and the resulting disconnected exchanges. Supporting conversational flow in AAC requires timing-aware technology design and mutual adaptation between communication partners.