Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “STUTTERING”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 325 records · Page 18Linked to original sources
PubMed2001

Perceptions of simulated stuttering and fluency.

This study explored multiple effects of listener perceptions of different levels of simulated stuttering and fluency. A single stuttered speech sample was modified to create four additional samples of stuttering and fluency. A sixth sample of a nonstuttered signal served as a comparative baseline. Each of 60 independent listeners made quantitative and qualitative perceptual judgments upon hearing only one of the six randomly assigned samples. Results showed a broad spectrum of qualitative and quantitative listener perceptions of the various levels of stuttering and fluency studied. Likert scale data revealed that listeners gave lower ratings to samples with increased levels of stuttering. Listener commentaries revealed fewer positive comments with increased levels of stuttering and distinctive preferences between two 0% samples of stuttering where only prosodic features were modified. Additionally, specific perceptions of speaker competency, perceived ease in reading a passage, general comfort listening, and perceived effort in understanding the story appear to affect the global perceptions of a speaker's communication. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Sudden onset of stuttering: a case report.

This report describes a 28-year-old male who suddenly began to stutter after an attempted suicide. The patient had a history of one prior stuttering episode lasting approximately one week, also following a suicide attempt. The speech evaluation documented that the patient stuttered on automatic overlearned social responses, during choral reading, during singing, while under the influence of white noise, and during an initial trial of delayed auditory feedback (DAF). In addition, the patient produced stuttering-like repetitions while merely miming speech. He did not demonstrate secondary stuttering symptoms and his nonfluencies were almost exclusively repetitions of initial or stressed syllables. An intervention program using DAF was initiated and in approximately one month the frequency of stuttering had markedly decreased. The behaviors exhibited by this patient are considered to characterize stuttering of sudden onset in adults due to significant psychological distress.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Stuttering: a review of research findings and theories circa 1982.

The research literature on stuttering is extensive, spanning etiology, natural history, phenomenology, and treatment. In this review, existing empirical knowledge is distilled by attending only to replicated findings. These are designated as "facts." Facts concerning the natural history of idiopathic stuttering highlight early childhood onset, probability of recovery, and importance of a positive family history of stuttering. Corroborated evidence on stutterer-nonstutterer differences concerns intelligence distribution, speech development, central auditory function, and sensory-motor response. Predictable changes in stuttering frequency, and even total elimination of stuttering, occur under a remarkable variety of conditions. Review of therapies revealed two that satisfied the most stringent criteria for good treatment. Various theoretical positions are examined for their fit with the established facts. A model of stuttering as a genetically determined reduction in central capacity for efficient sensory-motor integration is preferred, provided acquisition of secondary symptoms is attributed to instrumental learning.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Stuttering and speech naturalness.

The present study was concerned with the development and evaluation of a scale of speech naturalness. Speech samples were recorded of the typical speech of 10 stutterers, 10 stutterers speaking without stuttering under 250-ms delayed auditory feedback (DAF), and 10 nonstutterers speaking normally. Using a 9-point scale, 30 unsophisticated listeners judged how natural the speech sounded in each sample. Results indicated that the stutterer samples were judged as sounding significantly more unnatural than the nonstutterer samples, and the DAF stutter-free samples were judged as sounding significantly more unnatural than the nonstutterer samples. The stutterer and DAF stutter-free samples were not judged as sounding significantly different in terms of speech naturalness. Interrater reliability, interrater agreement, and rater consistency for judging speech naturalness were all satisfactory.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Concomitant speech and language disorders in stuttering children: a critique of the literature.

This article presents a critical review of the literature concerning concomitant speech and language disorders in stuttering children. Studies published since the 1920s that examined language onset and disorders of articulation, syntax and morphology, semantics, and word finding are analyzed. Collectively, the studies present a mixed impression of stutterers, not only because of methodological variations, but also because of the tremendous variability that exists among children who stutter. Although the evidence is not convincing that stutterers as a group are more likely than nonstutterers to have deficits in any of these areas, it is clear that some stutterers do have concomitant speech and language problems that may bear some relationship to their stuttering. The message from this body of research is that individual differences among stuttering children should not be ignored during clinical or research activities.

Articulation Disorders↗
PubMed1990

Speech naturalness ratings of treated stutterers.

This investigation compared the speech naturalness ratings of perceptually fluent speech samples produced by nonstutterers and stutterers who had been treated in six different therapy programs. The treated stutterers were then divided into two groups based on ease of identification using stutterer/nonstutterers judgments. The fluent speech of one group of stutterers was easily recognized as being produced by stutterers. The second group produced fluent speech that was difficult to distinguish from that used by normal talkers. Finally, pretreatment severity ratings (i.e., mild, moderate, and severe) were compared with posttreatment naturalness scores. Results indicated that a statistically significant difference existed between the naturalness ratings of the nonstutterers and the treated stutterers. Also, a significant difference was found between the naturalness ratings of the easy-to-identify stutterers. Finally, no difference was found in the posttreatment naturalness ratings of stutterers rated as mild, moderate, and severe before treatment.

Humans↗
PubMed1976

Word frequency and stuttering: the relationship to sentence structure.

This experiment was designed to determine the relationship between word-frequency level and stuttering within the context of three selected sentence types: simple-active-affirmative-declarative, negative, and passive. Sixteen adult stutterers, rated into three groups of mild, moderate, and severe, read aloud 36 test sentences which were controlled for other linguistic factors known to affect stuttering. The results indicated that when the group rating was severe and the sentence type was either simple-active-affirmative-declarative or negative, stuttering increased significantly as word-frequency level decreased; no relationship was discerned between stuttering and word-frequency level within the passive sentence structure. It is suggested that stuttering in relation to word-frequency level is a differential response that is subject to variables of sentence type and severity rating of stuttering.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Effect of adjacency on the distribution of new stutterings in two successive readings.

The consistency with which stuttering tends to occur on the same words in successive readings of a passage, though high enough to warrant the assumption that stuttering is a response to stimuli, is generally far from perfect. It was hypothesized that this is partly because stuttering sometimes occurs adjacent to previously stuttered words rather than on them, as a result of a type of adjacency effect. Ten stutterers read a 300-word passage twice in succession. The words stuttered for the first time in the second reading were analyzed to determine whether an unusually large proportion of them were adjacent to words stuttered in the first reading. No such tendency was found.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Voicing duration and vocal SPL changes associated with stuttering reduction during singing.

This study was conducted to determine if stuttering reduction during singing is associated with increased voicing duration and increased vocal SPL. Eight moderate to severe stutterers comprised the experimental group. Eight normal speakers, matched pairwise with the stutterers for sex and age, served as controls. Pre-experimental testing indicated that all subjects knew from memory the melody of the well-known song "Home on the Range." Subsequently, subjects were asked to read aloud and sing altered lyrics of this song to the conventional melody. Results showed that from reading to singing, disfluency frequency decreased significantly among the stutterers. Both groups of subjects significantly increased voicing durations across the two conditions, but only the normal speakers increased vocal SPL during song. These results indicated that the reduction in stutterers' disfluency (stutterings included) during singing was attended by an altered pattern of vocalization that included an increase in voicing duration, but no significant change in vocal SPL. These findings are discussed with reference to vocal tract dynamics, especially those that might promote higher levels of fluency among stutterers.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Voice onset time, frication, and aspiration during stutterers' fluent speech.

The purpose of this study was to investigate voice onset time (VOT) and durations of frication and aspiration in stutterers' fluent speech. Broadband wound spectrograms were used to measure five adult stutterers' and five adult normally fluent controls' VOT, frication and aspiration durations during fluent productions of 18 word-initial sounds or sound clusters. Results indicate that stutterers' mean VOT for six of the 18 sounds/sound clusters (/p b br pr tw bl/) was significantly different from that of normally fluent speakers. VOT values for four of these 18 sounds/sound clusters (/b bl p tw/) could, to a moderate degree, be predicted from knowledge of whether a subject is a stutterer or a normally fluent speaker. With one exception, aspiration duration for /tw/, stutterers were not significantly different from normally fluent speakers in terms of frication and aspiration durations. These results suggest that stutterers' VOT during fluency is within normal limits and as such is of small assitance in distinguishing between stutterers and normally fluent speakers.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Familial stuttering patterns are not related to one measure of severity.

The possibility of a genetic component to the severity of stuttering was investigated using data on 184 adult stutters and their families. Frequency of stuttering during a pre-treatment oral reading task was used as the severity measure for each of the index cases. Information on whether or not a relative ever stuttered was obtained on all first degree relatives. The family data variables, including sex and exact relationship, combined with birthdate and sex of index case were used in three types of analyses: multiple regressions, AID regressions, and stepwise regressions. None of the variables tested, including stuttering among first degree relatives, was a predictor of severity of stuttering in the index case. We conclude that this measure of severity is not related to the genetic factors which predispose to stuttering.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Defense preference and stutterers' speech disfluencies: implications for the nature of the disorder.

Psychological defense mechanism preference was assessed in 16 adult stutterers. From this group, two subgroups of six subjects each were identified by their opposite extremes in defensive style: (1) expressive defenders; (2) avoidance defenders. Subsequently, these subgroups were found to be significantly different in measures of stuttering frequency and disfluency type. The expressive defenders showed higher frequency stuttering than the avoidance defenders (21.5% vs. 4.66%) while the avoidance subgroup showed preference for the use of accessory-type disfluencies; that is, interjections, phrase repetitions, and whole word repetitions. The possibility that the speech disfluencies of stutterers may vary as a function of defense preference is discussed in relation to: (1) definitions of stuttering phenomena and the disorder; (2) the developmental nature of stuttering as a problem and the role of learning; (3) different syndromes of stuttering; and (4) the contributions of etiologic versus pathogenic factors to the origins of the disorder.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

An analysis of the relationship among stuttering behaviors.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether different topographies of disfluent behavior form a response class. A within-subject, repeated reversals (ABAB) design was used to analyze the stuttering behavior of three adult stuttering speakers. A single type of stuttering behavior was punished for each subject while frequencies of occurrence of other types were concurrently measured. The results showed that: (1) stuttering behaviors displayed direct behavioral covariation for all subjects, illustrating the existence of a response class; and (2) the response classes observed included both kernel and accessory features of stuttering. The results are discussed in terms of the literature on response classes and two-factor learning theory of stuttering with special emphasis on the implications of these results for our understanding of the development of stuttering.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Acoustic analysis of stutterers' fluent speech before and after therapy.

The speech of 14 stutterers was analyzed prior to and at the termination of a 5-week stuttering therapy program to examine the relationship between nine selected acoustic variables and stuttering frequency. Group analyses indicated that pre- to post-therapy changes in stuttering frequency were accompanied by mean changes in five of the nine acoustic variables, a finding which is consistent with previous literature. Correlational analyses indicated that only silence in the voiced stop consonant intervocalic interval (IVI) was significantly correlated with stuttering frequency prior to therapy (i.e., lower stuttering frequency values were associated with shorter durations of silence during the IVI). Furthermore, the degree of reduction in silence was positively correlated with the magnitude of reduction in stuttering frequency due to therapy. These findings suggest that silence in the IVI may reflect the operational status of some mechanism which may underlie disfluent speech.

Female↗
PubMed1984

Sidetone amplification, noise, and stuttering.

In the present study, 24 stutterers and 24 matched nonstutterers spoke spontaneously under conditions of quiet, noise (60, 80, 100 dB SPL re .0002 dynes/cm2), and amplified sidetone (0, +10, +20 dB SPL re .0002 dynes/cm2). All 24 stutterers and 23 of the 24 nonstutterers experienced a decrease in vocal intensity from quiet to 20 dB amplified sidetone. All the nonstutterers and 23 of the stutterers experienced an increase in vocal intensity from quiet to 100 dB noise. As a group, the stutterers experienced a significant decrease in stuttering in the noise conditions; however, with regard to the amplified sidetone conditions, only those stutterers who experienced noise first showed a significant reduction in stuttering during amplified sidetone.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1988

Subgrouping young stutterers: preliminary behavioral observations.

The purpose of this investigation was to identify speech and nonspeech behaviors associated with stuttering of young persons and to use these behaviors in attempts to discern and describe subgroups of these individuals. Forty-three young stutterers (10 girls and 33 boys) produced stutterings and associated behaviors during conversations that were video/audio recorded. Fourteen associated speech and nonspeech behaviors and speech disfluency types were identified and quantified for 10 stutterings from each of the 43 subjects. The 14 associated behaviors and speech disfluency types were further reduced to form three related indices: (a) Sound Prolongation Index, (b) Nonspeech Behavior Index, and (c) Behavioral Variety Index. Results indicated that five subgroups of young stutterers could be identified and described on the basis of these youngsters' number and variety of speech and nonspeech behaviors associated with their stuttering. Findings are taken to suggest that these speech and nonspeech behavioral differences reflect differences in young stutterers' reactions and adjustments to their problem.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1988

A comparison of stutterers' and nonstutterers' affective, cognitive, and behavioral self-reports.

This study compared stutterers' and nonstutterers' communication attitudes. A self-report inventory based on a tripartite attitudinal model was administered to 75 adult stutterers and 81 adult nonstutterers. Ratings of 39 items representing 13 situational subscales, or types of speaking situations, on four response scales reflecting behavioral, affective, and cognitive components and a frequency scale were obtained. Self-ratings of speech enjoyment and speech skills best discriminated stutterers and nonstutterers. However, these self-ratings were related for both stutterers and nonstutterers. Frequency of encountering speaking situations was related to enjoyment of speech for stutterers, but not for nonstutterers. Moreover, stutterers, unlike nonstutterers, believed that most people's enjoyment of speech was not related to most people's speech skills. Similarities and differences in stutterers' and nonstutterers' ratings of specific speaking situations were identified.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

A preliminary analysis of the ameliorative effects of time-out from speaking on stuttering.

Relatively few attempts have been made to systematically examine the processes responsible for the ameliorative effects of response-contingent stimulation (RCS) on stuttering. It was hypothesized that the reductions in stuttering that frequently accompany RCS are the result of the stutterer being encouraged to access extant fluent speech that may not be fully evident during "contingency-free" (CF) conditions. A preliminary analysis of the hypothesis was conducted by monitoring RCS and CF stuttering frequency and speaking rate in 20 adult stutterers before, during, and after a program of fluency training. Subjects were divided into "high" and "low" responders on the basis of their baseline response to the RCS procedure of time-out from speaking, after which they participated in a 32-hour program of fluency training aimed at minimizing stuttering. After showing a degree of relapse during a subsequent 6-mon follow-up, high and low responders were found to be equally affected by time-out. This result contrasted the differential response shown by the two groups during the baseline phase, and is consistent with the hypothesis that improvements in fluency during RCS may occur when stutterers access extant fluent speech that is not otherwise being fully utilized.

Adult↗