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Stuttering: an investigation into cerebral dominance for speech.

Over the past decade research has suggested that stutterers have bilateral cerebral motor or auditory speech areas. Three typical adult stutterers showed normal unilateral left cerebral dominance for speech on the intracarotid sodium amylobarbitone (amytal) test, but one 'dysphatic' stutterer had bilateral cortical speech representation. The latter is a very rare finding in right handed individuals and presumably is a consequence of the head injury induced aphasia that preceded the onset of stuttering.

Adult↗

Subcortical infarction resulting in acquired stuttering.

Stuttering is an uncommon presentation of acute stroke. Reported cases have often been associated with left sided cortical lesions, aphasia, and difficulties with other non-linguistic tests of rhythmic motor control. Three patients with subcortical lesions resulting in stuttering are discussed. In one patient the ability to perform time estimations with a computerised repetitive time estimation task was characterised. One patient had a pontine infarct with clinical evidence of cerebellar dysfunction. A second patient had a left basal ganglionic infarct and a disruption of timing estimation. A third patient had a left subcortical infarct and a mild aphasia. These findings expand the reported distribution of infarction that can result in acquired stuttering. Subcortical mechanisms of speech control and timing may contribute to the pathophysiology of acquired stuttering.

Brain↗

Stuttering as a manifestation of right-hemispheric subcortical stroke.

A right-handed man developed stuttering, without aphasia, as a result of a circumscribed subcortical infarction in the right hemisphere. He never stuttered before and has no family history of stuttering. Damage to callosal pathways coordinating the activity of both hemispheres during speech is proposed as a possible explanation for the stuttering.

Aged↗

Stuttering in childhood: a five-year longitudinal study in progress.

The actual state of research in childhood stuttering is presented and certain points open to criticism are discussed. We want to find answers to some of the open questions by means of a longitudinal study that starts at an early stage. In this study the prognostic validity of various dimensions of behaviour can be determined with regard to the development of stuttering. Thus, the conditions for the development of a valid and reliable instrument for early diagnosis are created that enable the specialist to estimate the probability of chronicity and to determine whether to treat or not to treat childhood stuttering. Furthermore, the study aims to develop a screening procedure which is easy to use for the persons in the child's surroundings (parents, teachers, physicians) so that stuttering children can be referred to a specialist at an earlier stage.

Age of Onset↗

Effect of acoustical, visual and tactile echo on speech fluency of stutterers.

The study presents the comparison of the effects of echo transmitted via single and combined channels (auditory, visual and tactile) on the speech of stutterers. The dependence of stuttering intensity and speech velocity upon echo delay time was determined. For all transmission channels the stuttering intensities and the speech velocities decreased with the increase in the delay time of the echo. The results were analyzed statistically by means of the ANOVA method. It was proven that the corrective effects of visual echo and tactile echo were comparable. Echo transmitted via the auditory channel was more effective than when transmitted via the visual or tactile channels. The greatest efficiency could be observed by transmitting echo via three connected channels: auditory, visual and tactile. The results obtained show that in stuttering therapy it is justified to use echo transmitted via three connected channels (auditory, visual, tactile).

Acoustics↗

Respiratory muscle incoordination in stuttering speech.

We investigated the role of respiratory muscle incoordination during stuttering by measuring esophageal, gastric, and transdiaphragmatic pressures to obtain subglottic pressure (Psg) and indices of diaphragmatic, rib cage, and abdominal muscle contraction during speech in normal volunteers and in severe stutterers. We found in contrast to the relatively constant subglottic pressure during normal conversational speech that speech in stutterers was characterized by failure to control Psg because of contraction of the diaphragm, rib cage, and abdominal muscles singly or in various combinations. As a result, Psg varied substantially and sometimes chaotically from too high to too low, rendering normal speech impossible. During periods of fluency, Psg was much better controlled. We conclude that incoordination of the respiratory muscles is a major problem in stuttering, resulting in failure to control the pressure difference across the vocal cords. It is unclear if this is a primary abnormality or is a secondary response to a primary abnormality elsewhere.

Adolescent↗

Changes in voice level caused by several forms of altered feedback in fluent speakers and stutterers.

Speakers change the level of their voice when they listen to noise or hear their own speech amplified: When noise level is increased the voice becomes louder, whilst the response to speech amplification is a reduction of voice level. The question posed here is whether, when the level of various sounds concurrent with vocalisation is raised, the direction of the vocal level response is like that to the speaker's speech or like that to noise. Voice level was measured in response to speech, white noise, delayed auditory feedback, frequency-shifted speech, and noise created by an "Edinburgh masker". Selection of these sounds was governed by the role they have played in the explanation and treatment of stuttering. Fluent speakers and stutterers increased voice level when played delayed auditory feedback, the Edinburgh masker, or white noise; they reduced the level slightly in the remaining conditions. These results are used to assess auditory feedback monitoring accounts of the speech behavior of fluent speakers and stutterers, and some implications for the treatment of stuttering are pointed out.

Adult↗

Using simplified regulated breathing with an adolescent stutterer: application of effective intervention in a residential context.

Simplified regulated breathing (SRB) has been demonstrated to reduce or eliminate stuttering in children. However, much of the current research has evaluated the intervention with school-aged children within educational contexts. In the current case report, we extended the application of SRB by evaluating its effectiveness in treating stuttering displayed by a 15-year-old resident of a large midwestern residential facility. Further, we evaluated the impact across different assessment conditions. Results showed that SRB resulted in decreased stuttering for the participant, although differential effectiveness across conditions was noted. These results are discussed in terms of the generality of SRB across client populations and clinical settings, as well as the value of addressing contextual variables when treating stuttering.

Adolescent↗

Haloperiodl in the treatment of stuttering.

Haloperidol treatment for stuttering was examined in a double-blind cross-over study of 26 adult volunteers with long-standing stuttering. Most had had unsuccessful speech and drug therapy. During the three-month study, their speech and stuttering patterns were repeatedly evaluated from videotaped readings of a standard passage and during spontaneous speaking. Of the 18 patients completing the trial 11 were significantly more improved on haloperidol than on placebo, three benefited equally from both, and four were unchanged. Improvement over placebo was indicated by fewer dysfluencies, increased speed of speaking, and reduced secondary "struggle" phenomena. Side effects were common on a dosage of 3 mg haloperidol daily. Poor concentration, akathisia and dystonic movements caused 8 patients to discontinue the trial despite significant improvement in 5 of them. Although "statistically significant" improvement occurred in most patients on haloperidol, the "clinical significance" of this form of therapy will be limited by the partial response, the need for continuous medication, the side effects of haloperidol and the attitude of stutters to this type of therapy.

Adolescent↗

Cessation of stuttering with progressive multiple sclerosis.

Two patients stuttered severely into adult years. Stuttering ceased as signs of progressive MS developed. Both patients had clinical evidence of bilateral cerebellar dysfunction, and other forms of speech impairment appeared as the stuttering abated. The cerebellar lesions may have been responsible for the abolition of stuttering.

Adult↗

Evidence for a major gene influence on persistent developmental stuttering.

Stuttering is a complex developmental speech disorder of unknown etiology. There is a substantial aggregation of stuttering in families, suggesting a genetic component to the disorder. However, the exact mode of transmission is still unknown. An earlier study of 56 multigenerational pedigrees ascertained through single adult probands (38 males and 18 females) found that biological relatives of persistent developmental stutterers have an approximately 10-fold higher risk than in the general population; risk is higher for male relatives, and proband's sex does not affect recurrence and relative risks. In the present paper we conduct a complex segregation analysis of the same data, using the logistic regression model of the SAGE software. Based on the comparisons of model likelihoods, the Mendelian model was selected over all other nongenetic models and the general transmission model. This model was further refined into the most parsimonious model, which shows an autosomal dominant major gene effect influenced by two covariates: sex and affection status of parents. With this model applied to 47 informative multiplex pedigrees, a power calculation based on linkage simulation produced an average lod score of 6.8 for 10-cM density genome scan markers. These results give impetus for a genomewide linkage analysis of susceptibility to persistent developmental stuttering.

Adult↗

Genetic and environmental influences on stuttering and tics in Japanese twin children.

The purpose of this study was to clarify the genetic contribution to stuttering and tics in childhood using the largest databases of Japanese twins. The subjects were 1896 pairs of twin children consisting of 1849 males and 1943 females with a mean age of 11.6 years (3 years to 15 years). All data were gathered by questionnaire. The prevalence of stuttering was 6.7% in males and 3.6% in females (p < .0001). The prevalence of tics was 6.8% in males and 4.1% in females (p = .0021). Concordance rates and polychoric correlations were all higher in monozygotic pairs than in dizygotic pairs irrespective of sex combination. Structural equation modeling showed that the proportion of total phenotypic variance attributable to genetic influences was 80% in males and 85% in females for stuttering, and 28% in males and 29% in females for tics. Moreover, co-occurrence between stuttering and tics was observed in 0.8% of males (tetrachoric correlation: r = .18) and 0.5% of females (r = .31), which was attributed partly (nearly 10% of total genetic variance of each trait) to the common genetic factors, with genetic correlation of r = .32.

Adolescent↗

Brainstem infarction presenting with neurogenic stuttering.

We reported a sixty-year-old man who developed acquired stuttering after a brainstem infarction. Infarctions were detected in the midbrain and upper pons. Neurogenic stuttering of this patients indicated that the midbrain and upper pons could be lesion sites responsible for acquired stuttering. We speculated that the reticular network extending from the brainstem to the frontal cortices, and the periaqueductal gray matter could be closely related regions generating neurogenic stuttering.

Brain Stem Infarctions↗

Stuttering and oral stereognosis.

Two experiments were conducted to investigate oral stereognostic performance of stutterers. In Exp. I, stutterers and controls responded "same"--"different" to two oral forms placed successively on their tongues. In Exp. II, stutterers and controls underwent two procedures. For half the items, the task was the same as in Exp. I; for the other half, subjects were presented a single form and visually identified that form from among others on a placard. In both experiments, stutterers made significantly more oral stereognostic errors than did their matched controls.

Adult↗

Preliminary investigation of EMG biofeedback induced relaxation with a preschool aged stutterer.

A 4 1/2-yr.-old stutterer was run on a series of comparative speech tasks and EMG recording periods to assess the potential of using EMG biofeedback-assisted relaxation to reduce stuttering. The basic finding was that the subject was able to reduce the level of tension in the laryngeal area by using EMG biofeedback but not without some difficulty. The effect of EMG biofeedback training on his frequency of stuttering was small but in the direction of less stuttering.

Biofeedback, Psychology↗

Are the accessory facial movements of the stutterer learned behaviours?

The purpose of the present study was to explore the accessory nonverbal behaviours emitted by stutterers when their speech was fluent, normally disfluent, or stuttered. Subjects were 25 stutterers who were required to speak spontaneously for a 2-min. period. Seven types of nonverbal behavior were observed. Significant differences among the three speech categories were obtained for jaw movements, mouth movements, forehead movements, eyebrow movements, and head movements. Eyelid movements and eye blinks were nonsignificant. The results are discussed with respect to the various functions that can be attributed to nonverbal behaviour in stuttering.

Adolescent↗

Bimanual handedness in adults who stutter.

25 adult stutterers and 29 nonstutterers who were right-handed as defined by a positive Laterality Quotient on the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory were compared with respect to their pattern of hand use in performing seven common tasks that involve bimanual cooperation. Among the stutterers was a higher proportion of participants who showed anomalies in how they carried out the two tasks that required synchronous manipulation by the two hands. On two other tasks that required speeded performance, the groups were similar in dealing playing cards with the right or left hands, but the stutterers were slower than nonstutterers and did not show a right-hand advantage on a task requiring removal of a nut from a bolt. The results were interpreted as indicating difficulty by stutterers in carrying out synchronously different response elements of motoric tasks.

Adult↗

Effect of speaking into a passive resonator on stuttering frequency.

The effect on stuttering frequency of speaking into a passive resonator was investigated. Eight participants who stuttered read aloud with and without the benefit of the resonator. A statistically significant reduction of approximately 30% in stuttering frequency was observed while the participants spoke with the resonator. These and similar commercially available devices may be employed with individuals who stutter, particularly children, as a means of enhancing fluency.

Adolescent↗