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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1978

The effects of a contingent light-flash on stuttering and attention to stuttering.

The hypothesis that a light-flash made contingent on stuttering would reduce stuttering to the extent that it called subjects' attention to their stuttering responses was investigated with two adult female stutterers. Attention to stuttering was measured by asking subjects to depress a switch each time they detected a stuttering in their speech. For one subject, the contingent light produced a marked reduction in stuttering but had no effect on switch-pressing. For the other subject, the light had little effect on stuttering but resulted in an increase in switch-pressing. For both subjects, reductions in stuttering occurred when they were asked to note their stutterings by pressing the switch. The results suggested that the effect of the light on stuttering was not due to its role in calling attention to stuttering.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Young stutterers' nonspeech behaviors during stuttering.

The purpose of this study was to assess the nonspeech behaviors associated with young stutterers' stuttering and normally fluent children's comparable fluent utterances. Subjects were 28 boys and 2 girls who stutter (mean age = 54 months) and 28 boys and 2 girls who do not stutter (mean age = 54 months). Each child and his or her mother were audio-video recorded during a loosely structured, 30-min conversation. Sixty-six different nonspeech behaviors associated with 10 randomly selected stutterings per stutterer and 10 comparable fluent utterances per normally fluent child were assessed by means of frame-by-frame analysis of the audio-video recordings. Results indicate that (a) young stutterers produce significantly more nonspeech behaviors during stuttered words than do normally fluent children during comparable fluent words, (b) young stutters produce significantly more head turns left, blinks, and upper lip raising during stuttered words than do normally fluent children during comparable fluent words, and (c) talker group membership could be significantly determined on the basis of certain types of nonspeech behaviors despite considerable overlap in frequency and type of nonspeech behavior between the two talker groups. Findings suggest that children can be classified as stutterers on the basis of their nonspeech behaviors and that these behaviors may reflect a variety of cognitive, emotional, linguistic, and physical events associated with childhood stuttering.

Child Behavior↗
PubMed1978

The effects on stuttering of self-recording the frequency of stuttering or the word "the".

The effect of self-recording the frequency of stuttering or the word "the" during spontaneous speech by three adult stutterers was assessed within a single-subject experimental design. The effect of these procedures on stuttering frequency, use of the word "the," and speech rate differed for each subject. Subject 1 showed no systematic change in stuttering and an initial increase in "the" responses. Subject 2 reduced stuttering to almost zero during self-recording conditions. Subject 3 increased stuttering during self-recording stuttering and self-recording "the" conditions. These results, which indicated that self-recording procedures have a variety of effects on the stuttering behavior of different individuals, are not consistent with previous studies that have shown only reductions in stuttering during self-recording conditions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Changes in the probability of stuttering following a stutter: a test of some recent models.

To test the models of stuttering proposed by Still and Sherrard (1976), six stutterers (two adults and four children between 12 and 14 years old) read 33 or more passages of prose of approximately 200 words, in sessions of 16 or 17 passages. Predictions tested concerned changes in stuttering probability as words elapse following the last stutter. Such changes may be confounded with sequential dependencies among word classes, together with correlations between word classes and stuttering. To allow for this, a multiple regression was carried out on six independent variables--initial phoneme, grammatical class, length of word, position in sentence, session, and familiarity of passage. From this analysis, predicted changes in stuttering probability were generated, and compared with observed probabilities. There was a significant decrease in the difference between observed and expected probabilities over the first 30 words following a stutter. Also, two subjects (the adults) showed an initial increase in rate of stuttering. These results support a combination of the anxiety and feedback models of Still and Sherrard.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Kinaesthetic acuity of stutterers and non-stutterers for oral and non-oral movements.

Six adult stutterers and six normal speakers were instructed to make the smallest possible movements of the jaw, lower lip, tongue and right index finger, both with and without continuous visual feedback. In the non-visual (kinaesthetic) condition, the stutterers showed significantly larger minimal displacements (MDs) than did the non-stutterers for oral but not for finger movements. However, movements made in the presence of visual feedback were consistently smaller for all subjects than those made without, and no differences in MD were found between the stutterers and the non-stutterers when visual feedback was provided. The results suggested the presence of a sensorimotor deficit among at least some adult stutterers that is confined to oral movements. Given the importance of somatic sensory feedback during speech production, these observed orosensory deficiencies among stutterers may provide important insights into causal factors which contribute to the breakdowns in stutterers' speech.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Speech disfluencies and delayed auditory feedback reactions of stuttering and non-stuttering children.

25 male stutterers and 25 male non-stutterers matched by age and speaking task, read or recited under conditions of normal and 113-, 226-, 306-, 413-, and 520-msec. delayed auditory feedback. Disfluency counts were correlated with delayed auditory feedback reactions which were changes in disfluencies under delay conditions. Pearson product-moment correlations were negative and significant for the combined group of stutterers and non-stutterers under all delays used. Correlations for stutterers were negative and significant for 113, 226, 306, and 413 msec. delay. For the total group of non-stutterers, all correlations were negative and significant. Correlations for age groups within the stuttering and non-stuttering groups were also presented.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1975

Cultural influences in the development and treatment of stuttering: a preliminary report on the black stutterer.

A behavioral analysis of a group of stutterers revealed speech behavioral differences that appeared to be culturally determined. Two general types of stuttering behavioral patterns were differentiated. The stuttering behaviors characteristic of the first pattern were overt repetitions and prolongations with a moderate number of secondary characteristics that were also overt and of the same relative degree of severity as the prolongations and repetitions. The second pattern was characterized by prolongations and repetitions that were more covert and by a larger number of secondary characteristics that were considerably more severe than the repetitions and prolongations. While 85% of the first pattern, Group I, were white stutterers, 79% of the second pattern, Group II, were black stutterers. These results are explained by important black cultural elements such as (1) the importance of oral skills, (2) the importance of manifesting emotional "coolness," and (3) the cultural rejection of disfluent speech patterns. The authors believe that, generally, the forces within the black culture tend to be in opposition to currently practiced stuttering treatment procedures.

Black People↗
PubMed1978

Delayed auditory feedback and the speech of stuttering and non-stuttering children.

25 male stutterers and 25 male non-stutterers matched by age and speaking task, read or recited under normal and 113-, 226-, 306-, 413-, 520-msec. delayed auditory feedback conditions. Changes in speaking rate and disfluency count from normal to each delayed auditory feedback condition were calculated as indicators of reaction to delayed auditory feedback. Using an analysis of variance of difference scores for speaking rate, no significant differences were found between stutterers and non-stutterers or among the delays. An analysis of variance of disfluency difference scores showed no differences between stutterers and non-stutterers. Significant differences in disfluency reaction among delay times were found.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

A comparison of young stutterers' fluent versus stuttered utterances on measures of length and complexity.

This investigation attempted to clarify the relationship between stuttering in young children and the language factors of length and grammatical complexity. Sentences containing stutterings within the first few words, as produced by 12 stutterers (4-6 years old) in spontaneous conversational dyads, were analyzed for length and grammatical complexity. Results indicated that sentences in which an episode of stuttering occurred within the first three words were significantly longer and more complex than sentences that were free of perceptible stuttering and all other forms of fluency failure. Implications of these findings for the clinician are presented and discussed.

Child↗
PubMed1990

EEG alpha asymmetries in stutterers and non-stutterers: effects of linguistic variables on hemispheric processing and fluency.

The EEG hemispheric alpha asymmetry technique was used to gather data from anterior and posterior language areas during a resting condition and in a sentence repetition task. Subjects were nine adult stuttering males and nine adult fluent male controls. Sentences were controlled for imagery, syntactic complexity, and rate. Significant within- and between-groups differences were found for both resting and testing conditions. Posteriorly, stutterers showed no differences between resting and testing conditions, while controls showed increased left hemisphere activation. Of the linguistic variables investigated, only imagery was involved in a significant interaction. Fluent males showed greater posterior left hemispheric activation for high and low visual imagery sentences, compared to greater posterior right hemispheric activation in stuttering males. Significantly greater alpha power was found for low vs high imagery sentences in the anterior and posterior left hemisphere sites for both subject groups, and in the right hemisphere sites for the stuttering group only. Fluency data is presented. Differences between groups in alpha power changes from resting to testing conditions are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Stuttering as operant behavior: effects of the verbal stimuli wrong, right, and tree on the disfluency rates of school-age stutterers and nonstutterers.

This study assessed the effects of the verbally presented stimuli wrong, right, and tree on the frequency of disfluencies during oral reading by 18 school-aged stutterers and 18 matched nonstutterers. No differences were found between the three stimulus words' effect on the disfluency rate of either subject group. Because decreases in the disfluency rates of stutterers were observed during the presentation of all three stimulus words, the data failed to support the operant model. A discussion of theoretical and experimental implications is given.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Perceptual and acoustic evidence for reduced fluency in the vicinity of stuttering episodes.

A perceptual experiment and acoustic analyses were conducted to address the question whether stuttering occurs only at specific "moments" or whether it also affects the surrounding speech. Sections of stutterers' speech were extracted from clauses which were spoken completely fluently (control) or contained one stutter (experimental). In the experimental sections, only speech up to or following the stuttered word was employed. All sections were rated by independent groups of subjects for fluency, the nature of the excised stutter (repetition or prolongation), and the temporal position of the stutter relative to the fluent section that they heard (before or after). Two additional groups of listeners were asked to select from experimental-control pairs the section that had been drawn from near a stutter, and to indicate type and position of the stutter. Listeners could reliably judge which sections had been near a stutter and the type of that stutter, but not its position. Acoustic analyses showed that there were no differences in duration, rate, number of pauses, and average intensity between the experimental and control sections. However, there were significant differences in terms of the drop in intensity between the syllables in the respective sections. The perceptual identification of experimental versus control sections showed a significant relationship with this acoustic measure and with speech rate. The judgments about the type of stutter only correlated with drop in intensity. We conclude that stuttering episodes affect the intensity-time profile of the speech in their vicinity, and that listeners can use this acoustic information to infer the presence and type of the stutter.

Humans↗