Acoustic measures of stutterers' and nonstutterers' fluency in two speech contexts. 1986

E C Healey, and P R Ramig

The purpose of this study was to compare stutterers' and nonstutterers' fluency during multiple productions of two dissimilar speech contexts. Twenty-two adult stutterers were matched within 1 year of age to 22 nonstutterers. Spectrographic analyses were performed on subjects' five consecutively fluent productions of a simple isolated phrase and a phrase extracted from an oral reading passage. Measures of fluent voice onset time (VOT), and vowel, consonant, and total phrase durations were calculated from the five repetitions of each phrase. From the isolated phrase, there were a total of five fluent durational measures (i.e., one VOT, two vowel, one consonant, & one phrase duration). For the phrase taken from the oral reading passage, six fluent measures were obtained (i.e., one VOT, three vowel, one consonant, & one phrase duration). Results demonstrated that only one of the five measurements taken during the isolated phrase condition was significantly different between the groups. Three of the six measures obtained from the phrase taken from the oral reading condition revealed significant between-group differences. No group differences were associated with the repetitions of either phrase for any of the dependent measures for both groups. These findings suggest that the length and complexity of the speech tasks used to obtain acoustic measures of stutterers' fluency play an important role in the discovery of differences between the fluency of the two groups.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008297 Male Males
D010700 Phonetics The science or study of speech sounds and their production, transmission, and reception, and their analysis, classification, and transcription. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed) Speech Sounds,Sound, Speech,Sounds, Speech,Speech Sound
D005260 Female Females
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000328 Adult A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available. Adults
D013060 Speech Communication through a system of conventional vocal symbols. Public Speaking,Speaking, Public
D013061 Speech Acoustics The acoustic aspects of speech in terms of frequency, intensity, and time. Acoustics, Speech,Acoustic, Speech,Speech Acoustic
D013342 Stuttering A disturbance in the normal fluency and time patterning of speech that is inappropriate for the individual's age. This disturbance is characterized by frequent repetitions or prolongations of sounds or syllables. Various other types of speech dysfluencies may also be involved including interjections, broken words, audible or silent blocking, circumlocutions, words produced with an excess of physical tension, and monosyllabic whole word repetitions. Stuttering may occur as a developmental condition in childhood or as an acquired disorder which may be associated with BRAIN INFARCTIONS and other BRAIN DISEASES. (From DSM-IV, 1994) Stammering,Stuttering, Acquired,Stuttering, Adult,Stuttering, Childhood,Stuttering, Developmental,Stuttering, Familial Persistent 1,Acquired Stuttering,Adult Stuttering,Childhood Stuttering,Developmental Stuttering
D013997 Time Factors Elements of limited time intervals, contributing to particular results or situations. Time Series,Factor, Time,Time Factor

Related Publications

E C Healey, and P R Ramig
September 1959, Journal of speech and hearing research,
E C Healey, and P R Ramig
August 1990, The Journal of speech and hearing disorders,
E C Healey, and P R Ramig
December 1987, Journal of speech and hearing research,
E C Healey, and P R Ramig
April 1990, Psychological reports,
E C Healey, and P R Ramig
September 1989, Journal of speech and hearing research,
E C Healey, and P R Ramig
January 1987, Folia phoniatrica,
E C Healey, and P R Ramig
May 1990, The Journal of speech and hearing disorders,
E C Healey, and P R Ramig
December 1961, Journal of speech and hearing research,
E C Healey, and P R Ramig
June 1971, Journal of speech and hearing research,
E C Healey, and P R Ramig
July 1997, Journal of psycholinguistic research,
Copied contents to your clipboard!