Spectrographic Study of Vowels in Stutterers' Fluent Speech

1982 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 364-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Klich ◽  
Gaylene M. May
Keyword(s):  
Normal Condition ◽  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Vowel Production ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Delayed Auditory Feedback ◽  
Fluent Speech ◽  
Formant Frequencies ◽  
Masking Noise

Measurements were made of the formant frequencies and formant transitions associated with the vowels/i/,/æ/ and /u/ produced by seven moderate-to-severe stutterers when they read fluently in a control (normal) condition and under four experimental conditions: masking noise, delayed auditory feedback, rhythmic pacing, and whispering. The first and second formantfrequencies in an isolated/hVd/context were more centralized than those reported for nonstutterers. The formant frequencies were centralized even more in reading, but varied little across conditions despite changes in fluency, speaking rates, and vowel duration. Duration and rate of formant transitions also were essentially the same across conditions. These findings and those reported in other studies indicate that stutterers' vowel production is more restricted, spatially and temporally, than nonstutterers'.

scholarly journals The Effect of Phonological Neighborhood Density on Vowel Articulation

2004 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 1048-1058 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Munson ◽  
Nancy Pearl Solomon
Keyword(s):  
Word Frequency ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Neighborhood Density ◽  
Low Density ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Vowel Production ◽  
Phonological Neighborhood Density ◽  
Formant Frequencies ◽  
Phonological Neighborhood

Recent literature suggests that phonological neighborhood density and word frequency can affect speech production, in addition to the well-documented effects that they have on speech perception. This article describes 2 experiments that examined how phonological neighborhood density influences the durations and formant frequencies of adults’ productions of vowels in real words. In Experiment 1, 10 normal speakers produced words that covaried in phonological neighborhood density and word frequency. Infrequent words with many phonological neighbors were produced with shorter durations and more expanded vowel spaces than frequent words with few phonological neighbors. Results of this experiment confirmed that this effect was not related to the duration of the vowels constituting the high- and low-density words. In Experiment 2, 15 adults produced words that varied in both word frequency and neighborhood density. Neighborhood density affected vowel articulation in both high- and low-frequency words. Moreover, frequent words were produced with more contracted vowel spaces than infrequent words. There was no interaction between these factors, and the vowel duration did not vary as a function of neighborhood density. Taken together, the results suggest that neighborhood density affects vowel production independent of word frequency and vowel duration.

The Establishment, Transfer, and Maintenance of Fluent Speech in 50 Stutterers Using Delayed Auditory Feedback and Operant Procedures

1974 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce P. Ryan ◽  
Barbara Van Kirk
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Rehabilitation Center ◽  
Delayed Auditory Feedback ◽  
Fluent Speech ◽  
Speech Fluency ◽  
The Past ◽  
Clinical Program

Operant speech fluency techniques are being used in a clinical program in a rehabilitation center to treat people who stutter. Establishment, transfer, and maintenance programs are used. Delayed auditory feedback is commonly employed to produce the initial fluent speech. From more than 200 clients seen over the past four years, 50 recent clients were selected for a detailed analysis. The results indicate that the programs are effective in helping people of varying ages and stuttering severity to speak fluently. This was accomplished in relatively short periods (approximately 20 hours of therapy). The fluent speech of the clients has transferred to their environment and checks indicate that it has been maintained.

Effects of Five Experimental Treatments on Stuttering

1979 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Martin ◽  
Samuel K. Haroldson
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Change Score ◽  
Treatment Change ◽  
Noise Condition ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Delayed Auditory Feedback ◽  
Change Scores ◽  
Time Out ◽  
Experimental Treatments

Twenty adult stutterers were exposed to each of five experimental treatments: time-out, noise, delayed auditory feedback (DAF), “wrong” and metronome. In each session a subject spoke for 20 minutes without treatment (baserate) followed by 30 minutes in one of the five experimental conditions. Before the five treatment sessions, subjects accomplished three pre-experimental tasks: expectancy, changeability, and adaptation tasks. Percent stuttering decreased significantly in all conditions, and stuttering duration reduced significantly in all but the noise condition. The amount of reduction in percent stuttering from baserate to treatment (change score) in time-out was positively related to the change scores in DAF and metronome. Change scores in metronome were positively related to change scores in time-out and “wrong.” Percent stuttering change scores in noise, DAF, and “wrong” were essentially unrelated. Stuttering duration change scores were related only for the time-out and DAF, and metronome and DAF conditions. In general, the pre-experimental expectancy, changeability, and adaptation scores were unrelated to change scores in any of the experimental conditions. Words spoken per minute did not change significantly from baserate to treatment for any experimental condition except time-out.

Fluent Speech, Fast Articulatory Rate, and Delayed Auditory Feedback: Creating a Crisis for a Scientific Revolution?

1996 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 211-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Stuart ◽  
Joseph Kalinowski
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Scientific Revolution ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Paradigm Change ◽  
Normal Science ◽  
Delayed Auditory Feedback ◽  
Fluent Speech ◽  
Puzzle Solving

In 1970 Kuhn argued that science does not progress through a process of accretion. It is typified, rather, by the successive emergence of different paradigms which during their reign dictate the direction of normal science's puzzle-solving activity. Normal science inevitably exposes an anomaly which violates expectations predicted by the reigning paradigm. The “crisis” evoking anomaly may induce a destructive/constructive paradigm change. Transformations from one paradigm to another constitute a scientific revolution and dictate the growth and maturation of a field. This paper suggests the recent finding, that stutterers experience enhancement of fluency while speaking under delayed auditory feedback at a fast articulatory rate, be viewed as an anomaly. By challenging the notion that a slowed speech rate is necessary for amelioration of stuttering, the anomalous finding may be perceived as a crisis in the study of stuttering.

Quantitative Electroencephalogram of Posterior Cortical Areas of Fluent and Stuttering Participants during Reading with Normal and Altered Auditory Feedback

1998 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
pp. 623-633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. Rastatter ◽  
Andrew Stuart ◽  
Joseph Kalinowski
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Parietal Lobe ◽  
Beta Activity ◽  
Beta Band ◽  
Current Dipole ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Delayed Auditory Feedback ◽  
Quantitative Electroencephalogram ◽  
Feedback Data

In the left and right hemisphere, posterior quantitative electroencephalogram Beta band activity (13.5–25.5 Hz) of seven adult participants who stutter and seven age-matched normal controls was obtained while subjects read text under three experimental conditions of normal auditory feedback, delayed auditory feedback, and frequency-altered feedback. Data were obtained from surface electrodes affixed to the scalp using a commercial electrode cap. Electroencephalogram activity was amplified, band-pass analog-filtered, and then digitized. During nonaltered auditory feedback, stuttering participants displayed Beta band hyperreactivity, with the right temporal-parietal lobe region showing the greatest activity. Under conditions of delayed auditory feedback and frequency-altered auditory feedback, the stuttering participants displayed a decrease in stuttering behavior accompanied by a strong reduction in Beta activity for the posterior-temporal-parietal electrode sites, and the left hemisphere posterior sites evidenced a larger area of reactivity. Such findings suggest than an alteration in the electrical fields of the cortex occurred in the stuttering participants under both conditions, possibly reflecting changes in neurogenerator status or current dipole activity. Further, one could propose that stuttering reflects an anomaly of the sensory-linguistic motor integration wherein each hemisphere generates competing linguistic messages at hyperreactive amplitudes.

scholarly journals Vowel generalization and its relation to adaptation during perturbations of auditory feedback

2017 ◽  
Vol 118 (5) ◽  
pp. 2925-2934 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin J. Reilly ◽  
Chelsea Pettibone
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Noise Correlation ◽  
Vowel Production ◽  
Masking Noise ◽  
Sensorimotor Representations

Repeated perturbations of auditory feedback during vowel production elicit changes not only in the production of the perturbed vowel (adaptation) but also in the production of nearby vowels that were not perturbed (generalization). The finding that adaptation generalizes to other, nonperturbed vowels suggests that sensorimotor representations for vowels are not independent; instead, the goals for producing any one vowel may depend in part on the goals for other vowels. The present study investigated the dependence or independence of vowel representations by evaluating adaptation and generalization in two groups of speakers exposed to auditory perturbations of their first formant (F1) during different vowels. The speakers in both groups who adapted to the perturbation exhibited generalization in two nonperturbed vowels that were produced under masking noise. Correlation testing was performed to evaluate the relations between adaptation and generalization as well as between the generalization in the two nonperturbed vowels. These tests identified significant coupling between the F1 changes of adjacent vowels but not nonadjacent vowels. The pattern of correlation findings indicates that generalization was due in part to feedforward representations that are partly shared across adjacent vowels, possibly to maintain their acoustic contrast. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Speech adaptations to alterations, or perturbations, of auditory feedback have provided important insights into sensorimotor representations underlying speech. One finding from these studies that is yet to be accounted for is vowel generalization, which describes the effects of repeated perturbations to one vowel on the production of other vowels that were not perturbed. The present study used correlation testing to quantify the effects of changes in a perturbed vowel on neighboring (i.e., similar) nonperturbed vowels. The results identified significant correlations between the changes of adjacent, but not nonadjacent, vowel pairs. This finding suggests that generalization is partly a response to adaptation and not solely due to the auditory perturbation.

scholarly journals Intact Correction for Self-Produced Vowel Formant Variability in Individuals With Cerebellar Ataxia Regardless of Auditory Feedback Availability

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Benjamin Parrell ◽  
Richard B. Ivry ◽  
Srikantan S. Nagarajan ◽  
John F. Houde
Keyword(s):  
Feedback Control ◽  
Cerebellar Ataxia ◽  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Cerebellar Degeneration ◽  
Vowel Production ◽  
Compensatory Response ◽  
Vowel Context ◽  
Somatosensory Feedback ◽  
Vowel Formant ◽  
Masking Noise

Purpose Individuals with cerebellar ataxia (CA) caused by cerebellar degeneration exhibit larger reactive compensatory responses to unexpected auditory feedback perturbations than neurobiologically typical speakers, suggesting they may rely more on feedback control during speech. We test this hypothesis by examining variability in unaltered speech. Previous studies of typical speakers have demonstrated a reduction in formant variability (centering) observed during the initial phase of vowel production from vowel onset to vowel midpoint. Centering is hypothesized to reflect feedback-based corrections for self-produced variability and thus may provide a behavioral assay of feedback control in unperturbed speech in the same manner as the compensatory response does for feedback perturbations. Method To comprehensively compare centering in individuals with CA and controls, we examine centering in two vowels (/i/ and /ɛ/) under two contexts (isolated words and connected speech). As a control, we examine speech produced both with and without noise to mask auditory feedback. Results Individuals with CA do not show increased centering compared to age-matched controls, regardless of vowel, context, or masking. Contrary to previous results in neurobiologically typical speakers, centering was not affected by the presence of masking noise in either group. Conclusions The similar magnitude of centering seen with and without masking noise questions whether centering is driven by auditory feedback. However, if centering is at least partially driven by auditory/somatosensory feedback, these results indicate that the larger compensatory response to altered auditory feedback observed in individuals with CA may not reflect typical motor control processes during normal, unaltered speech production.

Active Inhibition of Stuttering Results in Pseudofluency: A Reply to Craig

2002 ◽  
Vol 94 (3) ◽  
pp. 1050-1052
Author(s):  
Vikram N. Dayalu ◽  
Joseph Kalinowski ◽  
Tim Saltuklaroglu
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Delayed Auditory Feedback ◽  
Fluent Speech ◽  
Active Inhibition

Craig discussed fluency outcomes following stuttering therapy that involved retraining the speech system, on the assumption that the speech end product is truly fluent. As previously outlined by Dayalu and Kalinowski, we strongly disagree with the notion that behavioral paradigms can ever result in automatic, long lasting natural sounding fluent speech. Fluent speech is within the grasp of one who stutters as seen in the effects of choral speech and derivatives such as delayed auditory feedback.

scholarly journals Feedforward and Feedback Control in Apraxia of Speech: Effects of Noise Masking on Vowel Production

2015 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edwin Maas ◽  
Marja-Liisa Mailend ◽  
Frank H. Guenther
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Feedback System ◽  
Apraxia Of Speech ◽  
Vowel Production ◽  
Noise Masking ◽  
Acoustic Measures ◽  
Masking Condition ◽  
Masking Noise ◽  
Vowel Contrast ◽  
Group Pattern

Purpose This study was designed to test two hypotheses about apraxia of speech (AOS) derived from the Directions Into Velocities of Articulators (DIVA) model (Guenther et al., 2006): the feedforward system deficit hypothesis and the feedback system deficit hypothesis. Method The authors used noise masking to minimize auditory feedback during speech. Six speakers with AOS and aphasia, 4 with aphasia without AOS, and 2 groups of speakers without impairment (younger and older adults) participated. Acoustic measures of vowel contrast, variability, and duration were analyzed. Results Younger, but not older, speakers without impairment showed significantly reduced vowel contrast with noise masking. Relative to older controls, the AOS group showed longer vowel durations overall (regardless of masking condition) and a greater reduction in vowel contrast under masking conditions. There were no significant differences in variability. Three of the 6 speakers with AOS demonstrated the group pattern. Speakers with aphasia without AOS did not differ from controls in contrast, duration, or variability. Conclusion The greater reduction in vowel contrast with masking noise for the AOS group is consistent with the feedforward system deficit hypothesis but not with the feedback system deficit hypothesis; however, effects were small and not present in all individual speakers with AOS. Theoretical implications and alternative interpretations of these findings are discussed.

Operant Procedures Applied to Stuttering Therapy for Children

1971 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 264-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce P. Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Operant Behavior ◽  
Gradual Increase ◽  
Social Reward ◽  
Delayed Auditory Feedback ◽  
Fluent Speech

This report concerns operant stuttering therapy programs for five children ranging in age from six to nine years. The programs included programmed desensitization, delayed auditory feedback, and gradual increase in the length and complexity of the speech utterance. Reinforcing events ranged from social reward to points which could be exchanged for toys. The programs varied in length from 15 to 73.3 hours. They were all successful in helping the children to establish fluent speech. Special transfer and maintenance programs were necessary for some of the children. Follow-up measures indicated that the children had maintained their fluency. The value of viewing stuttering as operant behavior was demonstrated.

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