1. The Modification of Speech Naturalness During Rhythmic Stimulation Treatment of Stuttering
- Author
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Ingham, Roger J., Sato, Wendy, Finn, Patrick, and Belknap, Heather
- Subjects
Stuttering -- Care and treatment ,Speech disorders -- Care and treatment - Abstract
This study investigated the modification of speech naturalness during stuttering treatment. It systematically replicated an earlier study (Ingham & Onslow, 1985) that demonstrated that unnatural-sounding stutter-free speech could be shaped into more natural-sounding stutter-free speech by using regular feedback of speech-naturalness ratings during speaking tasks. In the present study, the same procedure was used with three persons who stutter--2 adolescent girls and 1 adult man--during rhythmic stimulation conditions. The two adolescent participants spoke only English, but Spanish was the first and English the second language (ESL) of the adult participant. For the 2 adolescents, it was demonstrated that their unnatural-sounding rhythmic speech could be shaped to levels found among normally fluent speakers without losing the fluency-inducing benefits of rhythmic speech. The findings indicate that speech-naturalness feedback may be a powerful procedure for overcoming a problematic aspect of rhythmic speech treatments of stuttering. However, it was not possible to deliver reliable speech-naturalness feedback to the adult ESL speaker, who also displayed a strong dialect. The study highlights the need to find strategies to improve interjudge agreement when using speech-naturalness ratings with speakers who display a strong dialect. KEY WORDS: stuttering, rhythmic stimulation, speech naturalness, treatment, The search for ways to improve speech quality during or after stuttering treatment continues to be an important clinical issue. The issue is usually related to treatments that use the [...]
- Published
- 2001