Inducement of Fluent Speech in Persons Who Stutter Via Visual Choral Speech
URI
Date
2000
Access
Authors
Kalinowski, Joseph Stanley
Stuart, Andrew
Rastatter, Michael P.
Snyder, Gregory
Dayalu, Vikram N.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
East Carolina University
Abstract
A novel phenomenon of fluency enhancement via visual gestures of speech in the absence of traditional auditory feedback is reported herein. The effect on visual choral speech on stuttering frequency was investigated. Ten participants who stuttered recited memorized text aloud under two conditions. In a Visual Choral Speech (VCS) condition participants were instructed to focus their gaze on the face, lips and jaw of a research assistant who "silently mouthed" the text in unison. In a control condition, participants recited memorized text to the research assistant who sat motionless. A statistically significant (p= .0025) reduction of approximately 80% in stuttering frequency was observed in the VCS condition. As visual linguistic cues are sufficient to activate the auditory cortex, one may speculate that VCS induces fluency in a similar yet undetermined manner as altered auditory feedback does.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Neuroscience Letters; 281:2-3 p. 198-200
DOI
10.1016/S0304-3940(00)00850-8