The rhythm of stuttering

There are tricks known as "fluency-enhancement techniques" which when performed by a stutterer, increases the fluency of their speech. To date, these fluency-enhancers have been auditory in nature, for example, speaking in unison with someone else, or speaking with delayed feedback of their own voice. 

One of these "tricks" is metronome-timed speech. When people who stutter talk in time to a metronome, this increases fluency of speech. This study investigates if this effect works with a visual and tactile metronome, in addition to an auditory metronome.

We ask participants to both read sentences, and answer questions, timing their speech to the beat of each type of metronome. We are investigating to what extent a visual, auditory, and tactile metronome can increase fluency, and if any metronome performs better than others.

In addition, we are investigating how accurately and consistently stutterers time their speech to the beat, in comparison to people who do not stammer.

We hope to understand the theoretical basis of why these tricks work - does the brain only respond to auditory tricks? or can we leverage rhythm in different forms to aid fluency?

The study takes place over a single session, which lasts two hours. We are looking for people who stutter and people who speak fluently, aged 18+.

We pay travel and accommodation costs for you to come and visit us in Bangor! email Michael Pendlebury Michael Pendlebury mcp18ysr@bangor.ac.uk