Stuttering : A Perceptual Analysis of Speech following Treatment

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Abstract
The present study aimed to investigate whether untrained listeners could differentiate the fluent speech of treated stutters from the speech of nonstutterers. A procedure is reported whereby untrained listeners attempted to identify the fluent speech of treated stutterers when their speech was paired with that of a nonstutterer of the same sex and age. The study secondly reports a procedure in which a group of trained speech-language pathologists perceptually assessed 1-minute speech samples of treated stutterers and normal speakers. The aim of the procedure was to identify any distinguishing differences which may exist between the two groups of speakers with respect to prosody, rate, and fluency. Results of the study indicate that the speech of stutterers who have received treatment employing a prolonged speech technique can be reliably identified by untrained listeners. The fluent speech of the stutterers was found to be perceptually distinguishable from normal speech in terms of the prosody and rate. No significant difference was identified between the two groups with respect to fluency. Overall, the findings suggest that although the stutterers in the study achieved fluent speech, their speech still contained features which prevented them from being indistinguishable from nonstutterers. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.