A novel non-word speech preparation task to increase stuttering frequency in experimental settings for longitudinal research.
Farzan Irani, Jeffrey R Mock, John C Myers and 2 others
PMID 37331327WHAT IT FOUND
A laboratory task using pairs of non-words reliably raised stuttering rates to 39% across multiple sessions.
This increase did not carry over to normal conversation or reading afterwards, so the task can be used for research without worsening the patient's baseline speech.
Key findings
01The non-word pair task elicited a mean stuttering frequency of 39.2% across sessions, providing a balanced number of fluent and stuttered trials.
02Stuttering frequency in pre-task and post-task conversation and reading samples remained stable (mean 5.8%), showing no carry-over effect from the experimental task.
03Participants were more likely to stutter on non-words with a higher syllable count than expected.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study included only 12 participants, so results may not generalize to the broader stuttering population. The range of non-word lengths used was narrow (mostly 2-3 syllables), limiting the ability to fully characterize the effect of complexity. Inter-subject variability was high, with stuttering rates in the task ranging from 4.4% to 96.8%. Participants were instructed not to use fluency shaping techniques, but compliance with this instruction could not be verified.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (N.I.H.).
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the 39% stuttering rate as a clinical severity score or a treatment outcome. This was an experimental condition designed to maximize disfluencies for research purposes, not a reflection of the participants' typical speech or a therapeutic goal.