The paper reviews approaches for the investigation of speech quality in stuttering treatment including speech quality research in areas beyond stuttering, stuttering treatment speech quality research, pertinent findings from nontreatment stuttering research, and issues in recent speech quality management research with stutterers. (Author/DB)

The study compared five adult stutterers' and five adult nonstutterers' fluent speech patterns produced during one nonshadowed reading and two speech-shadowing conditions (immediate repetition of a heard message). Among results were that stutterers produced fewer speech production errors than nonstutterers during shadowing conditions. (Author/DB)

Analysis of lip and jaw motion in 18 stutterers and 10 nonstutterers found that adult stutterers who had been through speech therapy showed significant increases in jaw movement duration and time to peak velocity of the upper lip, lower lip, and jaw. Results suggest that anomalies in stutterers' fluent speech may be the result of acquired…

The study found that stutterers (N=10) were significantly more variable than nonstutterers in their ability to achieve stable fundamental frequency diminution patterns in vowels immediately following stop consonants. Stutterers were not significantly different from the nonstutterers in their ability to achieve a stable fundamental frequency over…

This study examined acoustic durations in 12 children (ages 3 to 9) who stuttered and received treatment based either on speech motor training (SMT) or extended length of utterance (ELU). Although the ELU treatment reduced stuttering more than the SMT, the SMT was more effective in increasing vowel duration and decreasing stop gap duration.…

In this study, 102 adult stutterers were assessed on state and trait anxiety before, and on trait anxiety after, intensive behavioral treatment. Results showed that persons who stutter have significantly higher levels of fear (trait anxiety) in a demanding speech situation and also higher levels of chronic anxiety (trait anxiety) than matched…

The study with three adult stutterers evaluated the effects of instructions to rate and modify the naturalness of their speech and compared their self evaluations with evaluations of listeners. (Author/DB)

This study, involving an adolescent and adult male with stuttering problems, evaluated modification of the frequency of electroglottograph-measured phonation intervals on stuttering and speech naturalness. Both subjects demonstrated that stuttering could be controlled by modifying the frequency of phonation intervals within short duration ranges,…

The paper argues that listeners are unable to judge unit-by-unit occurrences of stuttering acceptably. Reasons for this state of affairs and its implications for therapy, theory, and research are analyzed. An alternative speech production definition with its implications is proposed, and a diagnostic method of validating authentic stuttering is…

This study investigated changes in the speech patterns of young adult male subjects when stuttering was modified by deliberately prolonging speech. Three subjects showed clinically significant stuttering reductions when using prolonged speech to reduce their stuttering. Resulting speech was perceptually stutter free. Acoustic and…

This study analyzed spontaneous speech samples of 10 children (ages 10-14) who stuttered, with no history of treatment based on prolonged speech. Acoustic measures showed no significant posttreatment increases in durations of acoustic segments. However, for acoustic measures of vowel duration and articulation rate, posttreatment speech samples…

This paper examines a prolonged speech treatment model for stuttering, the Camperdown Program. Sixteen participants showed minimal or no stuttering in everyday speaking situations for up to 12 months after entering the program's maintenance phase, with speech rates in the normal range. Results were achieved in a mean of 20 hours of clinic…

A time-out from speaking contingency was evaluated in the treatment of stuttering in three school-age children. A red light time-out signal appeared for five seconds when the child stuttered. Two of the children responded to time-out with clear reductions in stuttering. Listeners did not detect any differences between the perceptually stutter-free…

This study investigated the disfluencies and phonic tics in an 18- year-old male with Tourette syndrome before and after a 3-week period of speech therapy. The subject's speech pattern did not completely conform to the classic pattern of stuttering but bore more resemblance to cluttering. A limited number of therapy sessions resulted in a…

The influence of visual signals (echo and reverberation) on speech fluency in 60 stutterers and nonstutterers was examined. Visual signals were found to exert a corrective influence on the speech of stutterers but less than the influence of acoustic stimuli. Use of visual signals in combination with acoustic and tactile signals is recommended. (DB)