What can Choral Speech Teach us about Stuttering Reduction?

Michael Kiefte and Joy Armson

Properties of choral speech underlying its stuttering reduction effect can be examined by manipulating features of the accompanist.  In this seminar, results of two studies are discussed. In one, choral speech conditions were designed to approximate altered auditory feedback (AAF).  Stuttering was significantly less in the manipulated choral speech conditions than in the AAF condition. A second experiment compared stuttering reduction for presentation of the accompanist’s auditory speech signal with visual images of the accompanist’s mouth/jaw movements.  Findings from both studies are interpreted as indicating that pacing may be important to the stuttering reduction effect of choral speech.