Characterising Verbal Stuttering Behaviours Using an Acoustic Analysis Program

Charn Ying Nang, Kim Kirsner and Kathryn Hird

Stuttering is commonly conceptualized as a disorder of speech motor control, thus analyses and descriptions are required to reflect the mechanisms governing the characteristics of the speech signal.  Methods of characterizing stuttering are also required to be more objective and reliable. This preliminary study aimed to characterise the speech of adults who stutter (AWS) using detailed acoustic analysis procedures.   Categories of acoustic events were devised to classify speech behaviours for all participants. Acoustic events were associated with overt stuttering behaviours but could also occur in the midst of a fluent speech segment.  Implications for this methodology for characterizing the speech of AWS will be discussed.