Kinematic Correlates of Speaking Rate Changes in Stuttering and Normally Fluent Adults

Abstract

Articulatory kinematics were analyzed to determine if adults who stutter are generally poorer at speech movement pattern generation and if changing speech rate affects their stability in the same way that it affects normally fluent controls. Adults who stutter (n = 14) and a matched group of controls produced fluent repetitions of a simple phrase at normal, slow, and fast rates. A composite index of spatiotemporal stability (STI), as well as independent measures of timing and spatial variability, revealed that adults who stutter can operate within normal movement parameter ranges under low-demand speaking conditions. However, some of the stuttering participants showed evidence of abnormal instability even when repeating a simple utterance at habitual rate. Also, measures of relative timing indicated that adults who stutter, unlike their matched controls, are not better timers at habitual vs. nonpreferred speech rates. Overall, the results suggest that the kinematic characteristics of the fluent speech of adults who stutter generally overlap that of normally fluent speakers; however, subtle differences in kinematic parameters are interpreted to reveal their susceptibility to speech motor breakdown when performance demands increase.

Tongue Movements and Their Acoustic Consequences in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

“…As these talkers slowed their speech to approximately 50% of their typical rate, they also reduced their movement speed by the same proportion and increased displacements by approximately 10%. These findings agree with other studies showing that slowing speaking rate is associated with significant decreases in movement velocities and smaller increases in movement displacements in healthy talkers [27][28][29][30] . In the acoustic domain, both F2 slope and F2 range changed notably as rate slowed.…”

Effect of speech rate manipulations on articulatory dynamics in severe traumatic brain injury: An EMA and EPG study

“…The authors argue that a further reduction in speaking rate induced by the treatment strategy, in addition to that caused by the neurological disease, may dysregulate the coordinative nature of speech production. Further slower rates have resulted in reduced intelligibility and more variable kinematic measures, even in non-neurologically impaired speakers [6][7][8]. The authors recommend that, in the presence of an existing slow rate of speech, investigations that explore the effects of increased rate are warranted.…”

Speech Movement Measures as Markers of Bulbar Disease in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

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