Profile of fluency in spontaneous speech, reading, and retelling of texts by adults who stutter

Abstract

Purpose to describe the profile of fluency concerning the typology of disfluencies, speed, and frequency of disruptions in spontaneous speech, reading, and retelling; to compare the fluency profile in adults who stutter in spontaneous speech, reading, and retelling of text. Methods The present work is a cross-sectional comparative study with a sample composed of 15 adults who stutter of both sexes, with higher education or equivalent to complete elementary school II. Samples were collected in the tasks of spontaneous speech, reading, and text retelling through video calls made individually with the participants. The first 200 syllables expressed in each task were transcribed and analyzed according to the Fluency Profile Assessment Protocol (FPAP). The study compared the frequency of common and stuttering disfluencies and the speed in the different tasks surveyed. The Kruskal & Wallis test was used together with Duncan's multiple comparisons test to compare the medians and verify possible differences between the tasks researched with a significance level of 5%. Results The reading task presented a lower number of common disfluencies and a percentage of speech discontinuity about spontaneous speech and retelling tasks. No statistically significant differences were found between stuttering disfluencies in the three tasks surveyed. Conclusion This study showed that there are differences in the occurrence of common disfluencies - hesitations, interjections, and revisions - and in the percentage of speech discontinuity during an oral reading of adults who stutter concerning spontaneous speech and text retelling.