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Systematic studies of modified vocalization: the effect of speech rate on speech production measures during
1Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY, USA.
Background:
Metronome-paced speech results in the elimination, or substantial reduction, of stuttering moments. The cause of fluency during this fluency-inducing condition is unknown. Several investigations have reported changes in speech pattern characteristics from a control condition to a metronome-paced speech condition, but failure to control speech rate between conditions limits our ability to determine if the changes were necessary for fluency.
Aims:
This study examined the effect of speech rate on several speech production variables during one-syllable-per-beat metronomic speech in order to determine changes that may be important for fluency during this fluency-inducing condition.
Methods & Procedures:
Thirteen persons who stutter (PWS), aged 18-62 years, completed a series of speaking tasks. Several speech production variables were compared between conditions produced at different metronome beat rates, and between a control condition and a metronome-paced speech condition produced at a rate equal to the control condition.
Outcomes & Results:
Vowel duration, voice onset time, pressure rise time and phonated intervals were significantly impacted by metronome beat rate. Voice onset time and the percentage of short (30-100 ms) phonated intervals significantly decreased from the control condition to the equivalent rate metronome-paced speech condition.
Conclusions & Implications:
A reduction in the percentage of short phonated intervals may be important for fluency during syllable-based metronome-paced speech for PWS. Future studies should continue examining the necessity of this reduction. In addition, speech rate must be controlled in future fluency-inducing condition studies, including neuroimaging investigations, in order for this research to make a substantial contribution to finding the fluency-inducing mechanism of fluency-inducing conditions.
