Relationship between Speech Production and Perception in People Who Stutter

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Speech and Hearing Science
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• People who stutter (PWS) exhibit speech production challenges.
• PWS also demonstrate impaired speech perception compared to neurotypical individuals.
• The relationship between speech production and perception difficulties in PWS remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if speech perception deficits in PWS are independent of or related to their speech production difficulties.
• To explore the neural underpinnings of speech perception in PWS using functional neuroimaging.

Main Methods:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed on 13 PWS and 13 controls.
• Participants completed both speech production and speech perception tasks.
• Resting-state fMRI data were analyzed using Granger Causality Analysis.

Main Results:

• PWS showed poorer performance in speech perception tasks compared to controls.
• Functional activity differences in the left inferior frontal cortex (IFC)/anterior insula (speech motor area) were observed in PWS during both tasks.
• Altered functional connectivity from the left IFC/anterior insula to the left primary auditory cortex correlated with perception task performance.

Conclusions:

• Speech perception difficulties in PWS are associated with anomalous functional activity within the speech motor cortex.
• Altered functional connectivity between speech motor and auditory areas contributes to speech perception deficits in PWS.