Rate vs. rhythm characteristics of cluttering with data from a "syllable-timed" language

Cluttering is a type of fluency disorder characterized by a speech rate which is perceived to be fast and/or irregular as well as by an abnormal speech rhythm. As far as we know, no research has been conducted as yet using objective measurements and acoustic phonetic description on the rhythm of cluttered speech. The aim of this study is to show by objective measurements whether there are any differences between the rhythm of cluttered and control speech, and which parameters point to such differences.

For the analysis, recordings of spontaneous speech samples were taken from people who clutter (PWC) as well as from control speakers. Typical speech rhythm values and articulation rate were calculated in each speech sample.

Results have confirmed that the rhythm of cluttering is slightly different from that of control speech in terms of various values, but the effect size is only small. It must be noted, however, that the difference between the two groups was not apparent in all analyzed values.

The timing differences between cluttered and control speech are manifested primarily in the articulation rate while peculiarities in speech rhythm are almost negligible.