A body-worn delayed auditory feedback fluency aid for stammerers

Body-worn fluency aiming to relieve the disability of stammering during periods of use (just as spectacles correct defective vision only while worn, and make no claim to treat or cure the disability) have been envisaged for a quarter of a century. Most have been based on Auditory feedback Masking, but the Aid described here is probably the first body-worn version to be based on the principle of Delayed Auditory Feedback, recognised for 20 years as an aid to fluency, but hitherto available only in desk-top equipment. The embodiment described here fits easily into a breast pocket and is wired to a tie-pin microphone and two standard hearing aid earpieces. Voice actuated switching enables other speakers to be heard clearly and undelayed. Results of early clinical trials are indicated.