FLUENT SPEECH, FAST ARTICULATORY RATE, AND DELAYED AUDITORY-FEEDBACK - CREATING A CRISIS FOR A SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

In 1970 Kuhn argued that science does not progress through a process o f accretion. It is typified, rather, by the successive emergence of di fferent paradigms which during their reign dictate the direction of no rmal science's puzzle-solving activity. Normal science inevitably expo ses an anomaly which violates expectations predicted by the reigning p aradigm. The ''crisis'' evoking anomaly may induce a destructive/const ructive paradigm change. Transformations from one paradigm to another constitute a scientific revolution and dictate the growth and maturati on of a field. This paper suggests the recent finding, that stutterers experience enhancement of fluency while speaking under delayed audito ry feedback at a fast articulatory rate, be viewed as an anomaly. By c hallenging the notion that a slowed speech rate is necessary for ameli oration of stuttering, the anomalous finding map be perceived as a cri sis in the study of stuttering.