Effects of monitoring condition and frequency-altered feedback on stuttering frequency

The purpose of the study was to examine stuttering frequency during speakin g conditions that are believed to mitigate stuttering frequency both with n ormal nonaltered auditory feedback (NAF) and a known fluency-enhancing Feed back. Specifically, stuttering frequency was examined as a function of thre e monitoring conditions under NAF and frequency-altered feedback (FAF): no monitoring (i.e., speaking alone, in the absence of audio and visual record ing), audiovisual monitoring (i.e., speaking alone with audiovisual recordi ng), and audiovisual monitoring with observers (i.e., speaking with audiovi sual recording in the presence of two observers). Seven adults and one adol escent who stutter served as participants. Stuttering frequency was differe ntially affected across monitoring conditions under each auditory feedback condition (p = .027). Post hoc analyses revealed no significant difference in stuttering frequency between the two conditions in the absence of the ob servers (i.e., no monitoring vs, audiovisual monitoring) under NAF (p = .45 ). There was, however, a significant difference in stuttering frequency for the no-monitoring and audiovisual-monitoring conditions relative to the au diovisual-monitoring-with-observers condition (p = .0002). There was no sta tistically significant difference in stuttering frequency across monitoring conditions under FAF (p > .05). The findings are consistent with the notio n that during NAF stuttering frequency varies as a function of hierarchical socioenvironmental conditions in which inanimate monitoring conditions con stitute one entity Such a relationship does not exist during FAF.