The modification of speech naturalness during rhythmic stimulation treatment of stuttering

This study investigated the modification of speech naturalness during stutt ering treatment. It systematically replicated an earlier study (Ingham & On slow, 1985) that demonstrated that unnatural-sounding stutter-free speech c ould be shaped into more natural-sounding stutter-free speech by using regu lar feedback of speech-naturalness ratings during speaking tasks. In the pr esent study, the same procedure was used with three persons who stutter-2 a dolescent girls and 1 adult man-during rhythmic stimulation conditions. The two adolescent participants spoke only English, but Spanish was the first and English the second language (ESL) of the adult participant. For the 2 a dolescents, it was demonstrated that their unnatural-sounding rhythmic spee ch could be shaped to levels found among normally fluent speakers without l osing the fluency-inducing benefits of rhythmic speech. The findings indica te that speech-naturalness feedback may be a powerful procedure for overcom ing a problematic aspect of rhythmic speech treatments of stuttering. Howev er, it was not possible to deliver reliable speech-naturalness feedback to the adult ESL speaker, who also displayed a strong dialect. The study highl ights the need to find strategies to improve interjudge agreement when usin g speech-naturalness ratings with speakers who display a strong dialect.