Producing the vowel vertical bar a vertical bar prior to speaking inhibitsstuttering in adults in the English language

This study investigated the effects of producing and listening to the vowel /a/ on the frequency of overt stuttering moments in eight people who stutt ered. Stuttering frequency counts were made for the speech produced in the control condition, and after each of these four experimental conditions: (a ) producing a vowel /a/ for 4 s; (b) producing a vowel /a/ for 4 s and wait ing for 4 s; (c) listening to a recording of the vowel /a/ for 4 s; and (d) listening to a recording of the vowel /a/ for 4 s and waiting for 4 s. A s ignificant reduction in the stuttering frequency was only observed followin g production of the vowel /a/ without a 4 s delay (P = 0.02), suggesting th at the vowel production prior to speech, serves as a temporary fluency enha ncer. Its similarity to the occurrence of overt stuttering moments (e.g. di screte part-word repetitions and prolongation's) and its relationship to th e fundamental nature of the pathology are discussed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Scie nce Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.