Audiovocal integration in adults who stutter.
BACKGROUND
Altered auditory feedback can facilitate speech fluency in adults who stutter. However, other findings suggest that adults who stutter show anomalies in 'audiovocal integration', such as longer phonation reaction times to auditory stimuli and less effective pitch tracking.


OBJECTIVE
To study audiovocal integration in adults who stutter using the pitch-shift paradigm.


METHODS
Fourteen adult stuttering participants and 16 normally fluent adults produced the vowel /a/while monitoring their own voice through earphones. Unanticipated pitch-shifts were applied in the upward or downward direction for 500 ms.


RESULTS
Short latency pitch-shift responses (or pitch-shift responses) were elicited in all participants. In stuttering participants, vocal response onset latency was significantly delayed and amplitude tended to be reduced.


CONCLUSIONS
Atypical audiovocal responses could be associated with stuttering. It is not clear how audiovocal integration influences stuttering, but could signal inadequate activation of internal models.
Department of Speech and Hearing Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA.
Torrey
T
Loucks
HeeCheong
H
Chon
Woojae
W
Han
D001308:Auditory Perceptual Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D025461:Feedback, Physiological / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010699:Phonation / Q000502:physiology*; D010898:Pitch Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013066:Speech-Language Pathology; D013342:Stuttering / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D055815:Young Adult