title: Nonword repetition and phoneme elision in adults who do and do not stutter: Vocal versus nonvocal performance differences.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of the present study was to enhance our understanding of phonological working memory in adults who stutter through the comparison of nonvocal versus vocal nonword repetition and phoneme elision task performance differences.
  
  
  METHODS
  For the vocal nonword repetition condition, participants repeated sets of 4- and 7-syllable nonwords (n=12 per set). For the nonvocal nonword repetition condition, participants silently identified each target nonword from a subsequent set of three nonwords. For the vocal phoneme elision condition, participants repeated nonwords with a target phoneme eliminated. For the nonvocal phoneme elision condition, participants silently identified the nonword with the designated target phoneme eliminated from a subsequent set of three nonwords.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Adults who stutter produced significantly fewer accurate initial productions of 7-syllable nonwords compared to adults who do not stutter. There were no talker group differences for the silent identification of nonwords, but both talker groups required significantly more mean number of attempts to accurately silently identify 7-syllable as compared to 4-syllable nonwords. For the vocal phoneme elision condition, adults who stutter were significantly less accurate than adults who do not stutter in their initial production and required a significantly higher mean number of attempts to accurately produce 7-syllable nonwords with a phoneme eliminated. This talker group difference was also significant for the nonvocal phoneme elision condition for both 4- and 7-syllable nonwords.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Present findings suggest phonological working memory may contribute to the difficulties persons who stutter have establishing and/or maintaining fluent speech.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  (a) Readers can describe the role of phonological working memory in planning for and execution of speech; (b) readers can describe two experimental tasks for exploring the phonological working memory: nonword repetition and phoneme elision; (c) readers can describe how the nonword repetition and phoneme elision skills of adults who stutter differ from their typically fluent peers.
authors: The University of Texas at Austin, United States. Electronic address: courtney.byrd@austin.utexas.edu.
authors: Courtney T
authors: CT
authors: Byrd
authors: The University of Texas at Austin, United States.
authors: Megann
authors: M
authors: McGill
authors: Purdue University, United States.
authors: Evan
authors: E
authors: Usler
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007807:Language Tests; D008037:Linguistics; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D010700:Phonetics; D013060:Speech; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D013342:Stuttering / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D014832:Voice Disorders
keywords: Adults who stutter; Nonword repetition; Phoneme elision; Phonological working memory