Nonword reading by adults who stutter in a transparent orthography.

PURPOSE: Using word- and nonword-reading passages in Kannada, which has a transparent orthography, we attempted to determine (a) whether orthographic differences between English and Kannada may explain the observed differences in stutter rates on nonwords, and (b) whether longer nonwords, like words, incur higher rates of stutters. METHODS: Stutters are defined as sound or syllable repetitions, sound prolongations, broken words or nonwords (a pause within a word or nonword), abnormal pauses, and intrusive vowel-like sounds. Twenty-six persons, who stutter, read the word and nonword passages. The nonwords were created by changing the first syllable of each word; otherwise words and nonwords were equivalent in length and syllable structure. Stutters were counted from audio-recordings and statistically analyzed. RESULTS: PWS stuttered on words in varying amounts and in significantly larger amounts on nonwords. Stutter frequency increased roughly in proportion to the increase in the length of phonological words (previously known) and nonwords (reported for the first time here). CONCLUSION: The results cannot be attributed to the difficulty of pronouncing nonwords because Kannada orthography has a one-to-one relationship between the written and spoken forms of words. Speech production is a multi-stage process consisting of ideation, lemma selection, phonological word creation, and the articulatory planning and execution. Because nonwords lack meaning and clearly identifiable part of speech, it appears that stutters arise late in the speech production process at the phonological word formation and articulatory planning stages. Meaning, lexicality, and morphosyntax may not contribute significantly to the occurrence of stutters.

The Relationship Between Tinnitus Pitch, Audiogram Edge Frequency, and Auditory Stream Segregation Abilities in Individuals With Tinnitus.

Purpose Around 80%-93% of the individuals with tinnitus have hearing loss. Researchers have found that tinnitus pitch was related to the frequencies of hearing loss, but unclear about the relationship between tinnitus pitch and audiometry edge frequency. The comorbidity of tinnitus and speech perception in noise problems had also been reported, but the relationship between tinnitus pitch and speech perception in noise had seldom been investigated. This study was designed to estimate the relationship between tinnitus pitch, audiogram edge frequency, and speech perception in noise. The speech perception in noise was measured using auditory stream segregation paradigm. Method Thirteen individuals with bilateral mild-to-severe tonal tinnitus and minimal-to-mild cochlear hearing loss were selected. Thirteen individuals with hearing loss without tinnitus were also selected. The audiogram of each participant with tinnitus was matched with that of the participant without tinnitus. Tinnitus pitch of the participants with tinnitus was measured and compared with audiogram edge frequency. The stream segregation thresholds were calculated at the participants' admitted tinnitus pitch and one octave below the tinnitus pitch. The stream segregation thresholds were estimated at fission and fusion boundary using pure-tone stimuli in ABA paradigm. Results High correlation between tinnitus pitch and audiogram edge frequency was noted. Overall stream segregation thresholds were higher for individuals with tinnitus. Higher thresholds indicated poorer stream segregation abilities. Within tinnitus participants, the thresholds were significantly lesser at frequency corresponding to admitted tinnitus pitch than at one octave below the tinnitus pitch. Conclusions The information from this study may be helpful in educating the patients about the relationship between hearing loss and tinnitus. The findings may also account for speech-perception-in-noise difficulties often reported by the individuals with tinnitus.

Stuttering in relation to the morphophonemics of Kannada.

The present study investigated the effect of certain unique morphophonemic features of Kannada words on the rate of stutters in a group of 22 adolescent and adult persons who stuttered in an oral reading task. A linear regression analysis showed that word length ranging from 1 to 8 syllables was a potent variable in the occurrence of stutters accounting for 25.3% of stutters. A composite index of morphophonemic complexity with points assigned for sandhi, geminates, consonant clusters, and number of morphemes accounted for a small 7.5% variability in observed stutter rates. Sandhi words and the hybrid content-function words were no more effective than other words in determining stutter rates. Results are discussed in relation to past findings for other languages and current neurolinguistic models of speech production.

Motor learning cannot explain stuttering adaptation.

When persons who stutter (PWS) read a text repeatedly, there is a progressive reduction in stutter frequency over the course of three to five readings. Recently, this phenomenon has been attributed by some researchers to motor learning-the acquisition of relatively permanent motor skills that facilitate fluency through practice in producing words. The current study tested this explanation. 23 PWS read prose passages five times in succession. The number of 'new' and 'old' stutters during repeated readings (words stuttered in the current reading but spoken fluently in the previous reading and words stuttered also in the previous reading) were analyzed. If motor learning facilitated fluency during repeated readings in PWS, words read fluently in a reading should not be stuttered in a later reading in significant numbers. Contrary to this prediction, there was no statistical difference in the number of new words stuttered across five readings. A plausible alternative explanation, which requires further study to verify, is offered.