Eliciting Stuttering in Laboratory Contexts

Abstract

Purpose The contextual variability of stuttering events makes it difficult to reliably elicit stuttered speech in laboratory settings. As a result, studies that compare stuttered versus fluent speech are difficult to conduct and, thus, are limited in the literature. The purpose of the current study is to describe a novel approach to elicit stuttering during laboratory testing. Method A semistructured clinical interview leveraging the phenomenon of stuttering anticipation was administered to 22 adults who stutter (1st visit). The interview was used to generate participant-specific anticipated and unanticipated word lists, which were used as stimuli during a 2nd visit so that the validity of the method could be tested. Results The method yielded a near-equal distribution of unambiguously stuttered and fluent utterances (43.6% and 43.5%, respectively). Moreover, 12.9% of the utterances were judged to be ambiguous, that is, not unambiguously stuttered or fluent. Conclusion This approach outperformed previous attempts to elicit stuttering during laboratory testing. It could be implemented in future studies that compare neural, physiological, or behavioral correlates of fluent versus stuttered speech.