Article
Nonword repetition and phoneme elision in Adults Who Do and Do Not Stutter
Journal of Fluency Disorders
(2012)
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to explore the phonological working memory of adults who stutter through the use of a non-word repetition and a phoneme elision task.
Participants were 14 adults who stutter (M = 28 years) and 14 age/gender matched adults who do not stutter (M = 28 years). For the non-word repetition task, the participants had to repeat a set of 12 non-words across four syllable lengths (2-, 3-, 4-, and 7-syllables) (N = 48 total non-words). For the phoneme elision task, the participants repeated the same set of non-words at each syllable length, but with a designated target phoneme eliminated. Adults who stutter were significantly less accurate than adults who do not stutter in their initial attempts to produce the longest non-words (i.e., 7-syllable). Adults who stutter also required a significantly higher mean number of attempts to accurately produce 7-syllable non-words than adults who do not stutter. For the phoneme elision task, both groups demonstrated a significant reduction in accuracy as the non-words increased in length; however, there was no significant interaction between group and syllable length. Thus, although there appear to be advancements in the phonological working memory for adults who stutter relative to children who stutter, preliminary data from the present study suggest that the advancements may not be comparable to those demonstrated by adults who do not stutter.
Disciplines
Publication Date
September, 2012
DOI
10.1016/j.jfludis.2012.03.003
Publisher Statement
© 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
*At the time of publication, Megann McGill (Vallely) was affiliated with the University of Texas.
Citation Information
Byrd, C. T., Vallely, M., Anderson, J. D., & Sussman, H. (2012). Nonword repetition and phoneme elision in adults who do and do not stutter. Journal of fluency disorders, 37(3), 188-201.