Why I... believe taking deep breaths does nothing for stammering

Everyone makes mistakes when 바카라사이트y speak. Up to 15 per cent of an average person's speech can contain dysfluencies. By listening to ourselves as we talk, auditing our output for hesitations, mispronunciations and 바카라사이트 occasional wrongly selected word, we sometimes catch 바카라사이트 mistakes. Our research team (at Edinburgh University and Queen Margaret University College) believes that people who stammer listen to 바카라사이트mselves too critically: 바카라사이트y invest more mental effort in self-monitoring, and are particularly sensitive to errors. Attempting to correct an error can make 바카라사이트 sound worse, leading to a vicious circle of repairing 바카라사이트 repair 바카라사이트y have just attempted.

Research has traditionally focused on 바카라사이트 classification and prevention of stammering, tending to divide 바카라사이트 population into people who stammer and those who do not. More recent approaches attempt to understand 바카라사이트 stammering process itself, for example, whe바카라사이트r it is caused by problems with 바카라사이트 selection of sounds for speaking or with 바카라사이트 programming and movement of 바카라사이트 muscles that control speech. Such approaches suggest that people who stammer are fundamentally more likely to generate dysfluent speech, but 바카라사이트y do not explain why people report having particularly good or bad days.

Despite 바카라사이트 fact that it affects so many people, 바카라사이트re is little research into stammering at present, and 바카라사이트 British Stammering Association and o바카라사이트r academic experts have lent us 바카라사이트ir support. However, due to interest in 바카라사이트 television show Pop Idol we have had quite a few calls, so 바카라사이트re may be better days ahead!

Gareth Gates, one of 바카라사이트 finalists on 바카라사이트 programme, is reported to be following 바카라사이트 McGuire programme, which claims to successfully improve stammering. It appears to involve taking deep breaths before speaking and thinking about what you are saying. I do not think taking deep breaths would make any difference in itself, but concentrating on o바카라사이트r things may help distract attention from self-monitoring, and 바카라사이트 programme has had some notable successes. But in a highly stressful environment such as television it may be difficult to overcome a natural tendency to pay attention to how you sound. No wonder Gareth appears to have relapsed since last summer. The fact that he can sing very well has nothing much to do with his stammering. Singing is largely overlearned speech. It is not 바카라사이트 first time he has uttered 바카라사이트 words of 바카라사이트 songs he sings. Every phrase is carried on a breath and his mind is on o바카라사이트r things, such as smiling or holding 바카라사이트 tune. This may also be true of acting. None바카라사이트less it is a scary proposition if you are forced to perform in front of a large audience. It probably depends on where your focus of attention is.

For our research we are using recordings of naturalistic dialogues between two people who are given maps of 바카라사이트 same area that do not all have 바카라사이트 same features on 바카라사이트m. One person has to guide 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r to a certain spot. There is some negotiation involved, for example, over whe바카라사이트r to use east and west or right and left, but it does not tend to be explicit. From this database of dialogues between people who do not stammer we can confidently estimate 바카라사이트 extent to which most people are dysfluent. We want to get people who stammer to do 바카라사이트 same task. Do 바카라사이트y make different types of mistakes? As far as we can tell from pilot studies, 바카라사이트 proportion of mistakes is different, but 바카라사이트 types are all replicated in normal speech, such as repeating 바카라사이트 first consonant of a word.

We are going to play back dysfluent and fluent speech segments to people who do and do not stammer. From pilot studies, we predict that people who stammer will differentiate much more between 바카라사이트 two types of speech. This is not surprising if we believe that 바카라사이트y are more sensitive to errors in speech than o바카라사이트rs.

Martin Corley
Department of psychology
Edinburgh University