The effect of metronome pacing on selected aerodynamic patterns of stuttered speech: Some preliminary observations and interpretations

The purpose of this investigation was to provide some preliminary data regarding the effects of metronome pacing on physiological aspects of speech during stuttering. Five aerodynamic measures were chosen as dependent variables: (a) peak intraoral air pressure, (2) intraoral air pressure onset duration, (3) intraoral air pressure offset duration, (4) total intraoral air pressure duration, and (5) peak air flow rate. Five adult stutterers and five adult nonstutterers read a prose passage containing 12 English consonants, each in three syllable-initial stressed positions, during a control condition and experimental condition. In the experimental condition the subjects read the passage while synchronizing one word per beat at 60 beats per minute. The results demonstrated that both stutterers and normals evidenced lower peak pressures and greater pressure durations during metronome pacing. Air flow rates increased for normal subjects and decreased for stutterers in the experimental condition. Dysfluencies recorded during the control condition were observed to have much more rapid intraoral air pressure onsets when compared with fluent counterparts in the experimental reading. These results were interpreted with reference to Wingate's (1969) modified vocalization hypothesis and Van Riper's (1971) altered timing concept.