Speech and non-speech activities in stuttering: A preliminary study

Abstract

Background: stuttering. Aim: to compare muscle activation in fluent and stuttering individuals during speech and non-speech tasks. Method: six adults divided in two groups: G1 - three fluent individuals; G2 - three stuttering individuals. Muscle activity (surface electromyography) was captured by disposable electrodes fixed in four regions. Testing situations: muscle rest tension, speech reaction time, non-verbal activity, verbal activity. Results: There was no significant statistical difference between the groups for the rest tension; G2 present longer speech reaction times; G2 presented muscle activity during the non-verbal task similar to that observed during rest; Muscle activity of G1 and G2 during the verbal task demonstrated to be similar. Conclusion: these results suggests that for G2 there is a poor control of timing for the coordination of motor processes.