Auditory Tone Monitoring in Adults with Stuttering

Abstract

Introduction: Stuttering is portrayed by involuntary disruptions in the flow and rhythm of speaking despite the fact that the individual knows precisely what he/she needs to state [1].  Over the past decades, many studies have examined neural mechanisms of stuttering in adults who stutter and have proposed that stuttering may be associated with deficits in the sensorimotor system. Many neuroimaging studies investigating underlying neural deficits of stuttering have reported abnormal brain activation in auditory and motor regions of adults who stutter that may result in deficits in the integration of auditory feedback for speech production. Previous studies have shown that individuals who stutter were found to have deficits in auditory tone monitoring. Additionally, literature underpins the possibility of auditory tone monitoring deficits in adults and children who stutter. Various paradigms have been utilized to contemplate the auditory tone deficits; however, results are inconclusive. Most of the paradigms used to study auditory tone monitoring are indirect. None of these paradigms pin pointed the presence of monitoring deficits as the cause for stuttering but rather identified auditory tone monitoring to be one among various other factors contributing towards stuttering. Therefore, the present study had taken up the auditory tone monitoring task which specifically targets the tone monitoring deficits. Objective: The present study attempted to analyze the auditory tone monitoring with sequence of two pure tones and to compare between adults with stuttering and adults with no stuttering. Material and Method: The task was designed in two phases: Stimulus Preparation and Task Design and Programming; Administration of the tasks on adult with stuttering (AWS) and adult with no stuttering stutter (ANS) groups. The reaction time and accuracy of the participants’ responses, i.e., 1 KHz in the presented tone sequence were measured automatically using DMDX software. The error responses were demonstrated by a negative sign in the software and time-lapsed errors were shown by -4000 ms. Results: The results of the study determined that AWS took longer time to respond to the presence/absence of the target tone and was less accurate when compared to ANS. On comparing the mean values it was found that the ANS was found to be more accurate than AWS in eliciting “Yes” responses and “No” responses but the differences were not statistically significant. AWS were less accurate in monitoring the presence of target tone occurring in the initial, medial and final positions when compared to ANS. On comparing the mean values differences were noted inaccuracy measure between the groups across all the positions but the differences found to be not significant. Conclusion: It can be concluded that a subgroup of AWS may experience subtle deficits in auditory tone monitoring process. The present study adds on to the theoretical knowledge on the nature of stuttering in adults, especially supporting the auditory deficits to some extent in adults with stuttering.

Keywords: Adult who Stutter, Auditory Tone Monitoring, Reaction Time, Accuracy

Cite this Article

Sangeetha M, Amulya S, Sabeena T, Geetha M. P. Auditory Tone Monitoring In Adults With Stuttering. Research & Reviews: A Journal of Bioinformatics. 2019; 6(2): 16–25p.