ABSTRACT
Purpose:
to compare the immediate effects of delayed auditory feedback in oral reading task of school-age children with persistent developmental stuttering.
Methods:
this study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee (n° 0714/2013). Participated 16 school-children aged 8-17 years, 11 males and 5 females, divided into two experimental groups (EG1 and EG2) with 8 participants each; EG1 composed by participants with moderate stuttering and EG2 with severe or very severe stuttering. The procedures employed were: audiologic evaluation, fluency assessment in spontaneous speech and evaluation of oral reading fluency, in two listening situations: with Nonaltered Auditory Feedback - NAF and Delayed - DAF. The Fono Tools software along with Andrea PureAudio USB -AS adapter and headset microphone Karsect HT- 2 were employed to cause the effect of the DAF and to record speech.
Results:
the effect of the delayed auditory feedback led to reduction of stuttering-like disfluencies in both groups, but the frequency of other disfluencies increased in the moderate stuttering group and decreased in the group with severe / very severe stuttering and thus, total disfluencies showed a more significant decrease in EG2. There were statistically significant differences for oral reading only in intergroup comparison for stuttering-like disfluencies, at nonaltered auditory feedback situation.
Conclusions:
the delayed auditory feedback did not cause significant effects during oral reading in both groups, however the effect may tend to be considered as positive for the group with severe / very severe stuttering.
Keywords:
Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences; Speech Disorders; Reading; Stuttering; Feedback
