A DEVICE that fits unobtrusively in the ear like a hearing aid could help
people who stutter to speak more fluently鈥攂y playing their own voices back
to them after a tiny delay.
鈥淒elayed auditory feedback鈥� is already used to help people with a tendency to
stutter to overcome their verbal block. But the devices are big and bulky, as
they are designed mainly for use in a clinical setting. The new electronic aid,
which is powered by standard hearing aid batteries, is small enough to sit
inside the ear canal.
鈥淧eople can鈥檛 see the aid. A person who stutters hates to be [visually]
identified as a person who stutters,鈥� says Joseph Kalinowski, a researcher at
East Carolina University in Greenville. Kalinowski鈥檚 research has demonstrated
that delayed auditory feedback makes most people who stutter more fluent,
preventing about 80 per cent of stuttering.
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A company called Janus Development, also of Greenville, has acquired
manufacturing rights to the device and has begun making it, says Kalinowski, who
stutters himself and says the aid has almost eliminated his condition. 鈥淚
haven鈥檛 talked on the phone in 25 years,鈥� he said, speaking to New
快猫短视频 in a phone interview while wearing the device.
Although it鈥檚 not certain why delayed auditory feedback works, one idea is
that it provides extra feedback to a portion of the brain that is supposed to
monitor the sensations of speech production, which somehow fails to work
normally in a person with a stutter.
Janus is working with a hearing-aid company to build the devices, which can
be adjusted to delay speech by between 25 and 75 milliseconds. The downside is
the price: the aid will cost about $3500鈥攁s much as an expensive
hearing aid.