Enabling Technology

GuntupallNotes

Avery’s Notes on Vijaya Guntupall

  • Ph.D Student at East Carolina University
  • Research involves providing solutions for those who suffer from Stuttering.
  • Characteristics of Stuttering:
    • Part-word repetitions
    • Prolonged sounds
    • Physical features (eye blinking, facial contortions)
  • Other facts pertaining to Stuttering:
    • Becomes present at a young age.
    • 1% of the total population suffers from stuttering
    • More males suffer from stuttering than females (3:1)
    • Some people grow out of stuttering, while some do not.
  • The primary issue of those who stutter is the difficulty in initiating the sound or conversation. They need help getting started, so if no one is talking first, then it becomes difficult for them to start. An example of this is vowel prolongation (‘and…um’), which many use to initiate talking.
  • There are some treatments available to combat stuttering:
    • Drug Therapy
      • Issue: Is not a cure-all…possible side effects
    • Behavioral Modification (e.g. slowed or prolonged speech)
      • Issue: Difficult for the listener to follow
    • Cognitive / Behavioral
    • Psychotherapy
      • Issue: Shown to be successful in clinic room, but patient usually relapses in outside world.
    • Psycho-analytical
    • Auditory-masking Devices (speaker hears continuous static noise)
      • Issue: Difficult for the speaker to hear his/herself
  • Choral Speech – speaking in unison with others (e.g. Pledge of Allegiance)
    • Such events result in no stuttering from the speaker.
  • Proposed Solution: Prosthetic device that provides delayed frequency-altered audio feedback.
    • Delay: 0–200 ms
    • Frequency-altered Feedback: -2000 Hz to +2000 Hz in 500 Hz increments.
    • Magic: The device tricks the mind into thinking that others are talking
  • Currently, there are various models available, with newer ones becoming smaller, with fine-tuned delay frequencies.