Discovering Fluency through Technology

By John M. Williams

alt text

I have stuttered for 53 years. I have never liked it. Hundreds of times I have cursed it.

Throughout my life, I tried a variety of therapies and devices to assist me achieve fluent speech. The therapies worked briefly. Their effectiveness collapsed because I lacked the discipline to carry through on the therapies.

In 2001, I was introduced to the SpeechEasy (www.speecheasy.com). After a week of using it, I returned it to the manufacturer. For me, it had more negatives than positives. It was not the miracle cure for stuttering that I had heard. It felt cumbersome wearing it in my ear. It picked up too many strange noises that were distractions.

In 2005, I was reintroduced to an upgraded version of the SpeechEasy. This time, the product wasmolded to fit comfortably into my ear. I was given practice sessions at East Carolina University, where I was taught to care for it. Wearing the SpeechEasy, my daily 10-minute practice sessions occur in the morning and evening. During practice, I read out loud. As I approach a word that I know is difficult, I stretch the vowel sounds before the word. I duplicate the stretching exercise while speaking.

Also during practice, I use the "uh" method. When I stop reading to take a breath, I resume reading by using "uh." This program increases my fluency in conversational speech, in delivering speeches and in reading.

I wear the "In the Canal" version of the SpeechEasy for a month. I warm up by reciting either the months of the year or a prayer out loud. The SpeechEasy resembles a hearing aid, and it emulates choral speech - a phenomenon that induces fluency in people who stutter. The device creates this choral pattern through Altered Audio Feedback (AAF) that consists of a combination of Delayed Audio Feedback (DAF) and Frequency Altered Feedback (FAF).

I wear the SpeechEasy eight hours daily when I am in a group, giving a speech or talking on the telephone. I do not wear it when I am writing, reading, watching TV, walking, riding a train or flying. The adjustable volume on the microphone is so sensitive that it picks up the loudest sound. Sirens and the screeching brakes of train have produced a piercing ringing in my ear that causes headaches.

The SpeechEasy has increased my fluency on the telephone, in small groups and in delivering speeches. When speaking on the telephone, I can hear myself being fluent. In small groups, where I am more comfortable speaking, since I started using the SpeechEasy, I am more fluent. Attendees have said so.

One of the benefits of increased fluency is an increase in my energy level. The less I stutter the more stamina I have, and my productivity rises.

The SpeechEasy used in unison with a good speech therapy program, coupled with discipline by the user and knowledge of the proper usage and care of the technology produced changes in my speech, and I expect future advancements.

Overall, my stuttering rate has dropped by 80%.

This article is included here because it may be helpful for many. However, this is NOT an endorsement by the Stuttering Foundation.

CELEBRITY FOCUS

Bill Walton

From BillWalton.com

Thank you for your interest in my life long problem with my speech and communication skills. I was a very shy and reserved young man who could not speak at all without severely stuttering until I was 28 years old. Always a success in the classroom and on the basketball court, I took refuge in the things that I did well as a youngster. A straight A student, my athletic abilities covered the deficiencies that limited my overall growth and development. The game of basketball was my religion, the gym my church. It was a convenient way of avoiding my responsibilities of developing my human relation skills.

When I was 28, a chance encounter at a social event with Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Glickman completely changed my life in so many ways that things have never been the same since, nor have they ever been better. That day, in a very brief, private conversation (one way, mind you, since I literally could not speak at the time) Marty explained, patiently and concisely, that talking, communicating was a skill not a gift or a birthright and that like any skill, whether it be sports, music, business or whatever, needed to be developed over a lifetime of hard work, discipline, organization and practice. Marty gave me some simple tips that day and then encouraged me to take those keys and apply them to methods of learning that I had received from the special teachers that I had come across in my life, particularly the 6 Hall of Fame basketball coaches that I had played for throughout my career. The beginning of my whole new life was as simple as that. No gimmicks, tricks or shortcuts. Just the realization that with some help, guidance and a lot of hard work that I too could do what seemed so easy, simple and natural to everyone else, yet seemed impossibly out of my reach and comprehension.

King George

In November 2010, worldwide movie audiences were presented with a most interesting and unusual movie release with The King’s Speech, starring Colin Firth as King George VI and Helena Bonham Carter as his wife Elizabeth.

Unfortunately, history may have forgotten the courageous and inspiring story of Prince Albert who stuttered badly and never dreamed that he would ever be king when his older brother, King Edward VIII, abruptly abdicated the throne in 1936 to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee.

James Earl Jones

Actor James Earl Jones, a Broadway, television and movie star, was well-known for his voice as Darth Vader in Star Wars and his book Voices and Silences. Jones spoke some of the most memorable lines in the history of American film, but the man known for his voice was once afflicted with a severe stutter.

Carly Simon

Carly Simon began stuttering severely when she was eight years old.

Winston Churchill

Seeking to "remove Winston Churchill's stutter by second guessing the diagnosis" indicates neither a truthful retelling of history nor an informed opinion about a complex speech disorder, say experts in the field of speech-language pathology.

Recent news reports that quote Dr. John Mather, a Washington physician, as saying that Churchill's stutter "is a lie" brought adamant critical response from specialists in the field of stuttering and fluency disorders.