This slides deal with the basic concepts regarding fluency disorders.

1. UNIT 1

2. Topics
• Fluency- Definition by various authors
• Disfluencies and Dysfluencies
• Development of Fluency
• Factors influencing development
• Stress, Intonation, Rhythm and Development of these
aspects
• Measures of fluency and prosodic aspects

3. Topic 1
Fluency- Definition by various authors
Dimensions of Fluency
Disfluencies and Dysfluencies

4. Term ‘Fluency’ From Latin word ‘flure’ which means flowing
The speech flows easily and smoothly in terms of both sound and
information.

5. To define Fluency:
Fluency means non-stuttered and forward moving speech in regards to
both content and production (Stark Weather,1987)
Fluency is the effortless production of long continuous utterance at a rapid
rate. These 3 elements of fluency are related to each other.
When smooth flowing streams of sounds are produced in an effortless,
timely manner, the speaker is judged to be fluent. The pauses and
hesitations break up to the smooth continuous flow of speech and this
determines the length and influences the rate of each utterance. These
slow down the rate at which words are produced.

6. Definition….
• Fluent speech represents smooth, uninterrupted verbal
communication (Pearl & Gradon, 1999)

7. Speech fluency and Language Fluency – 2 levels of
speech production
Language Fluency
Syntactic Fluency
Semantic fluency
Pragmatic fluency
Phonologic fluency
Stark Weather (1987)

8. Phonologic fluency
Individuals are able to pronounce long and complicated sequences of
sounds and syllables including nonsense and foreign words.

9. Syntactic Fluency
Speakers who are syntactically fluent are able to construct highly complex
sentences.

10. Semantic fluency
Speakers who are semantically fluent possess and able to access large
vocabularies.

11. Pragmatic fluency
Speakers who are pragmatically fluent are skillful at verbal response in a
variety of speaking situations.

12. Although Language fluency is a pre requisite for the production of
fluent speech. It is not the case that individuals who stutter are
deficient in these aspects of language competence or ability.
Individuals who stutter exhibit difficulties in speech fluency.

13. Speech Fluency
The coordination and timing of speech segments can affect the
articulation which in turn affects fluency.
Anatomical constraints- children have small vocal tracts and thus
Physiological constraints- less coordination less control

14. Dimensions of speech fluency
Stark Weather (1987) discusses speech fluency in terms of continuity, rate,
duration, co articulation and effort. The coordination of timing of speech
segments can affect the articulation which in turn affects fluency.

15. Timing:
• Continuity/Smoothness of speech
• Rate
• Rhythm
• Duration
Effort:
• Mental
• Physical

16. Continuity
refers to speech that flows without hesitation or stoppage
It relates to the degree to which syllables and words are logically
sequenced as well as the presence or absence of pauses

17. Filled and unfilled pauses- aspect of continuity which disrupts the flow
of sound.
Pauses lasting longer than approximately 250 milliseconds (ms).
(Goldman – Eisler, 1958).

18. There are 2 nearly identical ways of measuring
speech continuity:
•The frequency of pauses and hesitations in a speech
sample of known length
•The number of syllables produced without pausing.

19. Rate
refers to the speed in which the words are spoken.
Most people talk about as fast as they can. Hence the maximum and
ordinary rates tend to be similar.

20. Factors affecting rate
• Formality of speaking situation
• Time pressure
• Interference from background noise or competing message.

21. When speaking in a noisy environment, speakers are likely to slow
down (Long Hurst & Siegel, 1973)
If a speaker is producing a lengthy utterance, the rate of speech is likely
to be more rapid (Malecot, Johnson & Kizzear, 1972).

22. Rate measured in terms of words or syllables per minute
As children mature their syllable rate increase while rate variability
decreases.

23. • For English-speaking adults, the mean overall speaking rate is 170
words per minute (w/m)
• Individuals with stuttering- 120 w/m

24. Duration of speech segments
Duration of speech segments relates closely to the co articulation of
the segments
The duration of the consonants and vowels of a language varies
considerably with speech rate and phonetic and linguistic context.

25. • For example, stressed syllables are longer than unstressed ones
(Umeda, 1975).
• Sound segments are longer at the initiation and termination of
syllables, words and phrases (Fowler, 1978).

26. Rhythm
Rather than being a dimension of fluency, it seems to
promote or enhance fluency.
speech rhythm serves fluency by making it easier for us
to talk faster.
Unstressed syllables are shorter and thus require less
time.
In addition rhythm assists in rapid speech production
by providing a means for us to anticipate upcoming
movements.

27. Effort
Refers to the ease with which an act is performed.
2 types of effort:
• Effort associated with linguistic planning (mental)
• Effort associated with muscle movement (physical)
Stark weather (1987)

28. Mental effort- in terms of formulating the content of
a response and arranging content in an appropriate
syntactic sequence.
Effort can be neuromuscular in the timing and co-
ordination of respiration, phonation, and
articulation.

29. Fluent speakers- No Physical effort, No mental effort
Stutterers- Very High physical effort
High mental effort

30. Dysfluency
• Anything that disrupts smooth flow of speech.
Disfluency and Dysfluency ……..Any Difference??

31. Dysfluency Disfluency
(Stg)) (Normal)
Frequency
Severity
Types of dysfluency

32. Frequency- dysfluencies occur much more often and tend to last
longer
Severity- more strain
Types of disfluencies- repetition of whole words or the interjection of
syllables

33. Characteristics of disfluencies
• Repetitions- occurs when a unit of speech (phrase/word/syllable) is
superfluously repeated
• Prolongations
• Pauses- Unfilled pauses & Filled Pauses

35. Fluent speech Stuttering
Effortless Effortful
Draws attention to content Draws attention to speech
Between word Disfluencies Within word Disfluencies
Less mental planning More mental planning

36. According to Stark Weather, 1987 & Manning, 2001
• Disfluency refers to normal, non stuttered interruptions of speech,
whereas, Dysfluency refers to stuttered interruptions of speech
• Guitar uses the term disfluency to denote stuttered speech and
normal disfluency for nonstuttered speech.