Do clutterers really speak fast?

Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to determine whether there is a difference between the speech and articulation rates of people with cluttering (PWC) and controls. Patients and Methods: The descriptive study included 11 PWC (4 males, 7 females; mean age: 36±11 years; range, 23 to 52 years) and 11 controls (4 males, 7 females; mean age: 35.5±10.7 years; range, 22 to 50 years) between February 2023 and May 2023. Three hundred syllables of speech samples were recorded and analyzed using two different rates of speech techniques. Normal disfluencies and pauses were included in the measurements of speech rate, but these linguistic elements were excluded from global time in the calculation of articulation rate. The ratios of 300 syllables to time were compared between the PWC and control groups. Results: According to the descriptive results, the standard deviations of the PWC in both rate assessments were higher. A significant difference was found between the two groups in the speech rate (p=0.001) and articulation rate (p<0.001). The PWC talked about 1.5 syllables per second faster than typical speakers. Conclusion: The objective measurements showed that PWC were mostly rapid speakers. Speech rates of PWC should be addressed as a therapy goal, but there is a need for further studies to examine the speech motor characteristics of PWC.