Middle Ear Activity During Speech in Normal Speakers and Stutterers

Abstract

Middle ear muscle activity of five normal speakers and five stutterers was recorded during speech production by means of the Zwislocki acoustic impedance bridge. Acoustic impedance change preceded initiation of a speech sound by 65 to 100 milliseconds or at least coincided with speech output. No differences were found between stutterers and normal speakers in terms of the time interval between middle ear muscle activity and speech output.