Stutterers' and Nonstutterers' Voice Fundamental Frequency Changes in Response to Auditory Stimuli

An acoustic analysis of certain aspects of voice fundamental frequency (F_o) in response to auditory clicks may provide a tool for studying short-latency auditory-laryngeal reflexes in humans (Sapir, McClean, & Larson, 1983). The purpose of this investigation was to compare 18 adult male stutterers' and 19 adult male nonstutterers' auditory-laryngeal reflexes. Subjects sustained phonation at constant pitch and intensity levels while receiving bilateral auditory click stimuli. F_o signal averages were generated and measured. Data analyses indicated that there were no differences between stutterers and nonstutterers with respect to the frequency of reflex occurrence. Also, there were no significant group differences with respect to the mean reflex temporal measures or the variability of the reflex temporal measures.