Types of Assistive Devices for Treating Stuttering

The use of devise to control or cure stutter is just another method from the myriad of choices. But the use of devise isn’t a new invention that came with the dawn of technological advancement. Even before the time of Christ, famous Greek orator and stutterer Demosthenes practiced orating with pebbles in his mouth, sometimes with loud background noise, or while climbing steep hills.

Several types of assistive and anti-stuttering devices serve different purposes. One type of anti stuttering devices forces the stutterer to change mechanically his speech production pattern. French physician Jean Marie Itard made the first of this kind. He used a gold or silver “fork” and placed it under the tongue holding it in a higher position in the oral cavity.

Freed Stammercheck device is another example of this kind. This device force stutterers to speak with a limited range of lingual movement and slows pace of speech pattern. The Bates Appliance is more complicated that deals with many forms of stuttering. Another example is the Idehara “Stutter-Cure,” consisting of a retainer-like metal forms and a whistle to encourage continuous airflow when speaking.

Another type of devise provides visual and production to help stutterers identify and change their speech production as part of their therapies. These devices target different physiological processes. One example is the respiratory kinematics because many studies consider respiratory irregularities as a possible cause of stuttering. The “Breathing Monitor,” for instance, provides stutterers with real-time feedback on gaining adequate respiratory intake. It is part of a therapy, say the CAFET (Computer Aided Fluency Establishment Trainer). Both phonation and articulation are other physiological processes, which often appear to function abnormally in people who stutter. 

There are also devices used to train gradual phonatory onset, sustained phonation, and reduce phonatory and or articulatory tension.

Because studies have proven that speaking to a superimposed rhythm aides to more fluent speaking pattern, a type of device is made to teach rhythmic and paced speaking patterns. An example is the Pacemaster electronic metronome, an attempt of ordinary portable metronome.

Recently, a surge of popularity and demand has been seen in devices that alter auditory feedback. It might be because of technological advances, groundbreaking designs, and great marketing techniques.
Several types of this kind include masked auditory feedback (MAF), delayed auditory feedback (DAF), frequency altered feedback (FAF), and the ones that provide combinations of the different altered auditory feedback patterns.

For instance, MAF refers to the use of sufficient sound to block auditory feedback of the speaker’s owns voice to his ears.

In addition, there are anxiety and fear-reducing devices—a class of assistive devices. It might be because studies show that anxiety towards stuttering, towards feared sounds, and towards speaking situations are vital rationales of the disorder.

Palmer Sweat Indexes (PSI) and Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) are both used in stuttering therapies to measure physiologic correlates of anxiety. An example of this is the controversial technique called “Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing" (EMDR) therapy, introduced by Casa Futura Technologies few years ago.
