A common element in the immediate inducement of effortless, natural-sounding, fluent speech in people who stutter: ‘the second speech signal’

Abstract 

Recent attempts to find a common element in the inducement of fluent speech have focused on Wingate's notion that fluency can be induced via an altered manner of speaking by placing an emphasis on phonation. The problem with this notion of fluency enhancement is that it appears to be too expansive a scheme of fluency. The schemata allows for any forward flowing speech or speech-like act to be considered fluent despite the increased cognitive mediation, the extra effort involved in implementing the procedure, the unnaturalness of the resultant end product, and a lack of stability over time. It is proposed that the only significant characteristics of ‘true fluency’ are that it is indistinguishable from the typical fluent speech of people who do not stutter, and that it is effortless in nature. This is achieved via the use of a second speech signal which is not cognitive in nature, is operationally delineated, and is easy to manipulate.

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