Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2004 Feb;2(2):E46.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0020046. Epub 2004 Feb 17.

What causes stuttering?

Christian Büchel  1 , Martin Sommer
Affiliations
Review

What causes stuttering?

Christian Büchel et al. PLoS Biol. 2004 Feb.

Abstract

The mystery of a sometimes debilitating speech disorder is examined by cognitive neuroscientists

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Speech Waveforms and Sound Spectrograms of a Male Speaker Saying “PLoS Biology”
The left column shows speech waveforms (amplitude as a function of time); the right column shows a time–frequency plot using a wavelet decomposition of these data. In the top row, speech is fluent; in the bottom row, stuttering typical repetitions occur at the “B” in “Biology.” Four repetitions can be clearly identified (arrows) in the spectrogram (lower right).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Two Different Apparatuses to Prevent Stuttering
On the left is a device by Gardner from 1899 to artificially add weight to the tongue (United States patent number 625,879). On the right is a more complex speech apparatus by Peate from 1912 (United States patent number 1,030,964).
Figure 3
Figure 3. Decreased Fiber Coherence
Decreased fiber coherences, as observed with DTI, in persistent developmental stutterers compared with a fluent control group. A red dot indicates the peak difference in a coronal (top left), axial (top right), and a sagittal (bottom) slice.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abwender DA, Trinidad KS, Jones KR, Como PG, Hymes E, et al. Features resembling Tourette's syndrome in developmental stutterers. Brain Lang. 1998;62:455–464. - PubMed
    1. Anderson JM, Hughes JD, Rothi LJ, Crucian GP, Heilman KM. Developmental stuttering and Parkinson's disease: The effects of levodopa treatment. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1999;66:776–778. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Andrews G, Craig A, Feyer AM, Hoddinott S, Howie P, et al. Stuttering: A review of research findings and theories circa 1982. J Speech Hear Disord. 1983;48:226–246. - PubMed
    1. Brady JP. The pharmacology of stuttering: A critical review. Am J Psychiatry. 1991;148:1309–1316. - PubMed
    1. Brady JP, Berson J. Stuttering, dichotic listening, and cerebral dominance. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1975;2:1449–1452. - PubMed

Publication types