Thirty-one naive listeners rated the intelligibility and acceptability of tracheoesophageal, esophageal, and normal laryngeal speech of 15 adult speakers. Intelligibility was measured using a multiple-choice word test while acceptability was rated on a seven-point equal-appearing interval scale. Judgments were made on the features of fluency, pitch/quality, speech rate, inflection, and overall acceptability. Tracheoesophageal speech was found not to differ significantly from normal speech in intelligibility, rate, and inflection, but was less acceptable for fluency, pitch/quality and overall acceptability. Tracheoesophageal speech was more acceptable than esophageal speech for all features measured.

Conversational samples were elicited from 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old normal-speaking children. Speech rates were measured per age group by the traditional overall method and by the articulatory rate method, which uses only fluent sequences. No statistically significant differences in speaking rate were observed across the three age groups. The clinical utility of normative rates is discussed with regard to fluency assessment and intervention.

Selected characteristics were compared in the speech of five tracheoesophageal, five esophageal, and 15 normal laryngeal adult speakers. Tape-recorded speech samples were measured for durational features with a stopwatch. Frequency features were analyzed with a Visi-Pitch/Apple IIE computer interface with statistical subroutines. Tracheoesophageal speech proved comparable to normal speech in maximum phonation time, speech rate, pitch pertubation (jitter), average fundamental frequency, and fundamental frequency range, but less efficient than normal speech in phrase grouping. Tracheoesophageal speech was superior to esophageal speech in maximum phonation time, speech rate, and phrase grouping, but not significantly different in pitch perturbation, average fundamental frequency, and fundamental frequency range. Explanations and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Explicit identification procedures that can distinguish between beginning stutterers and normally disfluent children are needed. A Protocol for Differentiating the Incipient Stutterer is an appraisal tool that synthesizes existing knowledge into a unique format which guides clinical observations, data collection, and interpretation. The design, administration, and interpretation of the Protocol are described.

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