Comparisons of Audio and Audiovisual Measures of Stuttering Frequency and Severity in Preschool-Age Children

Abstract

Purpose: To determine whether measures of stuttering frequency and measures of overall stuttering severity in preschoolers differ when made from audio-only recordings compared with audiovisual recordings. Method: Four blinded speech-language pathologists who had extensive experience with preschoolers who stutter measured stuttering frequency and rated overall severity from audioonly and audiovisual recordings of 36 preschool children who were stuttering. Stuttering frequency (percentage of syllables stuttered [%SS]) was based on counts of perceptually unambiguous stutterings, made in real time, and overall severity was measured using a 9-point rating scale. Results: Stuttering frequency was statistically significantly lower by around 20% when made from audio-only recordings. This was found to be directly attributable to differences in the counts of stuttered syllables, rather than to differences in the total numbers of syllables spoken. No significant differences were found between recording modalities for the ratings of overall severity. Correlations between %SS scores in the 2 modalities and severity rating scores in the 2 modalities were high, indicating that observers agreed on data trends across speech samples. Conclusions: Measures of %SS made from audio-only recordings may underestimate stuttering frequency in preschoolers. Although audio-only %SS measures may underestimate stuttering frequency at the start of a clinical trial to a clinically significant extent, posttreatment scores at or below 1.0%SS are likely to underestimate by 0.2%SS or less, which is clinically insignificant.

Duration of Stuttered Syllables Measured by “Computerized Scoring of the Stuttering Severity (CSSS)” and “Pratt”

“…The findings obtained from these studies indicated that application of different assessment procedures for the assessment of stuttering in a single person may cause variations in the stuttering frequency score thus calculated. The same was shown in two studies published by Rousseau et al (2008) and O'Brian et al (2015). These studies evaluated the differences between audio-only and audio-visual procedures of stuttering frequency measurement in preschool children and adults, respectively [9,10].…”

“…The same was shown in two studies published by Rousseau et al (2008) and O'Brian et al (2015). These studies evaluated the differences between audio-only and audio-visual procedures of stuttering frequency measurement in preschool children and adults, respectively [9,10].…”

“…Owing to the availability of the spectrographic display of the speech sample in Praat, the clinician can measure the duration of the selected speech segments without the interference of reaction time. As found in previous studies, more detailed estimation of stuttering frequency is possible in audiovisual methods as opposed to the audio-only procedures [9,10].…”

“…On the other hand, in the audio-visual procedure the subject's speech samples are videotaped, due to which both audio and visual information are available to the examiner. Rousseau et al (2008) found that the recorded stuttering frequency was significantly lower (by around 20%) when it is measured on the basis of audio-only recordings [9] Conversely, in the study conducted by O'Brian et al (2015), it was found that when samples were analyzed through the audio-visual mode, a mean 18% increase in the percentage of Stuttered Syllables (%SS) as compared with that of the audio-only procedure was observed [10].…”

“…Search and review of related electronic literature revealed that in almost all the previous stuttering measurement studies, out of the three components required for obtaining an SSI score, %SS was most often chosen as the main variable [9,10,[21][22][23][24][25]. This meant that MDTLSE or PC was excluded in most stuttering measurement studies.…”