Stuttering following acquired brain damage: A review of the literature

Abstract

Communication problems resulting from acquired brain damage are most frequently manifested as motor speech disorders such as dysarthria, syndromes of aphasia, and impairments of pragmatics. A much less common phenomenon is the onset of stuttering in adults who sustain a stroke, traumatic brain injury, or other neurologic events. When stuttering occurs in association with neuropathology, precise characterization and explanation of observed behaviors is often difficult. Among the clinical challenges presented by acquired stuttering are the problem of distinguishing this form of dysfluency from those associated with dysarthria and aphasia, and identifying the neuropathological condition (s) and brain lesion site(s) giving rise to this speech disorder. Another challenge to the precise characterization of acquired stuttering is the fact that some cases of acquired stuttering apparently have a psychological or neuropsychiatric genesis rather than a neuropathological one. In this paper we provide a review of the literature pertaining to the complicated phenomenon of acquired stuttering in adults and draw some tentative explanatory conclusions regarding this disorder.

WEBINO and the Return of the King's Speech

“…NS is a rare neurologic disorder reported in the literature for over 100 years and received scarce attention until the 1970s [9,10]. Based on several notable publications [10][11][12], we propose to define NS as an adult-onset, acquired or re-acquired dysfluency secondary to a brain lesion characterized by involuntary repetitions, prolongations and blocks that is not the result of a disorder of language formulation (i.e.…”

“…Based on several notable publications [10][11][12], we propose to define NS as an adult-onset, acquired or re-acquired dysfluency secondary to a brain lesion characterized by involuntary repetitions, prolongations and blocks that is not the result of a disorder of language formulation (i.e. aphasia) or a psychiatric condition.…”

“…Despite proposed criteria for NS, it remains very challenging to differentiate it from DS based on symptomatology alone [10,12,14]. As such, the most important distinction between the two conditions is phenomologic: NS occurs with a clear precipitating event [13].…”

Perfil da fluência da fala em diferentes tarefas para indivíduos com Doença de Parkinson

“…Among the different types of acquired stuttering, the term neurogenic stuttering refers to a speech fluency disorder resulting from damage to the central nervous system, and it is the most frequent type of acquired stuttering (10,(12)(13)(14)(15)(16) . Although this type of stuttering has been reported in the literature for over 100 years, understanding the mechanisms that cause speech disruption in this type of disorder is still predominantly speculative (14,17) . In a study of individuals with PD who complained about stuttering after disease onset, the results indicated that the fluency pattern of these individuals was consistent with characteristics indicative of neurogenic stuttering (16) .…”

Toward a Theory of Stuttering

“…Stuttering can recur or develop in adulthood secondary to neurological injury or pathology such as Parkinson's disease, a condition referred to as neurogenic stuttering [1,23,24,25]. Among 10 individuals who had not stuttered as children but who had done so for 10-15 years after penetrating missile wounds during the Vietnam War, stuttering was associated with significant deficits in skilled rapid hand movements and in oral and speech movements, suggesting a motor control disorder [26].…”