The Relationship Between Attentional Capture by Speech and Nonfluent Speech Under Delayed Auditory Feedback: A Pilot Examination of a Dual-Task Using Auditory or Tactile Stimulation

Abstract

Delayed auditory feedback (DAF) leads to nonfluent speech where the voice of a speaker is heard after a delay. Previous studies suggested the involvement of attention to auditory feedback in speech disfluency. To date, there are no studies that have revealed the relationship between attention and nonfluent speech by controlling the attention allocated to the delayed own voice. This study examined these issues under three conditions: a single task where the subject was asked to read aloud under DAF (single DAF task), a dual task where the subject was asked to read aloud while reacting to a pure tone (auditory DAF task), and a dual task where the subject was asked to read aloud while reacting to the vibration of their finger (tactile DAF task). The subjects also performed the single and dual tasks (auditory/tactile) under nonaltered auditory feedback where no delayed voices were involved. Results showed that the nonfluency rate under the auditory DAF task was significantly greater than that under the single DAF task. In contrast, the nonfluency rate under the tactile DAF task was significantly lower compared with that of the single DAF task. Speech became nonfluent when attention was captured by the same modality stimulus, i.e., auditory tone. In contrast, speech became fluent when attention was allocated to the stimulus that is irreverent to auditory modality, i.e., tactile vibration. This indicates that nonfluent speech under DAF is involved in attention capture owing to the delayed own voice.

Influence of attention capture on disfluent speech under delayed auditory feedback among adults who stutter

“…Based on the work by Sakai et al [10] and Ishida et al [3], we divided disfluency symptoms into nine classifications: ''sound repetition,'' ''part-word repetition,'' ''word and phrase repetition,'' ''prolongation,'' ''break,'' ''distortion,'' ''syllable repetition,'' ''revision,'' and ''error.'' SPSS version 25.0 was used for statistical analysis.…”

“…In the present study, we compared the disfluency rate between AWS (mild) and AWNS groups using the dual task paradigm of Ishida et al [3] to examine the mechanism of disfluency occurrence of AWS (mild) under DAF. There were no significant differences of disfluency rate across all tasks (single, auditory, and tactile) in the NAF condition between groups.…”

“…2.3. Experimental procedure Our experimental paradigm was identical to that used the study by Ishida et al [3]. Detailed procedures can be found in the referenced article.…”

“…It is classically known that speech disfluencies occur under delayed auditory feedback (DAF) among adults who do not stutter (AWNS) [1]. Although the underlying mechanisms of disfluent speech by DAF remain unclear, one potential explanation is the involvement of auditory attention toward their delayed voice [2,3]. Ishida et al [3] conducted a dual task experiment (speech and reaction tasks) under DAF with AWNS and revealed an increase in speech disfluencies when the participants allocated their attention toward the auditory stimulus.…”

“…The purpose of the present study was to examine the mechanism of disfluency occurrence of AWS (mild) in a DAF condition. We used Ishida et al's dual task experiment under DAF and non-altered feedback (NAF) [3] and compared the rate of occurrence of disfluent speech between AWS (mild) and ANWS. We hypothesized that a comparison of speech disfluency between AWS (mild) and AWNS would reveal the function of auditory attention processing in AWS with mild severity when they produce speech.…”