How to Stop Apologizing for My Stutter, and Other Important Lessons
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Re: How to Stop Apologizing for My Stutter, and Other Important Lessons
#2I also have a stutter, and I've blogged about being a single founder with it (https://justink.svbtle.com/being-a-founder-with-a-speech-imp...). I've had a speech impediment since I was a kid. I was told I would grow out of it. Still waiting for that to happen. :-)
I've noticed my stuttering has seasons/cycles of worse times, which seem to be tied to stress or anxiety over important calls or meetings. My stuttering has certainly been frustrating and frankly limiting as a founder, since my latest company (https://elasticbyte.net) requires more person-to-person interactions (talking to clients and closing deals).
The singing technique (mysteriously don't stutter when singing), while it is effective, does not work in a business setting. Darn!
Re: How to Stop Apologizing for My Stutter, and Other Important Lessons
#3I also have a stutter, and I've blogged about being a single founder with it ( https://justink.svbtle.com/being-a-founder-with-a-speech-imp... ). I've had a speech impediment since I was a kid. I was told I would grow out of it. Still waiting for that to happen. :-) I've noticed my stuttering has seasons/cycles of worse times, which seem to be tied to stress or anxiety over important calls or meetings. My stuttering…
Have you ever looked into the valsalva hypothesis around stuttering?
Re: How to Stop Apologizing for My Stutter, and Other Important Lessons
#4From an engineering perspective, I wish more technologists researched the intersection of speech and technology. For many who stutter there's a device called the SpeechEasy which is marketed as something to improve fluency, and reduce stuttering. Unfortunately for most it doesn't work, for those that it does work the effect wears off, it costs well over $3,000 for the intro pocket model, and typically not covered by insurance. What does it do? It creates an echo of your voice in your ear. Literally just an echo; the coral effect if you've ever seen The King's Speech. This device could be built off the shelf at a MicroCenter for a couple of hundred dollars. There are all kinds of technology for the disabled that is grossly overpriced, and I really wish technologists investigated them more, and found ways to disrupt these expensive devices.
Re: How to Stop Apologizing for My Stutter, and Other Important Lessons
#5From an engineering perspective, I wish more technologists researched the intersection of speech and technology. For many who stutter there's a device called the SpeechEasy which is marketed as something to improve fluency, and reduce stuttering. Unfortunately for most it doesn't work, for those that it does work the effect wears off, it costs well over $3,000 for the intro pocket model, and typically not covered by…
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Re: How to Stop Apologizing for My Stutter, and Other Important Lessons
#6I also have a stutter, and I've blogged about being a single founder with it ( https://justink.svbtle.com/being-a-founder-with-a-speech-imp... ). I've had a speech impediment since I was a kid. I was told I would grow out of it. Still waiting for that to happen. :-) I've noticed my stuttering has seasons/cycles of worse times, which seem to be tied to stress or anxiety over important calls or meetings. My stuttering…
My brother had great trouble pronouncing a certain letter until he moved across tje language and adopted the local dialect.
Suddenly he just started pronouncing it correctly.
Later he was able to use it while speaking normally.
(Mentioning it since it might work better in a business setting. And yes, I think he used to stutter as well but this was many years ago.)
Re: How to Stop Apologizing for My Stutter, and Other Important Lessons
#7From an engineering perspective, I wish more technologists researched the intersection of speech and technology. For many who stutter there's a device called the SpeechEasy which is marketed as something to improve fluency, and reduce stuttering. Unfortunately for most it doesn't work, for those that it does work the effect wears off, it costs well over $3,000 for the intro pocket model, and typically not covered by…
Loopback microphone input on your smartphone, plug in earphones and you're good to go!
How is that for disruption?
Re: How to Stop Apologizing for My Stutter, and Other Important Lessons
#8I also have a stutter, and I've blogged about being a single founder with it ( https://justink.svbtle.com/being-a-founder-with-a-speech-imp... ). I've had a speech impediment since I was a kid. I was told I would grow out of it. Still waiting for that to happen. :-) I've noticed my stuttering has seasons/cycles of worse times, which seem to be tied to stress or anxiety over important calls or meetings. My stuttering…
Did you stutter during interviews? If so has it had any impact on whether or not you could obtain employment?
The singing thing is interesting, off the top of my head I can think of a few rappers who stutter but can clearly speak their lyrics in their songs. Maybe it's less about the dynamics of singing and more about focus shifting to a low anxiety activity?
Re: How to Stop Apologizing for My Stutter, and Other Important Lessons
#9Stutterer here. Was in speech therapy for a long time as a child; my sister actually became a speech therapist b/c of that experience. It will always be a challenge (I'm 37 now), and it seems to rear its ugly head at random times not necessarily tied to stress. Two nights ago I made my first ever best man speech in front of about 150+ people and I maybe stammered once during the 5 or so minutes. Felt amazing and I had people asking me if I was a standup comic or spoke professionally. They have no clue the daily mental gymnastics I perform to master the stuttering.
Re: How to Stop Apologizing for My Stutter, and Other Important Lessons
#10Stutterer here. Was in speech therapy for a long time as a child; my sister actually became a speech therapist b/c of that experience. It will always be a challenge (I'm 37 now), and it seems to rear its ugly head at random times not necessarily tied to stress. Two nights ago I made my first ever best man speech in front of about 150+ people and I maybe stammered once during the 5 or so minutes. Felt amazing and I ha…
I should note that I've had to give many, many, many presentations in many different business environments (in front of my companies, pitching investors, new biz pitches, etc.) and I learned a long time ago that confidence is crucial. Almost every time I practiced the best man speech I stuttered quite often, and almost on the same words every time. But come game time, it almost always goes smoothly. Always found that a bit odd. Maybe I just get into sort of flow states and just roll with it.