How to Stop Apologizing for My Stutter, and Other Important Lessons

Post by vineetraja » Tue, Aug 08, 2017, 10:16 AM UTC

msla wrote: post #17

forthelove wrote: post #9

Stutterer 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'm also a stutterer and the last sentence rings true. I am a lot better now than I was as a child, but I used to be a master at the art of avoidance and replacement. If I felt I was going to stutter on a given word, I'd replace it with something I felt more confident with. I was constantly evading a ruthless, arbitrary censor, and I'm certain it gave me a greater facility with synonyms, rephrasing, and general lingu…

Post by jansho » Tue, Aug 08, 2017, 7:39 PM UTC

vigliag wrote: post #48

hgl wrote: post #36

I'm a stutter too. My condition is a bit special I think. When I'm alone, I don't stutter at all if I think out loud or just read something on the screen, every scary word turns into a piece of cake. But as soon as I realize someone can hear me (even if it's remote like video chat), I start to stutter, pretty badly. I wonder if other people are in the same camp. I didn't stutter when I was kid until I played with a n…

As a child I used to stutter when reading aloud to myself. Practicing by reading whole books aloud helped a lot. Some books were more difficult than others, especially those with really weird sentence structure, or really short sentences, which used to get me out of the flow. With practice, I stopped stuttering when reading aloud altogether, and then even when reading to other people (family members first). Talking t…

Post by jansho » Tue, Aug 08, 2017, 10:31 PM UTC

vigliag wrote: post #54

jansho wrote: post #53

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My stutter is minor but definitely rears its ugly head when I'm stressed. Reading aloud also works for me, as well as singing and boisterous conversations (!) I think that rather than confidence (at least for me) the key is to keep the voice going and maintain a normal 'speed' throughout. Regarding your strangers problem, honestly you're being too harsh to yourself. You won't get judged for asking a question to be re…

That's for sure a factor, and I should probably care less about judgement (thanks) although I've mainly attributed my stuttering in those situations to the fact I have to say something unexpected. Other examples are when I need to correct myself (I get stuck in something like a loop of "actually no"), or when I say I need to hang up and call back later. I also often find it difficult to say "goodbye" to people withou…

Post by vigliag » Wed, Aug 09, 2017, 4:54 PM UTC

Overtonwindow wrote: post #56

sattoshi wrote: post #7

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Loopback microphone input on your smartphone, plug in earphones and you're good to go! How is that for disruption?

It doesn't exist. Why, I'm not sure. Would you create that app? Maybe make it so that you can use a Bluetooth earpiece or earbuds with an inline mic? That would be really awesome. If you created it and it worked just like the SpeechEasy you could sell it for a few dollars and make good money. It could be a way for potential users to test the effect in the real world before spending $3k+ on the device. I look forward…

Post by vigliag » Thu, Aug 10, 2017, 6:30 AM UTC

Overtonwindow wrote: post #58

vigliag wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are some already. Look for DAF or "delayed auditory feedback" on the play store. It is also trivial to build one with web audio.

Nope. They absolutely cannot be delayed auditory feedback. That disrupts speech. The device must reproduce the chorus effect. [0] [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw_rVGUXgos