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From: Rick Merson PhD
Date: 17 Oct 2003
Time: 16:21:55 -0500
Remote Name: 162.82.215.199
The SpeechEasy does allow the speech-language pathologist to calibrate into the individual's signal one or both a DAF ( delayed auditory feedback) and a FAF ( frequency altered feedback) signal. Seventy- five percent of the SE's that I have dispensed are DAF alone ( between 75 to 220 msecs, a mean of 114 msecs), and 25% have been both DAF +FAF. I have not provided an SE with FAF alone, I don't believe the literature has supported that and I have not found a significant FAF alone fluency evoking response. I can't tell you if one group of these SE users responds better over the long term , but should be able to do that in the future. There is no question that binaural DAF is more potent in terms of altering a persons speech prosody and evoking fluency. But my experience is that binaural DAF causes too much unnatural prosodic changes, and worst of all it is not reasonable to provide binaural SE as it would impair functional hearing. I still use binaural DAF with big circumoral earphones in the lab when the stuttering is severe-profound and I want to demonstrate fluency and speech control changes.