2011 Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 19-25
The present study investigated subjective anxiety, stuttering rate, speech rate, vowel space, F1/F2 values and CD/GA values of vowels in a reading task under high and low anxiety conditions controlled by the presence or absence of an audience. Participants were 10 persons who stutter (PWS) and 10 persons who do not stutter (PNS). The PWS group showed higher anxiety than the PNS group under both conditions, reduction of vowel space under the high anxiety condition (a noticeable centralization of F1 /a/ and F2 /i/), higher CD values for /a/, lower CD values for /i/, and lower GA values for /i/. Furthermore, stuttering rates increased significantly. These findings suggest that increases in subjective anxiety induce changes in vowel space and a higher stuttering rate.