Prephonatory Chest Wall Posturing in Stutterers

Abstract

The possibility that prephonatory chest wall posturing is abnormal in stutterers was explored by observing rib cage and abdominal hemicircumference changes during the interval between the presentation of a stimulus and the production of// by a group of stutterers (N = 5). It was found that the patterns of chest wall adjustment for phonation were qualitatively identical in the stutterers and in a comparable group of normal men studied previuosly. There was, however, a significant difference in the way in which lung volume changed during the execution of the chest wall adjustment. This was considered to be indicative of delayed glottal closure among the stutterers rather than representative of a primary ventilatory disturbance.