The Effects of the Edinburgh Masker on Stuttering

Abstract

Auditory feedback masking has long been thought to be a clinically useful procedure for the modification of stuttered speech in adults, and the Edinburgh Masker is a commercial device for providing such masking. In the present study, 18 subjects spoke under various masking and nonmasking conditions using the Edinburgh Masker, both in and beyond the clinic. Results showed that stuttering rate reduced by a mean of around 50% in masking compared to nonmasking conditions. Only one subject completely eliminated stuttering, and did so in only one of many speaking tasks. Listeners judged masked speech to be less natural sounding than nonmasked speech. It is concluded that, for some clients, there may be some benefit in masked speech by means of the Edinburgh Masker, but that the device does not appear to produce either stutter-free or natural sounding speech.