Is there anything Apple’s iPhone can’t do? Scientists at Hollins Communications Research Institute, a top center for stuttering research and treatment, this week say they have been successfully using the iPhone as a stuttering therapy tool.
The scientists programed the iPhone with a sophisticated voice monitoring system that evaluates and scores speech behaviors taught during stuttering therapy.
The iPhone is being used by their owners to work on their speech fluency whenever and wherever it suits them.
When the research institute’s clients use their iPhones during training at a shopping mall, restaurant or business, the phones display fluency measurements for each utterance onscreen.
Having this data immediately available to stuttering therapy program participants makes speech practice more effective and helps hastens its benefits, the scientists say.
In addition, the iPhone records every speech sample and then transmits the file to the institute for analysis and to provide more precise training for each individual.
An estimated 66 million people worldwide suffer from the effects of stuttering, with 3 million living in the U.S., according to the National Institutes of Health. There is no cure for the condition — only stuttering treatment can help.