commentr/StutterAugust 29, 2020

Content

1.) Speed. Firstly, try to talk slow. I know it sounds obvious and intuitive but it's the foundation of your recording. You and I both know that when you're trying to talk especially under the microscope of a recording, we get extremely nervous and the speed ramps up. 2.) Annunciation. Not sure how your stutter manifests, but with mine, my words tend to come out muttered if I don't annunciate properly, and then it snowballs from there. To get around this, before every recording, I gargle a glass of warm to hot water. This removes any excess saliva in my mouth. Secondly, I place a pencil horizontally as far back in my mouth as possible, practically on my molars and recite the alphabet once or twice. This tightens the muscles in your mouth so you avoid the dreaded muttering of words, which really helps in mitigating the stutter. 3.) Pitch. I change the pitch in my voice for my recordings. My voice is slightly higher in real life. However, when I record I speak in a lower voice, where the sound really comes from my throat instead of my mouth. I find it helps to propel the words out better. 4.) Record in piece meal. When I first started recording, I would record short bits, so I was less likely to stutter. It took longer, but it was really fool proof. I don't know if you have the option for this, but if you do, try it. Eventually you'll get a lot better and be able to handle longer sentences. 5.) Self conscious. I was and am still somewhat over critical of my recordings. I'll record the same paragraph a dozen times, because I think I hear a pronunciation that is a telltale sound of a stutter. I've had my wife listen to recordings where I swear I sounded like I stuttered or near stuttered, and she doesn't hear anything. I think this is something all stutters have, an over critical self awareness of the sound and cadence of our speech. Times where I've had to use a breathing technique where the words sound airy, people either don't notice (because your awareness and theirs is on two different ends of the spectrum) or if they do, it's usually short-lived because they have to pay attention to the context of the video. That's not to say a recording where you say "This is haaaa-how it works". However, I think you would know if you were doing really elongated exhales and you may be able to reduce them. ​ Hope this helps! Message me if you have anymore questions. Good luck and don't give up!

Themes

Coping & AdvocacySpeech & StutteringAnticipation & AvoidanceCauses & Variability

Subthemes

Fluency TechniquesPhysical TensionOverthinking & MonitoringStress & Fight/Flight