New Research Opportunity from the Spartan Stuttering Lab: Social Isolation and Auditory-Motor Integration

New Research Opportunity from the Spartan Stuttering Lab: Social Isolation and Auditory-Motor Integration We hope this post finds you and your loved ones safe and well. The coronavirus pandemic has affected us all—in ways that would have been unimaginable a few months ago. As scientists, our labs are currently closed for face-to-face research, but we cannot stop our important work of studying stuttering!  Fortunately, we are able to continue with our survey and online research, so we are reaching out today to tell you about two new studies: Study 1: Auditory-Motor Integration: We have partnered with Dr. Eric S. Jackson at New York University (NYU) on a new study about stuttering and auditory-motor integration (i.e., using what you hear to produce speech). For this study, you must be a person who stutters who is between the ages of 18 and 50, and you must use English as your primary language. You must also be able to access the survey via a desktop or laptop computer (either Mac or PC), using the Chrome browser and a microphone and headphones. (Unlike our regular surveys, this particular project will not work on a phone, tablet, or iPad, and it will not work with any browser other than Chrome.) If you agree to participate in the auditory-motor integration study, you will complete the task using the Chrome browser, your computer microphone, and headphones, then you will be asked a few questions about your musical background. Altogether, your participation will last between 5 and 10 minutes. You will have the opportunity to discontinue the project at any time, and your involvement in this project will not affect your involvement in any of our other projects. Here is a direct link to the study: [https://ssstea.herokuapp.com/room/SSSTEA/](https://ssstea.herokuapp.com/room/SSSTEA/) . Study 2: Social isolation: As you know, stuttering can be an isolating condition, and COVID-19 has made us even more aware of the challenges that social isolation can bring. To better understand the experience of social isolation for people who stutter, we have added a new survey on this topic. Here is the direct link to the study: [https://msu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV\_1ZTRC2tC3UQW76B](https://msu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1ZTRC2tC3UQW76B) As always, you can access our surveys here: [https://www.stutteringlab.msu.edu](https://www.stutteringlab.msu.edu/). (Just click on the “Participate” button.) Please consider participating in these research study to help us in keeping the science of stuttering moving forward during these challenging times. And, be sure to check out all of our other surveys from the Spartan Stuttering Lab. If you aren’t sure which surveys you’ve already done, simply drop us an email ([surveys@stutteringlab.msu.edu](mailto:surveys@stutteringlab.msu.edu)), and we’ll let you know what you’ve done. *We greatly appreciate your participation!* If you have any questions about the study, please contact the director of the Spartan Stuttering Laboratory, Dr. J Scott Yaruss, at [jsy@msu.edu](mailto:jsy@msu.edu).  Thank you! J. Scott Yaruss, PhD, CCC-SLP, BCS-F, Professor, Michigan State University Seth E. Tichenor, PhD, CCC-SLP, Post-doctoral researcher, Michigan State University Eric S. Jackson, PhD, CCC-SLP, Assistant Professor, New York University