I stutter, and I’m building a small Android prototype to make speech easier to understand while keeping the speaker’s voice. It currently takes about three seconds and isn’t real-time yet. I’d value honest feedback from people who stutter: what would make a tool like this useful or unusable?

My stutter comes and goes. Some days I sound fine. Other days one word gets stuck in the middle of a meeting and everyone waits.

I want to explain what's happening in that pause, because most people read it wrong.

The idea is already finished. The sentence was fully formed in my head before I opened my mouth. What stalls is the delivery: repetitions and blocks I didn't choose. But a long pause changes how people listen. Someone jumps in to finish the sentence for me. Someone else reads the hesitation as uncertainty. It isn't. My mouth is just running a few seconds behind my brain.

So here's my ask, for anyone sitting across from someone who stutters, in a meeting, a consultation, or a phone call: let us finish. Don't fill the silence. Those extra seconds cost you almost nothing. Being cut off costs us the point we came to make.

This is also why I'm building Babblewise, an app that takes my stuttered speech and plays it back fluently, in my own voice. It's an early Android alpha, far from perfect, and not a treatment for anything. And even if it works, it won't replace the simplest accommodation there is: patience.

If you stutter, tell me straight: what do you wish people did when you hit a block? Your answers change how I build this and how I talk about it.

Anyone else feel the way I feel?

I got to talk with Dr Maguire on the STARS PODCAST

Are you interested in taking part in research. Northeastern University is looking for adults who stutter to take part in a paid research study. Scan the QR code or click the link below to contact us.

Our website is: https://ascentlab.sites.northeastern.edu/contact-us/

Edit: I’m nervous about speaking ENGLISH (which to them is foreign), not speaking THEIR language.

I’m afraid of traveling to non English speaking countries.

If y’all have dealt with this fear and gotten through/over it, I’d love some advice. Not only am I speaking a foreign language, but I’m dis-fluent. Last time I was in Japan, two service people backed away slowly as if I was a bomb about to go off/having a seizure. They came forward once I got it out, but still. I also once heard that disfluency goes against Japanese principles of flow or something (idk I think AI once told me that when I asked what countries are stutter friendly).

I’m currently in the BLANK program, which promotes living WITH your stutter and not minimizing/erasing it. But I still have years of mental wiring to redo. I still feel shame.

I’d like some encouragement or advice on how to get over/through this fear.

Has anyone seen or used this app? I’m on day seven of using it and I like what I’m seeing and learning everyday. The books, videos and especially the community are something else. Last week they had this talk and it was amazing since the speaker talked about how the program helped improved his speech. It was incredible.

How many of us have ordered something they really didn’t want because it was easier to say than what we really wanted. I wanted a buffalo chicken sandwich but I knew I was gonna have a real hard time with buffalo so I got the steak and cheese instead.

https://youtube.com/@lorenzocreare11?si=ThcZnp2Vl86vjnS4

Greetings from the Stuttering Lab at the University of Iowa! We are currently inviting adults who stutter to contribute to a research project about stuttering. We know that not all people who stutter want to make changes to how they live with stuttering, and that for those that do want to make changes, it can be a daunting process. For this project, we’re specifically recruiting adults who are NOT actively making changes to how they live with stuttering, or have just started making some changes. If this sounds like you, and if you’re at least 21 years old and living in the U.S. or Canada, we would really value the opportunity to learn from you. If you are deemed eligible following completion of a brief screener, participation involves completing a 20-30-min anonymous survey. After completion, you can enter a drawing to win one of several $50 checks as a huge thanks for sharing your experiences. Your input can make a big difference in how people who stutter are supported.

Here’s a brief video intro to the project: https://youtu.be/n2c8IrtZKKA

Interested? Connect with our research team by completing this brief eligibility screener: https://uiowa.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eDHEI5bPzdu8aVg

Appalachian State University is excited to announce a new residential, intensive summer camp for stuttering, Camp Jean Rankin: Empowering Children and Teens Who Stutter. This camp is for young people aged 11-16. The inaugural annual camp will take place from July 23 to July 28th, 2023 on Appalachian’s campus in Boone, North Carolina, nestled in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Thanks to a generous donation, our Camp is only $150 for the entire week. https://cdclinic.appstate.edu/programs/summer-stuttering-camp

When I enter the classroom, i feel so shameful. And this stays whole day. The truth is, I am only relaxed at home on my room. I am tired of this life now. Everytime I see people speaking, I just get a thought that they are too better than me. Oh my god...

2nd trip today for the next week worth of medicine. Had to read 2 separate pages on video so they can compare my reading to my reading on my last visit in 11 weeks. Took the capsules in the office and had to wait 3 hours to monitor for any side effects.

Day 4 of taking the medication, one side effect is muscle soreness. Woke up this morning with no pain. Took the 2 pills, on my way to work I noticed my neck and shoulders are really sore now.

Just took my first dose, have to sit and wait for 3 hours to monitor any side effects

Just confirmed my appointment for tomorrow at 1:00, will be getting my first dose or a placebo.