The Developmental Stuttering Project
Ryan Spears and Michael Kremer
Background:
Our team selected a project dealing with stuttering under the advisement of Dr. Tedra Walden of the Vanderbilt Departments of Psychology and Hearing and Speech Sciences and the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center. In this project, we aim (1) to develop a quantitative means of distinguishing between the patterns of stuttering and non-stuttering speech, and (2) to build a research tool to assess children’s bias against stuttering.
Progress:
After project matches were announced on September 22nd, we began immediate research on the Implicit Association Test (IAT), the most prominent method of assessing implicit biases. In meeting with Dr. Walden on October 1st, we established expectations and a generalized timeline for the project. In addition, we learned of the particular challenges of testing in children, notably that all instructions and testing material must be designed with the assumption that the user cannot read.
In the next weeks, we conducted a survey and analysis of commercially available software for customizable IATs. Through careful study of the nuances of the tests, we designed pseudocode for a program of replicate function. We met with Dr. Walden again on October 8th and collectively decided to build our own program in Java. We also identified a previously unknown need of selecting a scoring algorithm for the test.
In the next interim, we built the framework of the IAT program and conducted a literature search of IAT scoring methods. Developing the code, we identified the major hurdles in completion of the program: sound incorporation, dynamic function of the graphic user interface, and program-webpage interfacing, including web-based data storage. The subsequent meeting with Dr. Walden on October 29th was centered upon progress updates.
On November 5th, we met with Dr. Walker and came to the conclusion that the project would benefit greatly from expansion. We found characterization of stuttering and non-stuttering speech based on frequency-component analysis to be a compelling line of action, especially if used as a therapeutic tool to assess the progress of speech therapy.
Future:
We will meet with Dr. Walden on Thursday, November 11th to discuss frequency-based differentiation of stuttering and non-stuttering speech. In the interim, we will download the data processing toolbox in MATLAB and investigate its function, and continue code development for the IAT with a focus on sound incorporation.
We will also integrate the project components in a Gantt chart for establishing a schedule with specific short and long-term objectives.
Once nearing completion of the IAT program, we will also more fully explore the topic of developing a program to generate an IAT customized to a user’s bias specifications.