AUTHOR=Gattie Max , Lieven Elena V. M. , Kluk Karolina 

TITLE=Weak Vestibular Response in Persistent Developmental Stuttering

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/integrative-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnint.2021.662127

DOI=10.3389/fnint.2021.662127

ISSN=1662-5145

ABSTRACT=<p>Vibrational energy created at the larynx during speech will deflect vestibular mechanoreceptors in humans (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B165">Todd et al., 2008</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B44">Curthoys, 2017</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B45">Curthoys et al., 2019</xref>). Vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (VEMP), an indirect measure of vestibular function, was assessed in 15 participants who stutter, with a non-stutter control group of 15 participants paired on age and sex. VEMP amplitude was 8.5 dB smaller in the stutter group than the non-stutter group (<italic>p</italic> = 0.035, 95% CI [−0.9, −16.1], <italic>t</italic> = −2.1, d = −0.8, conditional <italic>R</italic><sup>2</sup> = 0.88). The finding is subclinical as regards gravitoinertial function, and is interpreted with regard to speech-motor function in stuttering. There is overlap between brain areas receiving vestibular innervation, and brain areas identified as important in studies of persistent developmental stuttering. These include the auditory brainstem, cerebellar vermis, and the temporo-parietal junction. The finding supports the disruptive rhythm hypothesis (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B84">Howell et al., 1983</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B82">Howell, 2004</xref>) in which sensory inputs additional to own speech audition are fluency-enhancing when they coordinate with ongoing speech.</p>