Listener responses according to stuttering self-acknowledgment and modification

Given the well-documented understanding that stuttering behavior elicits stereotypically negative responses from listeners, two experiments explored the equivocal results of earlier investigations concerning the potential for self-acknowledgment and modification of stuttering to elicit positive responses from naïve (unfamiliar with stuttering) listeners. In the first experiment, listeners viewed one of four video conditions of an adult male speaker presenting combinations of stuttering, self-acknowledgment, and stuttering modification. Using a semantic differential scale, participants responded with non-significant ( p > .05) differences across conditions. In the second experiment, participants listened to two randomly assigned conditions containing speech with stuttering and speech with stuttering and acknowledgment, providing them with the opportunity to experience both situations. In this case, statistically significant ( p = .004) differences were found with moderately (Cohen's d = .59) more favorable responses by listeners when self-acknowledgment of stuttering occurred. The results of the current study help to explain the conflicting findings of previous investigations and indicate that when naïve listeners have an opportunity to contrast conditions of stuttering with and without acknowledgment, perceptions about the characteristics of the speaker are more likely to be favorable when the speaker self-acknowledges stuttering. It is suggested that the capability of a speaker to self-acknowledge his or her stuttering reflects the person's adoption of more effective coping strategies and that a positive listener response is likely to be associated with the speaker's ability to inform the listener about the nature of stuttering. Educational objectives: The reader will be able to: (1) describe the formation of negative responses toward stuttering, (2) describe how to change negative responses toward stuttering, and (3) describe benefits of stuttering acknowledgment and modification.