(8/13/02)
Many people suffer with stuttering. Many are embarrassed by it.
But, now a new device developed by a trio of North Carolina researchers is stifling sever stuttering and giving people a new lease on life.
"Minor, minor things caused so much heartache.'
Plagued his entire life with a severe stuttering problem, 23-year old Kelly Snow is all algow, thanks to a tiny earpiece called the SpeechEasy. developed by a team of East Carolina University researchers from a decade of studies.
the SpeechEasy has people talking around the world.
ANDY STUART, PhD, SPEECHEASY DEVELOPER - "When someone who stutters speaks in unison with someone, they're very fluent.
That's called choral speech. That effect has been known for some time, hundreds of years. What we're doing with this equipment is just mimicking that by introducing their voice either by a short delay, so it sounds like they're speaking with themselves, or shift their voice pitch so it sounds like there's another person speaking with them."
Hard to imagine Kelly as he was just twelve months ago undergoing experimental testing for his speecheasy fit. By the way, he was also the pioneer patient.
"People are skeptical, yes, absolutely. And they should be because nothing's worked before.
MICHAEL RASTATTER, SPEECHEASY DEVELOPER- He could not say a word, pretty much locked up the whole time."
Dr. Michael Rastatter says poor confidence believed in the past to be the cause of stuttering is now recognized as the direct result of a physical abnormality.
MICHAEL RASTATTER, SPEECHEASY DEVELOPER - "This is the brain of a person stuttering, and we see the right side and left side are highly reactive during the speech task. We believe these interfere with each other and cause stuttering. Put the device in and we see a big difference."
But if you need more proof, look no further than Kelly's face.
"I partied. It was amazing to have such freedom all of a sudden."
Researchers say the device has a 90-percent rate of effectiveness.
And costs around 4-thousand dollars.
