Towards a dynamical model of transitions between fluent and stuttered speech

This paper introduces a dynamical systems framework for understanding stuttering, conceptualizing it as a qualitative shift in speech articulation driven by a single control parameter. Using a forced Duffing oscillator model, we demonstrate how variations in the excitation frequency can account for transitions be-tween fluent and stuttered speech states. The model generates specific predictions about articulatory behaviors during stuttering, which we test using real-time MRI data of stuttered speech. Analysis of articulatory movements provides empirical support for the model’s predictions, suggesting that stuttering can be understood as a dynamical disease—an intact system operating outside its typical parameter range. This framework offers new insights into the nature of stuttering and potential approaches to intervention.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Interspeech

• Publication date

  2025-08-17

• Fields of study

  Physics, Linguistics, Computer Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.21437/interspeech.2025-2320
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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