The human brain was and remains one the greatest and persistent mysteries for scientists. The brain structure of people who stutter has specifically been a source of extensive research due to its inherent anomalies. One of the unique things about the brain structure of people who stutter is that though similar areas of the brain participate in music, singing, and speech, stuttering when singing is incredibly rare. Why the speech impediment is temporarily alleviated when singing remains unknown. However, singing and music therapy is an integral part of speech therapy aimed at combating disfluency.
Singing and speech share the same auditory-motor pathway, in that the muscles that operate in both cases are the same. However, music and singing has an inherent rhythm which is both familiar and predictable. The structure of the rhythm allows people who stutter to anticipate the next cue to co-ordinate the words and the timing together.
Unlike the next sentence in a conversation, the words of a song aren’t going to change on the fly. There is comfort in the familiarity and predictability of a piece of lyric or verse. It certainly takes the anxiety of what to say next away, something everyone has faced, irrespective of their fluency in a conversation.
As a treatment tool used by speech therapists, it helps develop and strengthen the co-ordination and support between the sensory and oral-motor functions. By regulating one’s breathing to sync with the rhythm and taking the pressure to communicate flawlessly away, singing and music therapy helps speech therapists treat the anxiety of disfluency.
There is no “cure” for stuttering or any speech impediment for that matter. But research strongly suggests that the consistent use of these techniques, sometime for years helps improve fluency. It can be an arduous and slow process, but it yields tangible results. The confidence it instills and the form of expression that singing and music provide are valuable pursuits in and of itself.
