Fluent and disfluent normal speakers' responses on a synthetic sentence identification (SSI) task

This study attempted to confirm the theory that central auditory processing deficits exist in the normally disfluent population. Forty adults, 20 males, and 20 females were administered the Synthetic Sentence Identification-Ipsilateral Competing Message (SSI-ICM) at -20 dB message-to-competition ratios. Results revealed a significant difference between the performance of fluent and disfluent normal speakers. No significant differences were found between ears or between male and female subjects. Discussion includes comparative data analyses with a previous study and implications for further research.