Speech Motor Control and its Role in Stuttering

This chapter reviews how speech is produced, the motor control processes that underlie it,and how these processes fail in individuals who stutter. The chapter begins by examining thehuman speech apparatus and the muscular control involved in moving various articulatorsover time. Next, it describes the anatomical structures in the brain that influence thesemovements, outlining empirical work that investigates how these structures function differentlywhen a person stutters. Fundamental concepts of control theory are then introduced toaddress the general problem of controlling a dynamic physical system in the presence ofexternal disturbances. Finally, the chapter highlights the relevance of control theory andspeech motor control to understanding stuttering, using speech production models groundedin control theory to capture key characteristics of speech production.