iPhone application helps stuttering

The iPhone has seen the introduction of applications turning the device into an ocarina, and even a virtual beer. But a company has now developed an application designed to help stuttering and improve public speaking skills.

Scientists and Hollins Communications Research Institute have announced an application that will be used as a stuttering therapy tool, as well as improving fluency in real-life situations.

“Our clients now have a dynamic, easy-to-use tool that can be used in virtually any setting to evaluate how well they are using newly learnt fluency skills,” HCRI president and founder Ronald Webster told Information Week. “The device provides training feedback and performance data that were previously available only with our clinic-based computers.”

The application works by evaluating and ranking speech behaviour through software, and can be used for people willing to become more confident for speaking in public. The application also teaches how to reconstruct muscle actions driving movements of the lips, jaws and vocal folds.

“When clients use the device during training in outside situations, such as in a shopping mall, restaurant, or business setting, fluency measurements for each utterance are displayed on the iPhone screen,” the company says.