Monday, October 15, 2012

Delayed Auditory Feedback wins Nobel Price!


This year's Ig Nobel Price winners:

ACOUSTICS PRIZE: Kazutaka Kurihara and Koji Tsukada [JAPAN] for creating the SpeechJammer — a machine that disrupts a person's speech, by making them hear their own spoken words at a very slight delay.

REFERENCE: "SpeechJammer: A System Utilizing Artificial Speech Disturbance with Delayed Auditory Feedback", Kazutaka Kurihara, Koji Tsukada, arxiv.org/abs/1202.6106. February 28, 2012.

Their "discovery" is that you can use DAF to stop people from speaking. When people hear their own voices with a slight delay, they stop speaking. One proposed application is a portable speech jamming gun, for use in places like libraries, as a quiet way to stop people from speaking, since loud interruptions are more disruptive than the speech itself.

I glanced through the paper, and it does refer to DAF for stuttering:

DAF has a close relationship with stuttering. DAF leads physically unimpaired people to stutter i.e., speech jamming. On the other hand, it is known that DAF can improve stuttering [1], and medical DAF devices are available [6]. We utilized DAF to develop a device that can jam remote physically unimpaired people's speech whether they want it or not. This device possesses one characteristic that is different from the usual medical DAF device; namely, the microphone and speaker are located distant from the target. [Thanks to Ora for his contribution]

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey... To the person who runs this blog..
I have to get something to your attention.
I think stuttering can be stopped now but I don't know because it cost 7000 but honestly it is the most convincing thing ever. I would like you to look more into it. You can deletet this comment if you think it's advertising or whatever I just wanted to show you this website

Livestutterfree.com
They also have a fb group on it
This is led by Anna Deeter

Please believe me when I say this is worth looking at more and not dismissing it as a scam.

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Have you tried the program?.....does it work?

Is it a permanent solution and does it work in the "real" world as opposed to a safe environment?

Why is it so expensive $7k for a 3 day course is very expensive.

Is there software that can be bought that is cheaper?

IS it guaranteed to work?

Lots of questions, but if someone claims to have a solution, it should be expected.

Thanks

Anonymous said...

Tom, Did stuttering genetic research basically die? At least temporarily? Drayna hasn't published anything I see as 'new' for a long time. He's really the main contributor and there aren't many other people involved either. I'd at least like to know what researchers have been trying. He's also not involved in the ISAD conference this year, but that could mean anything including that he is working on something big.

Peter Louw said...

I have always wondered if the "stuttering" caused by DAF which is applied to non-stutterers is "real" stuttering. Maybe these "DAF stutterings" are simply caused by confusion when you can't quite hear yourself speaking? Do all non-stutterers "stutter" with DAF, or only some?

Regarding the Anna Deeter message above - this was the subject of a huge fight on the Stuttering Community Facebook page recently, with some saying that they were helped, and many complaining that it's a scam.

Anonymous said...

Can you provide a link or details to the Stuttering Community facebook concerning the Anna Deeter (livestutterfree) method.

I've seen 3 videos of it helping a British person,a Canadian and an American girl and it all "looks" legit, HOWEVER the red flag comes up when it says 100% and saying that you will only fail if you dont do EXACTLY what we tell you, so if you are not fluent its your fault and not ours?

Any thoughts on this anyone?

Ora said...

Here's the link to the Stuttering Community Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/groups/98233252577/?ref=ts&fref=ts

It's listed as a "closed group", which probably means that the postings are visible only after you've become a member.

I don't know anything about it... just found it by Googling.

Anonymous said...

Looks a bit suspect to me - 3 days 100% eliminated.

If it was true, would the rest of the world not be aware of it?

In Russia its cured 1000-1500 people, I am dubious of this "fact".

Why does is cost $7-10k, takes it out of most peoples reach. Fluency for the rich only?

Anonymous said...

Well, isn't this a nice surprice!

Anonymous said...

I think we should still look more into this ...We never know... maybe it is the solution... Or a huge scam ?

Anonymous said...

I vote for scam...where are the peer reviewed efficacy studies? Apparently she has the data and she is the only one who has access to it...there is still no cure for stuttering...

Rob Harwood said...

Hello, I'm looking into the Livestutterfree.com program, and am curious if anyone in this blog has tried it? I am a stutterer who has already gone through the Hollins program (HCRI), and not one person in my class has become a habituated fluent speaker, so here I am looking for a more successful round 2. This program of Anna Deeter's does look to have a good success rate, but after speaking with her and requesting to speak with any of her graduates who have also gone through Hollins prior to seeking her out, she refuses and was actually quite aggressive in telling me how silly I am for thinking that speaking to any of them would help my speech. "Actually Anna, I'm looking for some validation that your program is worth the $6000 I'd be throwing your way!" Seems like she has potential to be a brilliant lady, even has a book out that I will likely read, but she's like one of those doctor's like House, whose bedside manner is absolutely garbage, lol. Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Tom Weidig said...

@Ron: Anna Deeter has a very low reputation in the stuttering community. And I would not buy anything from her.

Best wishes,
Tom