Paul Blanchet, a professor of speech pathology at the LSU Health Sciences school in New Orleans, has not let his stutter affect his career choice.
“Being a speech pathologist, it is a little more expected,” said Blanchet. “But I want to get it improved because of the teaching and public speaking I do.”
Blanchet is currently in the process of receiving funds to purchase the Speech Easy, a device that makes it possible for people who stutter to become more fluent.
This device, developed by Joseph Kalinowski in 2001, and was made readily available in 2003, helps stutterers with their fluency, said Holly Strange, a Speech Pathologist at the Baton Rouge Neurotherapy Specialists Clinic.
Kalinowski, who stuttered all his life, incorporated Delayed Auditory Feedback and Frequency Altered Feedback in order to effectively produce a choral effect.
“If someone is talking with you, you tend to be more fluent,” said Strange, explaining how the choral effect works.
The person wearing the Speech Easy device, which can resemble a hearing aid, or can be almost invisible to others, will hear their own voice delayed, and an altered frequency keeps them from recognizing their own voice.
There are three types of the Speech Easy, said Strange. There is the “Behind-The-Ear”, which fits over the ear and attaches to a mold, fitting inside the ear; the “In-The-Canal”, which is securely placed into the first opening inside the ear; and the “Completely-In-Canal” which goes all the way inside, fitting into the second hole in the ear.
Over 60,000 people all over the world suffer from stuttering, many of whom who attribute certain actions to their stutter.
“There are so many psychological side effects, it’s unfathomable,” said Strange. “Many people, when they stutter, do things that they think will help them speak more fluently, like twitching, or blinking.”
The twitches are not part of the stutter. They are called secondary stuttering characteristics.
Along with using the Speech Easy device, people also can perform the traditional methods of speech therapy, said Strange.
Often people will choose a career that involves very little public speaking because of their embarrassment from their stutter.
“Most of my clientele are young men going into the work field,” Strange said.
Strange said, after showing a remarkable compatibility with it, Blanchet is now finding funding help with Vocational Rehabilitation.
Vocational Rehabilitation works with people to help with job placement and retention. They also provide funding when insurance companies do not consider certain treatment a “necessity.”
“I am working with Voc Rehab to get funded, but they first need a letter from my insurance company stating that they will not cover the money for this device,” said Blanchet.
During his evaluation with Speech Easy, Blanchet said everything went very well. He hopes to receive the device in the near future, making things much easier for him.
“This isn’t a handicap, though, it’s a nuisance,” said Blanchet about his stutter, which he has struggled with for a long time.
“I used DAF clinically with some of my own patients,” said Blanchet. “It really does help. You hear your voice with a delay, like and echo. Your brain is tricked. When stutterers learn to use it properly, it should slow down their speech.”
While the device does not always work with everyone, it has worked wonders for numbers of people.
“For some, they are so fluent they start crying,” said Strange. “When I first started, I would be crying. When a grown man is in here who has turned down better jobs because of his stutter, starts crying because the device is working so well, it is very touching.”
To learn more information on the Speech Easy, readers can visits the website at speecheasy.com.