USAGE OF SMARTPHONES AS AN ANTI-STUTTERING DEVICE DURING A SPECIAL TRAINING SESSION IN DAILY LIFE ENVIRONMENT FOR THE ADULTS WHO STUTTER
The article investigates the interest of using modern technical devices in the treatment of stuttering in adults outside of the clinical environment. The innovative model developed by the authors combined a psychological approach and speech treatment, implying for the first time the use of smartphones with freely distributed software applications, specially designed for speech therapy. These smartphone applications included Masking white noise, Metronome-paced rhythm and Frequency-shifted auditory feedback (FAF) as anti-stuttering devices in terms of so-called ‘functional speech training'. These findings suggest that these mobile applications, which are already commercially available, for example, for smartphones, might be used in multipurpose psychological and speech treatment as an effective mean to reduce the core (disordered breathing, repetition or prolongation of sounds, words, syllables, etc.) and secondary (avoidance behavior, loss of eye contact, extraneous movements, etc.) behavioral manifestations of stuttering.