Stuttering is more than a speech behavior. It’s a condition that can negatively (and often severely) impact the life of a person. Stuttering can dictate what a person does or does not do, what jobs think they think they can do, what classes they take, whether they speak to someone on the sidewalk, whether they think they can be happy or have success. Stuttering is more than just stuttering so research in stuttering is more than just research into disfluent speech.

Research in the Life Lab (Life Impact of Speech and Stuttering Lab) investigates the lived experience of the condition. We want to know what makes one person experience stuttering differently from someone else. What protects or influences one individual from being more negatively impacted by stuttering compared to someone else? Can we identify these influencing factors? If we can, can we prevent them or treat them through therapy? It’s these deep questions that drive research in this area.

To answer these questions, we use neuroimaging, survey, and qualitative methodologies. If you are a child who stutters, an adult who stutters, or a parent or family member of a person who stutters, please contact us to participate in our research.