Max Lab at UW Seattle

Our research examines how the brain controls the muscles that are used for speaking and how this process fails to work smoothly in children and adults who stutter. To determine the specific difficulties involved in stuttering, we study how the brain of these children and adults uses the sound and feel of our own speech to adjust the movements of the lips, tongue, jaw, and vocal folds. Once we know what causes this speech problem, we will be able to come up with treatments that will help people who stutter to speak more easily and be less afraid of speaking. Some studies require participants to speak into a microphone, play a board game, or make hand and arm movements toward targets.