Why Do People Who Stutter Not Do So When They Sing?

Why do people who stutter when they talk not stutter when they sing?
- Cameron

There are a few reasons why people who stutter don't do so when they sing. One is called easy onset of speech, or easy voice, or smooth speech. This describes the way you sing. Think about it - you generally use a smoother and easier voice when you are singing versus when you are speaking. Speech therapists actually use the easy onset strategy when helping people who stutter. Another reason why a person may not stutter while singing is because words are more prolonged (and less apt to be stumbled over) when they are sung rather than spoken. And finally, music is an activity in which you use the right side of the brain (language uses the left), so when you sing music, you are no longer using your left brain (and probably no longer stuttering!).

For more information, check out these articles.
Speech-Language Therapy
Stuttering

Reviewed by: Neil Izenberg, MD
Date reviewed: January 2004

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