[Fluency shaping with surface electromyography: a pilot study].

Background: the use of a technological resource in fluency promotion.

Aim: to verify the effectiveness of a stuttering treatment based on the use of surface electromyography (SEMG) exclusively.

Method: participants were four stuttering adults of both genders. Assessment, pre and post-treatment, consisted of a speech gathering session and the analyses of the rest tension and of the reaction time for speech. Treatment consisted of twelve twenty minute training sessions monitored by SEMG.

Results: there was a statistically significant reduction in the number of stuttering-like disfluencies (p = 0.094) and in the number of other disfluencies (p = 0.014). The other parameters, as well as differences in the electromyographic measurements, did not present significant variation.

Conclusion: SEMG proved to be effective in the reduction of stuttering, with no need of association to other techniques.