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More than 80 million peopleworldwide , includingPresident Joe Bidenand singer - songwriterEd Sheeran , experience stuttering , a condition that affects thefluency and timing of speech . People who stammer may recapitulate sound , syllable or Word ; may prolong sounds ; and may experience interruptions or blocks in speech . Stuttering can interfere with a mortal ’s daily life , by trigger anxietyaround societal billet , for lesson .
Despite the high prevalence of stuttering , scientists stilldon’t have it off a lotabout what causes it — at least in most cases . There ’s not enough evidence to definitively explicate the neurobiology of stuttering , Elina Tripoliti , a clinical specialist speech and language therapist at University College London , told Live Science . The current consensus among researchers is that the condition is in all likelihood make bya intermixture of factors , including genetics , departure in brain structure and purpose , and a person ’s environment .
Globally, more than 80 million people experience a speech condition known as stuttering — but what causes it?
rarefied , acquired forms of stutteringcan occur after abraininjury with a specific crusade , such asa strokeorParkinson ’s disease .
However , most people who bumble have what is known asdevelopmental stuttering , which first arises in childhood , around years 2 to 5 , but evaporate inup to 90 % of childrenbefore maturity . This form of stuttering has proved a lot hard to explain , although several supposition have been suggested over the years .
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There may be a common brain network that underlies stuttering, research suggests.
One major cause of developmental stuttering may be genetic . Developmental stuttering often runs in families , with studies of identical twins paint a picture that genetics may be creditworthy formore than 80%of case of the condition . Several small studies have gone one step further and pinpointed specific gene that may play a use in stuttering . These include genes that are involved in themovement of materials within cellsor in govern thetransmission of the chemical dopaminein the brain .
military man are aroundfour times more likelyto stutter than women . Scientists do n’t yet know why this is the character , although some theory exist . For good example , women may somehow bemore resistant to inheriting a stutterthan men .
There are also subtle differences in the brains of people who stutter versus those who do n’t . These differences are located in region of the learning ability that areresponsible for planning and executing speech , let in the inferior frontal gyrus and the leftover motor cortex .
In increase , a 2024 sketch break that stuttering may be triggered bydisruption to a connection of nerve cell in the brainthat link theamygdala , theputamenand theclaustrum . These three share of the encephalon are respectively ask in regulating emotions , control movement and relaying selective information between dissimilar part of the brain .
Environmental ingredient can also work stuttering . electronegative reactionsfrom syndicate or near friends can create anxiousness around a mortal ’s stutter that worsens their symptom , Tripoliti enunciate .
Over the class , falter enquiry has been limit because scientist ca n’t analyse it in animals as they would other conditions , she say . Without this knowledge , it may be hard to arise point treatments .
Severalstudieshave investigatedthe use of drugs to reduce stuttering , but there is currentlynothing on the marketthat can get rid of it , Scott Yaruss , a professor of communicative sciences and disorders at Michigan State University , told Live Science .
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" The medicine that have been studied reduce falter for some people , some of the time , " he say . " That is OK ; there ’s nothing wrong with that , but it ’s not a cure . "
Therapy can help some multitude utter more easily and accept that they sometimes stammer , Yaruss said . Encouraging society to embrace stuttering as a form of verbal variety , rather than viewing it as a status that must always be " deal , " is also important , he added .
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