Stutters can sound like a repetition of sounds (b b b brother), syllables (muh muh muh mother) or words (you know you know). Similar to repetitions, the stutter can sound like a stretching of sounds (mmmmmother, and buhhhrother). Additionally, stutters can come in the form of a block, where there is a brief moment where no sound is produced. This can be due a closure of the vocal muscles -- as if you were breath holding-- due to tension.

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You may stutter when stressed as stress has a negative response on your body which may cause anxiety and tension. The tension caused by anxiety can appear in the chest, shoulders, neck, jaw, tongue and/or lips. As stress can cause tension in the body it can also aggravate the stutter that is already there. When someone experiences tension due to stress their muscle movements controlled by the brain moving the areas for speech such as tongue, lips, neck and jaw can become more tense and result in a stutter.  

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When you are nervous, your attention is dispersed. A part of your attention may be on the situation at hand, but other parts of it are on self-perceptions, your perception of others’ perception of you, previous negative experiences, and negative thoughts and hypotheses. When your full attention is not on speaking, there is a likelihood that your words will not come out as intended. Moreover, when you’re nervous, your breathing can become irregular, directly impacting the air-contact coordination. Considering that speech is a delicate dance between airflow and interior mouth contact, it requires awareness, control and balance.

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• Bruce Willis, from classics like Pulp Fiction and the Die Hard series

• Samuel L. Jackson, from Django, the Avengers, and Coach Carter

• James Earl Jones, known for his voice acting in Star Wars as Darth Vader, and Lion King as Mufasa 

• Marilyn Monroe, from 1950s classics like Some Like It Hot, The Prince and the Showgirl, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

• Elvis Presley, The King of Rock & Roll, from Love Me Tender, Jailhouse Rock, and Blue Hawaii

• Nicole Kidman, from Practical Magic, Moulin Rouge, and Cold Mountain

• Emily Blunt, from The Devil Wears Prada, Looper, and A Quiet Place

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Stuttering tends to worsen in high-pressure situations. This could be at a job interview, speech in front of a large audience, or a first conversation with someone you are interested in romantically. When the body is worked up and nervous, breathing can become irregular and air-contact coordination may be distorted. In fact, individuals who do not typically stutter may find themselves using disfluencies in such nerve wracking situations. There is a very strong brain-body connection when it comes to stuttering, so relaxation and positive thoughts is key to fluency.

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People can have different severities when it comes to their stutter. Those who have a mild stutter may have developed strategies on their own or by seeing a speech-language pathologist, and their stutter does not affect their quality of life. Those who may have a more moderate to severe stutter may develop poor self-esteem and cause them to not want to engage in social interactions or to develop anxieties about communicating with others. Stuttering becomes a problem if the person is not able to express themselves and have conversations in any setting that they would like. It may become a problem when those people who stutter, whether mild or severe, cannot communicate effectively in any situation they would like.  When someone who stutters struggles to move past a stutter while speaking this can become a great daily struggle.

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Looking back at the causes of stuttering, it can start at any point in one's life. Most often people are diagnosed with a stutter at a young age if they have not outgrew their stutter. Some children may stutter when they are younger as their language is developing quickly but their speech cannot keep up, which may cause some childhood stuttering. Children do often outgrow this stage, but if they continue to stutter then it can persist into adulthood. Sometimes people can develop a sudden onset of stuttering at any point in their lives after they have gone through a traumatic experience such as the loss of a family member. It becomes difficult for the person to cope with their emotions and the anxiety they are feeling can come out as a stutter. Those who have had various brain injuries caused by stroke or accident can also develop a stutter due to neurological damage at any point in their lives.  

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Stuttering can be caused by a number of different factors. It could be neurological such as after a stroke or a traumatic brain injury, it could be genetic or developmental as another family member has experienced stuttering in their lives, it could be caused by problems with speech motor control or it could also be psychogenic ( affecting the thinking and reasoning part of the brain)  which develops from emotional trauma.  Some children who experience developmental stuttering may outgrow it but on occasion, it can continue into adulthood. This type of stuttering can affect the person's self-esteem as they get older and hinder their communication in different social settings. 

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Stuttering does not directly affect academics. Perhaps the only area of academics that stutterers may be more cognizant about would be presentations, as a clear explanation of ideas is expected in such a setting. Through the practice of fluency strategies and preparation for such tasks, people who stutter are able to achieve success.

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As stuttering is not an illness, there is no cure. It is more accurate to think of stuttering as a habit of speech. While a learned habit cannot be unlearned, a new habit could replace it. The new habit of fluent speech would require self-awareness, as it would involve the intentional use of fluency strategies.

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