The effect of word length and frequency on articulation and pausing during delayed auditory feedback

The effect of three levels of word frequency and two word lengths on articulation duration and pause time during immediate (IAF) and delayed auditory feedback (DAF) was investigated in 20 subjects. The articulation duration of all words lengthened during DAF, with long words showing the greatest effect. Pause time during IAF increased as word frequency declined, and also increased before long words, but was only slightly lengthened during DAF on high and middle frequency words. The results were discussed in terms of feedback-dependent levels of processing in the production of speech as a skilled movement. Delayed auditory feedback (DAF) disrupts the normal temporal relations of a speaker’s production, resulting in a loss of timing control of fluent speech (Yates, 1963). The majority of previous studies of DAF have measured increments of total time to read a sequence with delayed compared to normal feedback (Lee, 1950; Fairbanks and Gutt-man, 1958). Increments in total time could result from: 1) increasing the number and duration of pauses within and between words (pause time) o