“Why do I stutter when I'm nervous?”

There can be many reasons one stutters. Studies show there may be a genetic component to stuttering. It can also be due to tension. Likely when someone is nervous he/she may become tense which causes muscles used for speaking to also become tense which can lead to a stuttering. There are no definite or known reasons. Researchers are still working on this.

There are no known causes to stuttering but increased stuttering has been correlated to anxiety and nervousness. I have had experience with patients who have never stuttered during singing as they are relaxed, the vocal tract is more open, and they do not feel a verbal pressure or verbal demand to speak on command. It may help to check out strategies through the National Stuttering Foundation or a local fluency-specialized speech language pathologist who can hear your communication methods and assess you to give you tips on how to minimize those episodes during nervous moments.

It is difficult to say for sure, but sometimes a situation in your past was difficult and for one reason or another you had difficulty getting your words out clearly or at all. Therefore, the next time a situation where you were nervous occurred, you became worried that you would stutter and this fear brought it on. Then after that, you have had difficulty with stuttering. Stuttering is caused by a physical and emotional condition. Speech therapy can be an effective way to reduce or almost eliminate this condition in many individuals. Some of the techniques are used in the award winning movie, “The King’s Speech”. If you have never seen it , I recommend that you do. I would be happy to evaluate your condition if you so choose, I have good success in helping solve women of these issues. Good luck and best wishes, Darrell Lauer, m.s. CCC/SLP

Speech is impacted by your emotions. When you are nervous, it is likely that you will notice and increase in speech disfluencies.

Hi,

Most people stutter when they are nervous. There are exercises that can be done to reduce the stuttering.

Being nervous and having anxiety is a common cause for stuttering; however, to fully identify the cause and to receive treatment, you should seek out a speech language pathologist evaluation.

Ali Matisse, MS CCC-SLP