DALLAS TWP. — Misericordia University student researchers Emily Gurtizen and Katrina Giacumbo, both fifth-year graduate students in the speech-language pathology program, recently made the poster presentation called “A Perceptual Study of Communication Effectiveness in Cluttering,’’ at the “One World, Many Voices: Science and Community’’ Joint World Congress of Fluency Disorders Conference in Hiroshima, Japan.
The Japan Society of Stuttering and Other Fluency Disorders and the Japanese Stuttering Genyukai Organization hosted the Joint World Congress at the International Conference Center July 13-16.
The groundbreaking initiative brought together historically diverse groups from the International Cluttering Association, International Fluency Association and International Stuttering Association to explore experiences of living with, treating, and researching, stuttering and cluttering.
Giacumbo, of Holmdel, N.J, and Gurtizen, of West Chester, collaborated with university faculty members Kathleen Scaler Scott, an associate professor, and Jessica Kisenwether, an assistant professor, on the presentation.
The Misericordia University student-faculty research team explored the perceptions of 144 adult listeners who rated the speech of adults who clutter when compared to adults who do not.
The speakers were rated on conciseness, organization and flow of their message. The results indicated that listeners judged those who clutter less favorably due to their ability to understand subject’s delivery of the main point, ability to get right to the point, smooth flow of speech, and organization of message.
The study’s findings have implications for establishing priorities in the treatment of cluttering.
