02337caa a2200205   4500008004100000022001400041100001600055245007100071260000900142270008000151270002700231300001000258490001400268520164300282653004901925700001601974700001501990773005702005856006902062210629s9999    xx            000 0 und d  a2582-4961  aLiji Antony 0aComparison of Fluency Characteristics in News-readers and Controls  c2015  aAll India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Manasagangothri, Mysore, 570 006  mantonylusvin@gmail.com  a48-54  vVolume 34  aPresentation expertise is an essential characteristic of a successful news-reader. The study aimed to investigate the uency characteristics like continuity, rate and speech naturalness in TV newscasters and control speakers. The participants included 10 (8 females and 2 males) news readers within the age-range of 25-35 years and 10 age and gender matched controls. Spontaneous speech and reading samples of the participants were audio recorded and analysed for type and percentage of dis uencies, rate of spontaneous speech and reading and speech natural- ness. Three post-graduate speech language pathologists rated the speech samples for naturalness using Multidimensional Speech Naturalness scale (Kanchan & Savithri, 1997). The percentage of dis uencies was higher in control group as compared to news readers both in reading as well as in spontaneous speech tasks. The news readers exhibited normal dis uencies like interjections, pauses, revisions, word llers, phrase repetitions and whole word repetitions while the normal group in addition showed revisions and word llers as well as occasional stuttering like dis uencies (SLDs) like part word repetitions, sound repetitions and prolongations. Signicant dierence in spontaneous speaking rate was evidenced between the two groups, but no signicant dierence in reading rate was noticed between news readers and controls. Overall naturalness of the spontaneous speech as well as reading samples was dependent on the groups. Hence, the professional news readers diered from the normals in terms of types and percentage of dis uencies, speaking rate and naturalness characteristics.   aDisfluency, News Readers, Speech Naturalness  aGeetha, Y.V  aVani Latha  aJournal of All India Institute of Speech and Hearing  uhttp://192.168.102.7/jaiish/index.php/aiish/article/view/837/525