Building Bluetooth Stuttering Fluency Aid - Vibrating Metronome

Disclaimer - I believe that the best therapy for stuttering involves accepting your stutter and finding ways to stutter in more easy, relaxed way. That said, I think there are times when electronic fluency aids can help people who stutter speak more easily in challenging situations.
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It is well known that a metronome beat can help people who stutter achieve more fluent speech. Some theorists argue that stuttering is caused by a difficulty coordinating the rapid movements involved in speech at the correct time (e.g. Howell, 2011).

I am interested in vibrating metronomes (i.e. small devices that allow you to feel rather than hear a beat) as a way to help achieve more fluent speech. If you want to know whether a metronome beat might help you, try an online metronome (Google has its own here) and set the speed to something low like 70 beats per minute. There are also vibrating metronome apps available for your phone - however, I find the vibration too loud to use in real life, but this might be a good way to see if a vibrating metronome could help you.

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​Once you have a metronome running, try speaking one syllable or word per beat. This creates a very slow, rhythmic speech that often results in more fluent speech. Now try speaking with the metronome beat again and this time speak at a more normal rate while only focusing on the beats when you are expecting a word to be difficult. If you found the metronome beat helpful then a vibrating metronome might be useful for you.

Below is a description of how to put a Bluetooth vibrating metronome together. It doesn't require any electronics skills! This project makes use of a smartphone with Bluetooth, a small vibration speaker, a Bluetooth receiver, and (optional) a small Bluetooth remote to let you trigger a vibrating metronome when you need it. It has the following advantages over more complicated and much more expensive devices like SpeechEasy and VoiceAmp:

1. You don't have to wear a device in your ear or listen to distracting noises
2. It can be worn in a discrete place (e.g. around your ankle, out of sight)
3. It is affordable as it doesn't use specialist parts (around £40 if you already own a smartphone).
4. Additionally, it can easily be controlled using a small Bluetooth control in your pocket. That means you can have the metronome beat when you want it and not all the time.
   
   

I've only tested it on my iPhone 6s but I imagine it would work with any Bluetooth-enabled smartphone. If your phone is older, there might a limit to how many Bluetooth devices you can connect to your phone - so you might not be able to control the metronome using an extra Bluetooth control while also transmitting the metronome beat to the Bluetooth receiver.

Parts:

1. Smartphone with Bluetooth (e.g. iPhone, Android, Windows phone)
2. MPOW Bluetooth Steambot Mini Receiver (on Amazon here)
3. Mighty Boom Ball vibration speaker (on Amazon here)
4. Bluetooth media button controller (on Amazon here, although I found a very similar one on eBay for about £6)
5. Sugru - (on Amazon here)
6. Elastic stretchy material - around 5cm in width (as found here). You won't need much. Buy a metre for spares.
7. Twist-tie or elastic band.
8. Free mp3 file of a metronome beat (you might prefer a different number of beats per minute). Below is an example mp3 I have made of 100bpm - right click and "save target/link as". I will upload some different bpm mp3s in the future.

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100bmp metronome pulse.mp3
File Size:	359 kb
File Type:	mp3

Download File

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Setting it up:

• Pair the MPOW Streambot mini with your phone. To do this hold the play/pause button on the front for a few seconds until it flashes blue. Now select it in the Bluetooth menu on your phone.
• Pair the Bluetooth media button with your phone (you will need to press a small button on the back on the media button to put it into pairing mode then find the device in your phone's Bluetooth menu as above).
• Connect the MPOW receiver to the Boom Ball vibration speaker using the short 3.5mm to 2.5mm cable. You won't need the pre-amp the Boom Ball comes with.
• Remove the cover from the Boom Ball and peel off the sticky black pad.
• Transfer the mp3 metronome file you are going to use to your phone (e.g. via iTunes). 
  
  

Open the mp3 through the Music app on your phone and set the track to repeat (details on how to do this in iOS here). Pressing the play button on the media button should now play or pause this mp3 file. You should feel the vibrating metronome beat through the Boom Ball vibration speaker. Adjust the volume to your preferred vibration strength.
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Creating the ankle mount:

• Measure sewing elastic around your ankle, at the top of your sock. Cut so that the fabric has 10 or 15 cms of overlap
• Cut a very small hole at the halfway point - just enough to feed the head of the 2.5mm cable through this. Connect to the speaker (this should be enough to hold the speaker in place when worn).
• Use Sugru to create a hook that will hang the MPOW Bluetooth receiver from the outside of the elastic.Make sure that the hook is at least 3 or 4mm thick as otherwise it may break when you bend it outwards and over the elastic. Allow the Sugru to dry for 24 hours.
• Hang the MPOW Bluetooth receiver on the elastic, connect to the cable and tidy the excess cable using a cable tie.
• Once the pieces are comfortably arranged, use a safety pin or sew the ends of the elastic to form a loop. Alternatively, add velcro to the ends to allow for easier fitting and adjustment.
  

Make the Bluetooth media button easy to use in your pocket:

• Add a small piece of Sugru on top of the play/pause button on the media button so that it is easy to find and press in your pocket. Allow Sugru to dry for 24 hours.

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