Speech fluency in aphasics

Abstract Fluency was investigated in the oral speech of 20 patients with traumatic aphasia. Comparisons concerning the number of words, speaking time, and speaking rate were made between emotional and free oral descriptions, the acute and chronic stages of the disease, and the clinical form of aphasia. Our investigation showed that the speaking rate (number of words per time unit) alone is not sufficient to indicate a patient as fluent or nonfluent, but that two other indicators, the speaking time and the number of words produced by the patient during the speech, must also be considered.