Lessened blood flow in brain can cause people to stutter

New Delhi: As per a recent study, reduced blood flow in brain linked to speech production can cause stuttering in people.

Researchers at Children's Hospital Los Angeles in the US demonstrated evidence of a common underlying lifelong vulnerability in both children and adults who stutter.

They discovered that regional cerebral blood flow is reduced in the Broca's area - the region in the frontal lobe of the brain linked to speech production - in persons who stutter.

More severe stuttering is associated with even greater reductions in blood flow to this region.

In addition, a greater abnormality of cerebral blood flow in the posterior language loop, associated with processing words that we hear, correlates with more severe stuttering.

This finding suggests that a common pathophysiology throughout the neural "language" loop that connects the frontal and posterior temporal lobe likely contributes to stuttering severity.

(With PTI inputs)