I have recently heard the sad news - Dr Martin Schwartz, who pioneered the Passive Airflow technique to which this blog owes so much, passed away on 18th May in the US.
In life he was a research associate professor of surgery (speech pathology) at New York University's Medical Center and also ran the National Center For Stuttering in New York for many years.
An original thinker who did not shy away from criticizing mainstream thinking on stuttering, Dr Schwartz focused on the role of the vocal cords in stuttering. From his research he concluded that stuttering was the result of the vocal cord muscles that "freeze" due to excessive tension, resulting in the speech repetitions we know as "stuttering".
To counter this he developed his Passive Airflow technique, which aims to reduce vocal-cord tension.
I was one of those fortunate enough to attend two of his workshops in the 1980s, and still use his technique as do so many others. His books and training videos are still here on this very website - in the Martin Schwartz Collection - for all to read and view. A brilliant man who changed my life immensely for the better. Deep condolences to his wife, Judy.
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