Fact Check: Can keeping a bay leaf under the tongue resolve stammering?
No scientific evidence to back the claim.
By Sunanda Naik Published on 6 Oct 2023 4:42 AM GMT
Hyderabad: A message by an AI bot doctor claiming that keeping a bay leaf under the tongue resolves stammering, is viral.
The same message was found on the Facebook account of an Ayurveda doctor as well.
The logic behind the home remedy is that bay leaf helps thinning the tongue and makes it easier to speak clearly without stuttering.
Does this bay leaf trick really work? Letās find out
Fact check
NewsMeter found the claim to be false.
Stammering is also referred to as stuttering. It is a speech defect that is relatively common in childhood. Stammering is when a person repeats sounds or syllabus like ās-s-s-s-stammerā or āssssssssstammerā. Basically, it is when words seem to get stuck in the mouth and the tongue doesn't support it.
There are two types of stammering:
Developmental stammering- it is the most common type of stammering that happens in early childhood when speech and language skills are developing quickly.
Neurogenic- Neurogenic stuttering is the result of damage to the central nervous system.
Psychogenic- A personās stutter may result from psychological disorders, such as depression or anxiety.
According to an article on Stamma, stammering has a genetic link, meaning it can run in families. It can be hereditary. Research suggests around 60% of people who stammer have a family member who stammers or used to stammer.
There are certain signs and symptoms of stammering such as difficulty starting a word or a phrase, prolonged words, words within words, repetition of syllables, broken words, additional sounds such as 'um', tension and tightness on the face while speaking, etc.
Other than the speech-related difficulties symptoms may accompanied by rapid eye blinks, tremors of lips, facial and head tics, and clenching of fists.
The symptoms might worsen when excited, tired, feared, or self-conscious.
According to the American Speech Language Hearing Association, you must visit your speech therapist if these symptoms persist:
Your child's stuttering has lasted for 6ā12 months or more.
Your child starts to stutter late (after 3Ā½ years old).
Your child starts to stutter more often.
Your child tenses up or struggles when talking.
Your child avoids talking or says it is too hard to talk.
There is a family history of stuttering.
According to Medical News Today, there are certain therapies for stuttering such as fluency shaping therapy, stuttering modification therapy, and electronic fluency therapy.
Throughout the investigation, we could not find a single study that talks about the role of the tongue or bay leaf in eliminating stuttering or stammering. It is a genetic, sex-related (boys are more prone to stutter than girls), age-related, psychological, and neurological condition.
