What type of disfluency might involve a prolonged sound?

Prolonged sounds are a key characteristic of a specific type of speech disfluency known as prolongations. This phenomenon occurs when a speaker extends a sound in a word longer than is typical, which can happen with vowels or consonants. For example, instead of saying 's' swiftly as in 'sit,' a speaker might produce it as 'ssssssssssit.' This type of disfluency can be a manifestation of stuttering and is typically associated with anxiety or difficulty in initiating speech.

Prolongations differ from other types of disfluencies, such as repetitions where a sound, syllable, or word is repeated multiple times (like saying 'b-b-b-baby'), and blocks, which involve a complete stop in airflow or speech where the speaker is unable to produce a sound despite wanting to. This makes it clear why the option identifying prolonged sounds as a distinct disfluency is accurate, as it specifically addresses the nature of how a sound is produced over an extended time rather than being repeated or blocked.