Turning my stutter into a design problem and building an AI to help me solve it.
Problem
I’ve been a stammerer since I was a kid, and recently I went to see a speech pathologist. She basically told me, “Hey, your stutter isn’t random, it’s tied to your emotions and where you are.” And it’s true, the moment I get super scared, crazy excited, or even just annoyed, boom, the stammer shows up like an uninvited guest.
Growing up, I picked up this habit of speaking super fast.
Why? Because like many stutterers, I wanted to finish my sentence before someone interrupted me. The problem is, keeping myself on “slow mode” all the time takes a lot of energy. Imagine trying to be your own speed cop 24/7, it’s exhausting!
Solution
So I thought, why not let AI be my coach? The idea is simple: if I start talking too fast, the app would notice and give me a little nudge, like a buzz in my pocket or a tiny notification. Nothing too dramatic, just a friendly tap on the shoulder saying, “Hey buddy, slow it down.”
At the end of the day, the app would even show me a cool report of when and where I was racing through my words. That way I could spot patterns, laugh at the times I spoke like a rocket, and slowly train myself to chill and speak at a human pace.
User Interfaces
Personal reflections
One of my takeaways was the importance of explainability. If the app simply said, “You stammered 30% more today,” it would feel cold and judgmental. By showing when and why patterns emerged, Sema proved that design’s role is to make AI feedback feel human, not robotic.
Other Experiments/Designs
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