Refine Your Speaking Skills: The Importance of Speech Speed

If listeners ask, “Would you repeat that?” often, or stares back at you with glazed, blank expressions, you may be speaking too fast or too slow.

Usually, speed of speech becomes a problem when the listener does not understand the message. When speaking with others, the speed of speech is critical to keeping the audience’s attention. Listeners not only need to hear the words being spoken, but they also need to translate those words into a meaningful context.

Talking too fast is a common speech problem. Most of us tend to speed up our speech when we are excited or stressed. As a result, the listener can no longer process the content and eventually gives up. Therefore, most of your message will be lost as a direct consequence.

Speaking too slowly is less common, but can still be distracting to a listener. In this case, the listener may have too much time to process and might very well start concentrating on other, more interesting things. Once again, much of your message will be lost.

Speech volume, or how low or loud you speak, can directly affect how a speaker is perceived. Verbal tone, or how high or low your voice is presented, is also an important tool in gaining audience interest. But it is the speed of speech that is crucial in keeping the audience’s attention.

Average speech speeds are on the order of 120 to 140 words per minute. Speed ​​is faster in some places, like New York City, and slower in others. What matters less is how many words a speaker can utter, but more how many of those words are understood by the listener. Varying the speed at which words are spoken can be an effective technique, but as a general rule of thumb, slow is better than fast.

If you often find yourself speaking too fast, here are several techniques to slow down your speech:

• Start by taking a few slow, deep breaths.. This can be a relaxation method that will help focus the mind and dissipate some of the nervous energy.

• Focus on the enunciation. Our speech will be clearer and easier to understand if our enunciation is adequate and possible difficulty in speaking in syllables or mispronunciation of words in accelerated speech is avoided.

• Focus on writing. Our speech is made up of phrases and sentences, with punctuation telling us how the information should be expressed. Conversely, speaking too fast always runs the risk of sentences smearing and suddenly becoming one continuous verbal blur that confuses and confuses.

• Find natural breaks that allow the listener to catch up. By giving the listener the opportunity to keep up, catch up, or briefly reflect on the message, the listener’s attention is much more likely to be sustained from start to finish.

Remember, practice can improve your speaking speed and ultimately increase the overall effectiveness of a message.