Effects of Speaking Rate on Breathing and Voice Behavior

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of speaking rate (habitual and fast) and speech task (reading and spontaneous speech) on seven dependent variables: Breath group size (in syllables), Breath group duration (in seconds), Lung volume at breath group initiation, Lung volume at breath group termination, Lung volume excursion for each breath group (in % vital capacity), Lung volume excursion per syllable (in % vital capacity) and mean speaking Fundamental frequency (f_O).

Ten women and seven men were included as subjects. Lung volume and breathing behaviors were measured by respiratory inductance plethysmography and f_O was measured from audio recordings by the Praat software. Statistical significance was tested by analysis of variance.

For both reading and spontaneous speech, the group increased mean breath group size and breath group duration significantly in the fast speaking rate condition. The group significantly decreased lung volume excursion per syllable in fast speech. Females also showed a significant increase of f_O in fast speech. The lung volume levels for initiation and termination of breath groups, as well as lung volume excursions in % vital capacity, showed great individual variations and no significant effects of rate. Significant effects of speech task were found for breath group size and lung volume excursion per syllable, where reading induced more syllables produced per breath group and less % VC spend per syllable as compared to spontaneous speech. Interaction effects showed that the increases in breath group size and breath group duration associated with fast rate were significantly larger in reading than in spontaneous speech.

Our data from 17 vocally untrained, healthy subjects showed great individual variations but still significant group effects regarding increased speaking rate, where the subjects seemed to spend less air per syllable and inhaled less often as a consequence of greater breath group sizes in fast speech. Subjects showed greater changes in breath group patterns as a consequence of fast speech in reading than in spontaneous speech, indicating that effects of speaking rate are dependent on the speech task.