{"id":253,"date":"2020-07-20T03:47:04","date_gmt":"2020-07-20T03:47:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-publicspeaking\/?post_type=chapter&p=253"},"modified":"2021-08-30T23:34:43","modified_gmt":"2021-08-30T23:34:43","slug":"speech-challenges","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-publicspeaking\/chapter\/speech-challenges\/","title":{"raw":"Speech Challenges","rendered":"Speech Challenges"},"content":{"raw":"
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Learning Objectives<\/h3>\r\nIdentify speech challenges.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nEach of our voices have a unique quality that makes it recognizable to the listener. There is no such thing as a \"good\" or \"bad\" voice. However, each speaker will have different challenges about the way they use their voice to speak in public. In considering these challenges, it is important\u00a0to differentiate between speech disorders and vocal habits.\r\n

Speech Disorders<\/h3>\r\nA speech disorder\u00a0is a condition in which a person has problems creating the speech sounds needed to communicate. Speech disorders can affect people of all ages. Some speech disorders appear when a child first learns to speak, while others can arise as the result of medical conditions such as an illness or stroke. Stuttering is a speech disorder that disrupts a person's ability to speak as smoothly or fluently as they desire.[footnote]\"Speech and Language Disorders in Children.\" Edited by Sara Rosenbaum and Patti Simon. National Academies Press, 2016, https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/books\/NBK356270\/[\/footnote] Stuttering can make public speaking especially challenging, but many people who stutter have gone on to become internationally known speakers and entertainers (a long list can be found at the Stuttering Foundation website<\/a>).\u00a0By working with a certified speech pathologist, many children and adults with speech disorders have improved their level of fluency and become confident verbal communicators.\r\n
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To Watch: Megan Washington<\/h3>\r\nIn this TED talk, singer-songwriter Megan Washington talks about speaking publicly as a person who has a stutter.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/9MegHiL93B0\r\n\r\nYou can view the transcript for \"The Thing Is, I Stutter: Megan Washington at TEDxSydney 2014\" here (opens in new window)<\/a>.\r\n

What to watch for:<\/h4>\r\nWashington uses humor, especially self-deprecating humor, extremely effectively in this talk. Her jokes not only help to win over the crowd, but also make her struggle to find her public voice both powerful and relatable. Her sincere yet humorous delivery also helps to reinforce her initial point, that public speaking with a stutter can be frightening, but, as she puts it, \"not the worst thing in the world. . . . I know that other people in the world have far worse things to deal with.\"\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Vocal Habits<\/h3>\r\nEach of us has our own patterns and habits of speech. It's good to keep in mind, though, that we sometimes slip into speech habits that may work against the impression we're trying to make. This is especially true when we're nervous. Some speakers worry that their voice makes them sound uncertain or unsophisticated, or that they speak with less power and conviction than they feel.\r\n\r\nBefore addressing these vocal issues, it is important to point out that a number of commentators have characterized some of the public attacks of \"bad voice habits\" as barely camouflaged attacks on women, especially young women. As Rachel Thompson puts it:\r\n

Women are constantly being told that their voices sound too high-pitched, too \"Valley Girl,\" too shrill. Women are told they apologise too much, that they use too many discourse markers\u2014\"like,\" \"ya know,\" \"I mean\"\u2014and that they're exhibiting vocal fry and upspeak. [. . .] Once we had the words to define the perceived problem, critics couldn't stop using them to belittle women. But the kicker is, in some cases, these behaviours are just as prevalent in men. [. . .] The internet is littered with utility posts instructing women how they can ditch these speech patterns to sound more professional, more confident, more capable. But the same isn't true for men.[footnote]Thompson, Rachel. \"Stop Telling Women How They Should Talk.\"\u00a0Mashable<\/em>, 22 Aug 2018, https:\/\/mashable.com\/article\/vocal-fry-upspeak-women\/[\/footnote]<\/p>\r\nOther cultural commentators, including the prominent feminist author Naomi Wolf, have suggested that young women can face disadvantages in the workplace and in politics because of vocal habits that come across (according to Wolf's sources) as insecure, immature, or incompetent. As Wolf writes, \"The most empowered generation of women ever\u2014today\u2019s twentysomethings in North America and Britain\u2014is being hobbled in some important ways by something as basic as a new fashion in how they use their voices.\" Wolf encourages women to \"reclaim their voice,\" writing, \"we should not ask young women to put on fake voices or to alter essential parts of themselves. But in my experience of teaching voice to women for two decades, when a young woman is encouraged to own her power and is given basic skills in claiming her own voice then huge, good changes follow.\"[footnote]Wolf, Naomi. \"Young Women, Give up the Vocal Fry and Reclaim Your Strong Female Voice.\" The Guardian<\/em>, 24 Jul 2015, https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2015\/jul\/24\/vocal-fry-strong-female-voice[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nAlthough the debate around whether these vocal habits are a problem has focused on young women, it is important to note, as Thompson points out, that these vocal characteristics are common among both men and women. (In fact, one study found that men use more vocal fry than women.[footnote]Irons, Sarah T. and Alexander, Jessica E. \"Vocal Fry in Realistic Speech: Acoustic Characteristics and Perceptions of Vocal Fry in Spontaneously Produced and Read Speech.\" The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,<\/em>\u00a0140:4, 2016.[\/footnote]) We are presenting this information here to help you identify and understand your own vocal patterns and decide for yourself how you want your voice to be heard.\r\n

Vocal Fry<\/h4>\r\nThe vocal fry register (also known as creak, glottal fry, glottal rattle, or strohbass) is the lowest vocal register and is produced when loose vocal folds vibrate together. This permits air to bubble through slowly with a popping or rattling sound of a very low frequency.\r\n\r\n[audio mp3=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5348\/2020\/07\/16161806\/Vocal_Fry.mp3\"][\/audio]\r\n
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What is vocal fry?<\/h3>\r\nIn this video, Lauren Vogelbaum discusses the physiology of vocal fry:\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/FsqW8jdlaSk\r\n\r\nYou can view the transcript for \"How Does Vocal Fry Work?\" here (opens in new window)<\/a>.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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Controversy: Are criticisms of Vocal Fry Sexist?<\/h3>\r\nThis report from CBC News summarizes the recent debate about the voice pattern known as vocal fry.\r\n\r\n