Briefly identify these aspects of vocal delivery:

Question

volume, rate, pitch, pause, articulation, and pronunciation. Choose two and discuss common problems with them in public speaking.

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Speakers can improve by focusing on these elements of vocal delivery, and the problems commonly accompanying them: 1) Volume – the relative intensity of a voice; problems – too soft, too loud, too little variation, fading away. 2) Rate – the speed at which someone speaks; problems – too fast, too slow, inappropriate to the topic. 3) Pitch – the rate of vocal cord vibration creating relative highness or lowness of a voice, as perceived by listeners; problems –too high, too low, too patterned, incorrect point of emphasis. 4) Pause – a break in the stream of speech; problems – unfilled pauses that are long or badly timed, filled pauses that indicate hesitation or uncertainty. 5) Articulation – movements of speech organs as they produce sounds; problems – incorrect omission, substitution, or addition of sounds or syllables. 6) Pronunciation – production of syllables or words based on accepted standards such as dictionaries; problems – misplaced accent, utterance of sounds that should be silent.