Speaking Rate: Effects on Children’s Comprehension of Normal Speech

Abstract

This study investigated the comprehension of speech among children in maturational stages of linguistic development when speech was presented at varying rates of utterance by a trained speaker. Five groups, each consisting of a subgroup of 10 kindergarten and a subgroup of 10 second-grade children, were presented with a tape-recorded administration of the receptive section of the Northwestern Syntax Screening Test (NSST). Each group heard the test at one or another of the following rates: 2.6, 3.4, 4.7, 5.3, or 6.3 syllables per second. A mean comprehension score was determined for each group and subgroup, and a treatment-by-levels analysis of variance was completed. Results indicated that comprehension was higher at the two slower rates than at the three faster rates. Rate by grade interaction was nonsignificant and comprehension differences between sexes appeared virtually nonexistent.