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Re: Accessible Speech Rate?

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From: Zdenek, Sean
Date: May 12, 2016 9:23AM

Marc,

How about guidelines for the preferred speed of closed captions? There¹s
also data on the average speed of speech on TV, the average speed of
speech in ordinary conversation, and the average speed of reading print.
Here¹s a passage from my book, Reading Sounds, that may be helpful here
(see pp. 150-151). Also might be helpful to check out the speed limits
placed on verbatim closed captioning offered in The Captioning Key and
elsewhere ‹ the focus is on K-12 readers:
http://www.captioningkey.org/presentation_rate.html

From Reading Sounds (pp. 150-1):

Beyond anecdotal evidence, we can turn to reading speed preferences
to provide indirect evidence of predictive reading. Carl Jensema (1998)
studied
the preferences of 578 participants‹-a diverse groups of hearing,
hard-of-hearing, and deaf viewers aged eight to eighty‹by measuring their
reactions to thirty-second video segments on three topics that were
captioned
at different speeds, from ninety-six words per minute up to 200 words per
minute (wpm). Each video was captioned at eight different speeds for a
total of
twenty-four videos. Viewers rated each segment on a five-point scale of
³Too
slow,² ³Slow,² ³OK,² ³Fast,² and ³Too fast² (320). The average speed rated
as
most comfortable (the ³OK² speed) by all participants (145 wpm) was ³very
close² to the average speed of all televisions programs (141 wpm), the
latter
number being derived from an earlier study (Jensema, McCann, and Ramsey
1996).
These numbers are also very close to the speed of spontaneous speech.
According
to Arthur Wingfield et al. (2006, 488), ³While speech in thoughtful
conversation may be as Œslow¹ as 90 words per minute (wpm), average speech
rates in ordinary conversation vary between 140 and 180 wpm, and a radio or
television newsreader working from a prepared script can easily exceed 210
wpm (Stine
et al, 1990).² Contrast the speed of reading print, which varies greatly
but
averages about 250 wpm (Pickett 1986, 263). As speeds picked up for
participants in Jensema¹s (1998) captioning study, they were still able to
keep
up, adjusting their reading accordingly. Most participants began to
experience
³significant difficulty² when speeds hit or exceeded 170 wpm. Hearing
viewers
in particular-‹those who ³had less experience watching captions²
(321)-‹were
found to prefer slightly slower captions. This difference between hearing
and
deaf/hard-of-hearing groups was found to be statistically significant. At
the
same time, Jensema¹s (1998) study found ³no relationship between age and
comfortable caption speed² (322) or between educational level and perceived
comfort levels (323), which suggests that differences can be made up
quickly
between those who watch captions regularly and those who don¹t. ³People
apparently adjust to caption reading quickly, with further practice making
little difference² (324). This claim is further supported by the deaf and
hard-of-hearing teenagers in Jensema¹s study, who were ³most comfortable at
approximately the same caption speeds as the overall viewing population²
(323).



Sean Zdenek, PhD
Associate Professor
Technical Communication & Rhetoric
Texas Tech University
Office: 806.834.6652

Reading Sounds: Closed-Captioned Media and Popular Culture. University of
Chicago Press, 2015.
http://tinyurl.com/readingsounds




On 5/12/16, 9:17 AM, "WebAIM-Forum on behalf of Karen Mardahl"
< <EMAIL REMOVED> on behalf of <EMAIL REMOVED> >
wrote:

>Hi Marc,
>
>From anecdotal experience, you should also talk with people who have
>hearing loss.
>
>I learned that even a very articulate speaker is bad news for a person
>with, say, 30% hearing loss, if they are a rapid-fire speaker. The
>listener
>with hearing loss has a hard time distinguishing the individual words and
>the words become garbled. I attended such a presentation once and I
>commented on how the speaker's voice carried nicely throughout the room
>and
>how articulate she was. A friend with hearing loss said she had to work
>hard to comprehend what was being said because the speaking delivery was
>too fast for her to decipher properly. When you work hard just to grasp
>what is being said, your cognitive experience decreases.
>
>I have never heard of research on this, but anecdotally, I know it is an
>issue. I think this is an angle worth investigating to find out whether
>there is some research somewhere.
>
>Regards, Karen Mardahl
>
>On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 3:04 PM, Thorson, Marc < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
>> Thanks for the advice. I'm not referring to a screen reader's speech
>>rate,
>> though. I'm only referring to an individual talking during a
>>presentation
>> for a very broad audience ‹ anyone using the web. I'm wondering if there
>> actually are standards or guidelines defined for an accessible rate of
>> speech. For example, what is considered too fast for those with
>>cognitive
>> impairments?
>>
>> Marc
>>
>>