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Thread: Accessible Speech Rate?
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From: Thorson, Marc
Date: Wed, May 11 2016 11:55AM
Subject: Accessible Speech Rate?
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Hello,
A coworker of mine is working on a video presentation and wondered if there is an accessibility standard or guideline for the rate of speech of the presenter. I haven't come across this particular topic in WCAG myself, so I'm hoping someone in our esteemed group can shed some light.
Thanks in advance,
Marc
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From: Brandon Keith Biggs
Date: Wed, May 11 2016 1:18PM
Subject: Re: Accessible Speech Rate?
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Hello Marc,
My preference is to look at the audience. If it is newbies to screen
readers, do it slower, maybe 250 words a minute. If it is a more advanced
user audience, do 500+. But also have the stuff on the screen so sighted
people can understand.
The normal spead is rather slow at 150 words a minute, but that makes me
want to throw my computer against the wall and I stop and don't finish the
guide if it is that slow. it would be as if someone was talking at 50 wpm
for a talk.
Thank you,
Brandon Keith Biggs <http://brandonkeithbiggs.com/>;
On Wed, May 11, 2016 at 10:55 AM, Thorson, Marc < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Hello,
>
> A coworker of mine is working on a video presentation and wondered if
> there is an accessibility standard or guideline for the rate of speech of
> the presenter. I haven't come across this particular topic in WCAG myself,
> so I'm hoping someone in our esteemed group can shed some light.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Marc
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> The information contained in this communication may be confidential, is
> intended only for the use of the recipient(s) named above, and may be
> protected under state or federal law. If the reader of this message is not
> the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination,
> distribution, or copying of this communication, or any of its contents, is
> strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error,
> please forward the communication to = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = immediately and
> destroy or delete the original message and any copy of it from your
> computer system. If you have any questions concerning this message, please
> contact the sender.
> > > > >
From: Thorson, Marc
Date: Thu, May 12 2016 7:04AM
Subject: Re: Accessible Speech Rate?
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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 â 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
From: Karen Mardahl
Date: Thu, May 12 2016 8:17AM
Subject: Re: Accessible Speech Rate?
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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 ADDRESS 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 â 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
>
>
From: Zdenek, Sean
Date: Thu, May 12 2016 9:23AM
Subject: Re: Accessible Speech Rate?
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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 â¹ 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 participantsâ¹-a diverse groups of hearing,
hard-of-hearing, and deaf viewers aged eight to eightyâ¹by 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 Åslow¹ 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-â¹those who ³had less experience watching captions²
(321)-â¹were
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 ADDRESS REMOVED = on behalf of = EMAIL ADDRESS 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 ADDRESS 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 â¹ 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
>>
>>
From: _mallory
Date: Thu, May 12 2016 10:03AM
Subject: Re: Accessible Speech Rate?
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On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 04:17:31PM +0200, Karen Mardahl 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
This reminds me of a conference I went to which had live captioning on a
screen by a steno where the difference was obvious between fast-speaking
speakers and "normal" speed speakers-- it was frequently joked about in
between talks.
_mallory
From: Brandon Keith Biggs
Date: Thu, May 12 2016 10:21AM
Subject: Re: Accessible Speech Rate?
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Hello,
What this study failed to mention, was how much of that time was spent in
pauses. I just slowed my screen reader down to 141 wpm and it sounded like
a drunk guy. So I wonder if there is an example of a human speaking 141 wpm
and how much of that was pause?
My initial thought is that the speaker was speaking 200+ WPM, but had a lot
of pauses so the listeners could catch up.
This study should have the recordings posted, so people can use that
speaking speed. Just to say 150 WPM could either mean speaking like a drunk
guy, or speaking normal with long pauses.
Thanks,
Brandon Keith Biggs <http://brandonkeithbiggs.com/>;
On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 9:03 AM, _mallory < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 04:17:31PM +0200, Karen Mardahl 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
>
> This reminds me of a conference I went to which had live captioning on a
> screen by a steno where the difference was obvious between fast-speaking
> speakers and "normal" speed speakers-- it was frequently joked about in
> between talks.
>
> _mallory
> > > > >