a comparative analysis of speech rate and perception in radio

1860–7330/12/0032–0391 Text & Talk 32–3(2012),pp.391 – 411Online1860–7349 DOI10.1515/text-2012-0019©WalterdeGruyter

A comparative analysis of speech rate and perception in radio bulletins

EMMA RODERO

Abstract

Speech rate is one of the most important elements in a news presentation, e specially on radio, a sound medium. Accordingly, this study seeks to compare broadcasters’ speech rate and the number of pauses in 40 news bulletins from the BBC (United Kingdom), Radio France (France), RAI (Italy), and RNE (Spain). Most authors addressing the medium of radio recommend a speech rate of between 160 and 180 words per minute (wpm). If this rate is considered, only one radio station, BBC, would be within the suitable limits. Instead, higher speeds and fewer pauses have been identified in the RAI and RNE bul-letins. The second part of this study attempts to analyze whether perception in the news can be affected by different speech rates. The findings indicate that the extent to which the individuals surveyed experience subjective assessment varies according to the speech rate.

Keywords: radio; speech rate; pauses; bulletins; news; perception.

1. Introduction

Radio expresseswords throughvoices: voices dissolve into the air becauseradiolanguageisevanescent.Soundsprimarilyexistintime.Whateverinfor-mationthelistenerhasmissedorcouldnotunderstandcannotbere-read.AsLaurence Gilliam of BBC Radio states, radio is the art of communicatingmeaningatfirsthearing.Eventhoughnewtechnologies,andmostnotablytheInternet,makeitpossibletore-playaradioprogram,fewpeopleactuallytakethetroubletolistenagaintoanextractwhentheyhaveexperiencedproblemsofcomprehension.Ifitisnecessaryforthelistenertounderstandthemessageuponthefirsthearing,wherebythevoiceistheprincipalelement,itispossibletoconcludethatappropriateuseofvoiceandstyleisessentialintheradiocom-municationprocess:“thestyleofnewsreadingisasimportantasthestoriesyou

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choosetorunandhowtheyarewritten”(ChantlerandStewart2003:83).Inthis respect, oneof themost important elements that determines the use ofvoiceontheradioandthelistener’sunderstandingisspeechrate,especiallyinnews programs, based only on data. Speech rate, determined by speed andpauses,isanimportantfactorinestablishingclarityandintelligibility.Ifitistoofast,thatis,withmanywordsperminuteandfewpauses,thelistenercan-notunderstandthemessageuponthefirsthearing,particularlybecauseafastspeechrateaffects thespeaker’sdiction.“Encesens,parleviteestunedescausesdeladictiondéficiente”(Bellenger2001:62),1orasKarpf(2006:43)pointsout,“Youmightthinkthat,becausespeakingquicklymakesspeechlessclear, it alsomakes it less persuasive.”Thus, appropriate speech rate is anessential condition in radio news, more than in an entertainment program,becausethelistenerreceivesagreatdealofdatainashorttime.However,theimportantaspecttoconsideristhatfastspeechratepreventsthelistenerfromassimilating the informationbecause radiooperates entirelywithout imagesandonthebasisofashort-termmemoryhavinglimitedcapacity,adifficultywhichdoesnotoccurwhenwordsareaccompaniedbyimages(CampanellaandBelin2007;McGurkandMacDonald1976).Therefore,thelistenersneedtimetoretaintheinformationintheirmemoryandwithradiotheyhaveneithera visual support nor a second opportunity. If many words are pronouncedwithoutpausesoverashortspaceof time,comprehensionbecomesdifficult(Berlyne1960).Ontheotherhand,intheoryatleast,slowspeechrateshouldmakeiteasier

toassimilatetheinformationinacertainmessagesinceitallowsthelistenermore timetoprocess themessage.Aslowspeechratewithpausesallowsalistenerextratimefortheprocessingofspeech(Murpheyetal.2003).Butifthespeechrateistooslow,thelistener’sattentionmaybeadverselydecreased.Consequently,appropriateuseofthiselementdependsontheaudiencepayingattention to themessage. “In broadcasting, control of rate is important andrevealsyoursenseof involvementand interest ina story” (Utterback2000:141).Apresentationthatunfoldsataslowpacecanleadtoitbeingdifficulttomaintainattentioneffectively(Berlyne1960)andcanresultinweakenedcom-prehension(Mastropierietal.1999),becauseanincreaseintheflowofinfor-mationcanraiseattentionandlearning(LaBarberaandMacLachlan1979).

2. Speechrateinradiobulletins

The speed of the actual articulation movements producing speech soundsoccupiesaverysmallrangeofvariationbetween4.4to5.9syllablespersec-ond(Goldman-Eisler1961:171).Deese(1984)reportsanormalspeakingrateforconversationalspeechtobebetween5and6syllablespersecond.Differ-

Analysis of speech rate in radio bulletins 393

encesinspeechratesbetween4.4and5.9syllablespersecondwouldbequitenoticeable and should not be considered “a small range of variation” at all(Goldman-Eisler1961:171).ThismeansthattheaveragespeechrateofadultsinEnglish is between150 and190words perminute (Tauroza andAllison1990),althoughinconversationthisfiguremayriseconsiderably,reaching200wpm (Walker 2010; Laver 1994). Speech rate is a factor which dependspartiallyonthelanguageemployed.Arecentstudyreporteddifferentratesfordifferentlanguages(Pellegrinoetal.2011):Japaneseprovedtobethelanguagewith the fastest ratewithanaverageof7.84 syllablesper second, followedbySpanish(7.82),French(7.18),Italian(6.99),English(6.19),andGerman(5.97). These figures, however, refer to spontaneous speech.When, on theotherhand,thespeechisstructuredforuseinpublic,asisthecaseinradionewsbroadcasts,therateshouldbeslightlyslower,firstlybecauseofthehighdatadensity,andsecondlybecausetheabsenceofimageshindersthecodingofinformation. For this reason,most authors addressing themedium of radiorecommendaspeechrateofbetween160and180wpm.AccordingtoHills(1987),themostrecommendedpaceis160wpm;McLeish(2005[1978]:71)setstherateatbetween160and180wpm;Utterback(2000:141)determinesthatarateofbetween145and180wpmisbest:“Normallywereadoutloudatbetween145to180wpm.Themostcomfortablespeedwouldbearound150to175wpm.”Boyd (2003)establishes the rateatbetween140and220wpm,althoughheconsiders180wpmtobethemostnaturalandpleasingrate.ChantlerandStewart(2003:87)sharethesameopinion:“theusualspeed

forreadingonradioisthreewordsasecond.”Kendall(2009),forradiointer-views,reportedamediaspeechrateof5.34syllablespersecond.Inanyevent,Lawton(1930:270)concludedthat,“theonlyblanketrulewhichcanjustifi-ablybemadewith regard to the rateofdelivery in radio speaking is that aspeakershouldtalkasbrisklyasisconsistentwithgoodenunciationandproperemploymentoftheVarietyStimuli.”ThesedataaresupportedbytheworkofTaurozaandAllison(1990)whoanalyzedthedeliveryrateofnewsitemsonBBCRadioandrecordedaspeedofbetween150and170wpm,moderatelyfastbetween170and190wpm,moderatelyslowbetween130and150wpm,fasterthannormalin190wpm,andonthecontraryslowerthannormalin130wpm.Thesefigures, in turn, reinforce thefindingsofPimsleuretal. (1977)whorecordedadeliveryrateofbetween160and190wpmforEnglishandFrenchradionewsbroadcasters,moderatelyfastbetween190and220wpmandmoderatelyslowbetween130and160wpm.InSpanishradionews,someresearchhasshownthatahighspeechrate,ofaround200wpm,isusedonallnationalradiostations(Rodero2007).Indeed,thedatafromvariousstudiespointtotheexistenceofadetermined

prosodic style in radio news reading, certain of whose characteristics areshared by broadcasters from different countries ( Nihalani and Lin 1998;

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Strangert1991).Onesuchpatternispreciselythetendencytoreadexcessivelyfastandwitharegularreadingrate(Rodero2007;Misonoetal.1991).Thisisageneraltrendamongbroadcastersbecause,asUtterback(2000:140)states,“Rateisanareathatmanybroadcastersfindconfusing.Theyfeeltheydelivertheircopytooslowlyandwhentheyspeeduptheygettoofast.”Althoughitistruethatdeliveryspeeddependsonthelanguageemployedand,therefore,thismustbetakenintoaccount,thereisalsoasetofpracticeswhichcompriseaparticularnews-readingstyle.Inanycase,withregardtocomprehension,itisveryimportanttomonitor

thisfactorbecausemanyauthorshavefoundthatrecallandrecognitionofthenewscanbeaffectedbyspeechrate(Meyerson1974;Goldhaber1974;Mur-pheyetal.2003).“Eachaspectoffluencyhasaclearconnectiontotextcom-prehension”(Hudsonetal.2005:703).Lawton(1930)conductedresearchonstudentslisteningtoradiospeakers.In34cases, thespeakerwasdeemedtohavedeliveredthemessagetooswiftlytobeunderstood,whilein12casesthedeliverywastooslowand,asaresult,lackedinterest.Ratesofspeechconsid-eredtooslowwere120,124,and128wpm;135to140wpmwasconsideredagoodaveragedelivery.Borden(1927)cametotheconclusionthatagoodaver-age ratewas165wpm,and that thedeliveryshouldcontaincertainmarkedvariationsinrate,whileLumley(1933)determinedthattheaveragesyllableratewasintheregionof240perminuteandthewordratewas160perminute.Similarly,inatestcomparingfourdifferentrates,Nelson(1948)establishedthatthemostsatisfactoryratewas175wpm.Alongwithspeech,anotheraspecttoconsideristhenumberofpauses.Most

studieshavelookedintothepatternofpausesandvocalizationsastimeunfoldsinverbalsituations,buttheyhaveconcentratedonspontaneousspeech(Dechert1980;Goldman-Eisler1968)andnotonoralreadingsituationsastheradio.First,therearetwotypesofpauses:filledandunfilled.Thefilledpausesare

definedasasoundproducedduringspeechthatrepresentsasilentperiodfilledbyavocalization(umm,ehh).Theunfilledpausescanbedefinedastheacous-ticalcorrelatefortheperceptionofasilentportioninthespeechsignal,pro-duced in conjunction, or not,with an inspiration, swallowing, any laryngo-phonatoryreflex,orasilentexpiration(Arimetal.2003).Althoughinradiotherearetwotypesofpause,thefirsttypeismoresuitabletostructuredtexts,andsoalsotoradionewspresentations(CampioneandVéronis2005;Misonoet al. 1991),whereas the second type ismore characteristicof spontaneousspeech.Pauses have an important communicative function in radio because pre-

senters chunk their discourse, using grammatical pauses which enable thelistenertofollowthesyntacticalorganizationand,thus,understandtheinfor-mation. In this sense, someauthors indicate that theunfoldingover timeofpatternsofvocalizationsandpausesisdistributedaccordingtothesyntaxand


semanticorganizationofthetext(Goldman-Eisler1968;GrosjeanandCollins1979;Lieberman1969;Breznitz1989).Thesepauses,whichoccuratgram-maticaljunctionsinthediscourse,alsoallowthepresentertobreathe.Cecot(2001)denominatesassegmentationpausesthosewhosemainfunctionisthesyntacticalorganizationofthediscourseandwhicharealsoexploitedbythepresentertocatchbreath.Yetthereisanothertypeofpausewhichaidsinrein-forcinglistenercomprehensionbydistinguishingrelevantandnewdataintheinformation(HargroveandMcGarr1994).Sincethistypeofpausehelpsthelistener to differentiate between new and important data from among lessrelevantorsecondarydata,theyhavetheeffectofreinforcingcomprehension(Giannelli1992).Indeed,studiesbyO’ConnellandKowal(1972)haveshownthatpausesarevitalinemphasizingthekeyelementsofamessage.Likewise,“pausesmay serve not only tomake time available for speaker’s cognitiveprocesses,butalsotoassistthelistenerinhistaskofunderstandingthespeaker”(Butterworth1980:157).Rhetoricalpauseisthenamegiventothosepauseswhich distribute information in the discourse according to communicativerelevanceandwhich,therefore,thespeakerusesstrategically(Cecot2001).Inadditiontothisfunction,suchpausescanprovidethelistenerwithextratimeto assimilate the information and allow for what is known as sub-vocalrehearsal, abrief reviewof the information received (Baddeley1990).Thisgivesthelistenermoretimetocognitivelyprocesstheinformationandsobringmoreresourcestobearontheperceptualprocessingofthestimulus(Tanakaetal.2011).Forthesereasons,whenthetaskinvolvesunderstandingacomplexdiscoursesuchasadata-denseradionewsitem,itwouldberecommendabletoemploy not only segmentation pauses but to combine thesewith rhetoricalpauses.ThestudiesofArimetal.(2003)forspontaneousspeech(radiointerviews)

concludedthatthepauselengthaveragedwas416ms,or300msinKendall’sstudies(2009).Theshortestpausemeasuredwas120mswitharatioofeightwords per pause.Having analyzed a large corpus of read and spontaneousspeechinfivelanguages — English,German,French,Italian,andSpanish — Campione andVéronis (2002) described a trimodal distribution of pauses,categorizingthemasbrief(200ms),medium(200 –1000ms),andlong(1000ms), the latter occurring only in spontaneous speech. Nevertheless, someresearchintotheradioconcludesthattherearefewexamplesofpausesandanysuch pauses have short durations.Grosjean andCollins (1979) have estab-lishedthemeandurationoftheacousticpauselengthinprofessionalreadingin271msandtheratioofwordperperceivedpausein12.2words/pause.Thisisbecausewhenfluentreadersdeliveratafasterpace,theyproduceshorterandfewerpauses,at relatively long intervals (Misonoetal.1991;GrosjeanandCollins 1979). “Professional announcing has few and short pauses with amulti-functional usage combining pausing with breathing, swallowing, etc.

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Pausesappearmainlyatsentenceboundarieswherethethemeofthemessagechanges”(Gustafson-CapkováandMegyesi2001).Althoughtheexactnumberanddurationofthesepausesmaybeconditionedbythelanguageemployedineachcase, theauthorsdescribeanoverall tendency towardaspecificnews-readingstyle.Theseauthorsconsiderthatthereasonfortheshortdurationinthepausesinradioreadingmaybeduetothefactthatbroadcastersareundertimepressure.Sothesepausesarenotstrategicallyrhetoricalsilencesbutonlysegmentation pauses. “Silent pauses are rare andwhen they occur they arein connection to sentence boundaries and theme continuation” (Gustafson-CapkováandMegyesi2001).Inreality,broadcastersdonotusuallyusepausesin a strategic communicativewaywith rhetorical function; rather, they usethemtosegmentthenewsand,inparticular,forphysiologicalreasons.Inthislattercase,pausesareusuallyvocalnoises:mainlyinhalations.InGustafson-CapkováandMegyesi’sstudy(2001),70%ofthepauseswerewithbreathingorswallowingusuallyatthebeginningofthesentence.Insum,giventhesignificanceofspeechrateinpresentingnewsontheradio,

conductinga study into thiselementofprosodyseemsentirelyappropriate.Accordingly,thisresearchisdesignedwithatwofoldaim.Firstly,itseekstodetermineandcomparebroadcasters’rateofspeechandthenumberofpausesmade in40newsbulletinsfromtheBBC(UnitedKingdom),RadioFrance,RAI(Italy),andRNE(Spain).Theobjectiveistoassesswhetherspeechrateandpausesunfoldatsuitablelevels.Secondly,theaimistoanalyzewhethersubjectiveassessmentinthenewscanbeaffectedbydifferentspeechrates.

3. Method

3.1. First study

Thisresearchattemptstoquantifythespeechrateandpausesintennewsbul-letinsfromtheBBC(UnitedKingdom),RadioFrance(RF),RAI(Italy),andRNE(Spain)tocharacterizethisaspectinfourcountriesrepresentingwesternEuropeanbroadcastnews.Thecorpusforthisresearchisformedbyfortyradionewsbulletins.Thesebulletinshavebeenselectedasaunitofanalysisbecausethesenewsprogramsarebrief,theysummarizealltheevents“andbringtheaudienceup-to-datewiththelatestevents,andthismeansthatanalysispiecesorlongerinterviewsaregenerallynotincluded”(Fleming2002:104).Radiostationsonlybroadcastingnewsprogramshavebeenchosen(without

havingamusicformat).Therefore, thebulletinsof theBBCWorldService,RadioFranceInternational,RAIInternational,andRNEWorldServicehavebeenanalyzed.Giventhattheyaddressaninternationalaudiencewhichmaynothaveafluentcommandof thebroadcasting language, theworld service


newsprogramshavebeenconsideredbecausetheyareexpectedtobeclearerthanlocalnewsprograms.Thecorpuswasobtainedbyrecordingtheradiostationsinsixweeksduring

MayandJune2010.Tenbulletinswerecollectedfromeachradiostation.Eachbulletinlastsbetween10and15minutes.Overall,alloftheportionsofeachnewspresenter’sdeliveryhavebeenselected.Thismeansthat,throughsound-editingsoftware,weonlyextractedthepartsinwhichthenewspresenterinter-venes and omitted the contributions from other broadcasters or externalsources.Inanewsbulletin,itisthenewspresenterswhosetthepaceastheyactasthemediumforconveyingtheinformation.Moreover,allthepresentersselectedweremalebroadcasterssoastoavoidintroducinganothervariabletothestudyaswouldbethetypeofvoice.Sincelessdeepsoundsaremoreintel-ligible, typically thecasewithawoman’svoice,somebulletinsmightseemmore comprehensible thanothers.As a result, onlymale broadcasterswereemployedtoavoidthisvariableoccurring.Futurestudieswillanalyzebulletinspresentedbyfemalevoices.Lastly,speechrate,pauses,andtheirrelationshiphavebeenanalyzedinfiftysoundfiles( between30secondsand1minute)foreachradiostation.Thisvariationinthedurationdependsonthecontentsofthenewsitem.Withinaparticularnewsbulletin,notalltheitemsareofthesamelength.FortheselectioninthisstudyweusedtheAdobeAuditionprofessionaleditingsoftware.Speech ratewas obtained by counting thewords perminute (wpm)/total

time,asFranke(1939)andDarley(1940)recommended.Themainreasonforusingthiscalculationisthatthemajorityofauthorswhohavestudiedtheradiomediumusethisformofmeasurement,whichisalsoofcommonusewithintheradioindustry.Byadoptingthismethod,therefore,latercomparisonswouldbeeasiertocarryout.However,inordertofacilitatethecomparisonwithotherinvestigations,thisstudyalsoincludesthemeasuresyllablespersecond(σ/s)inaccordancewithanumberofotherauthorsthatusethisunit(Kendall2009;Salmonsetal.2008;andoftenMilleretal.1984).Incalculatingthewordsthecliticswereincludedinallthelanguages.Tocarryoutthemeasurement,wefirsttranscribedalltherecordingsandthencountedthewordspronouncedforeachtimeunit(ameasurementgivenbythesound-editingsoftware).Pauseswerecountedusingtwoparameters:pausesperminuteandthelength

ofeachpause.Lastly,thefrequencyofthepausescomparedtothenumberofwordswas analyzed.The Praat voice-analysis softwarewas used to obtainmeasurements (Boersman andWeenink 2010). These complex and unfilledpausesaretheonlyonesoccurringinthisstudy,asonradio(CampioneandVéronis2005).Sinceitwasadiscoursewrittentoberead,therewerelogicallynofilledpauses.TakingintoaccountthatGrosjeanandCollins’sstudy(1979)pointsoutthatradioprofessionalsmakeshortpauses,andwithaviewtocom-paringourresultswiththesaidstudy,wedecidedthatonlypauseslongerthan

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100ms would be included. These short pauses, as Campione andVéronis(2005)haveproved,areneverdemarcativeandtheyoftenareofarespiratorynature.

3.2. Second study

Havingestablishedthegeneralparametersforthepaceofthebulletinsbroad-castbythesefournetworks,theaimofthesecondpartofthisstudyistoascer-tainwhetherthespeechratecanaffectthesubjectiveassessmentofthenews.A random sample of 60 Erasmus students (English, French, Italian, and

Spanish;40femaleand20male)wasselectedforthisgoal.Theoverallsamplewasdivided again at random into four groupsof 15people (onegroupperlanguage),keepingthegenderbalance.

– ThebulletinoftheBBCwaslistenedtobytheEnglishgroup(15students).– ThebulletinoftheRadioFrancewaslistenedtobytheFrenchgroup(15

students).– ThebulletinoftheRAIwaslistenedtobytheItaliangroup(15students).– ThebulletinoftheRNEwaslistenedtobytheSpanishgroup(15students).

Eachgrouplistenedtoeachofthefourbulletinsinsimilarandoptimalcondi-tionswithregardtosound.Asaninitialinstructiontheyweremerelyinformedthattheyweregoingtolistentoaradiobulletinregardingwhichtheywouldsubsequentlyberequiredtoanswersomequestions.Oncethebulletinshadbeenlistenedto,thequestionnairewashandedoutin

ordertoassesstheperceptionofthenews.Theaimofthequestionnairewastoexamine theextent towhich the subjects in the samplewereableby them-selvestoperceivethespeechrateofthebulletin. Thequestionnaireincludedtwoquestionsonsubjectiveassessmentwherethesamplewasaskedtoevalu-atethespeaker’sspeechrate.Todoso,afive-pointscalewasestablishedwhererespondentshadtostatewhethertheyconsidereditwasveryfast(5),fast(4),normal(3),slow(2),orveryslow(1).Then,thesecondquestionwasintendedtoascertainwhetherthisspeechrateofdeliverywasconducivetounderstandingthenews,againwhereafive-pointscalewasprovidedtoshowwhetherunder-standingwasconsideredtobeverydifficult(5),difficult(4),normal(3),easy(2),orveryeasy(1). Inbothcases,fivedegreesofoptionswereemployed,given the difficulty of establishing a greater number of possible choices ofdeliveryspeedand theriskofexcessivelycomplicating the levelsofunder-standing.Excessivesegmentationinestablishingthelevelsofdifficultywouldobligetheexperimentalsubjectstousetoofineanapproachinformingtheiranswers, leading themtoaddnuances thatwere irrelevant to theaimof thestudy.


4. Results

4.1. First study

Theoverallresultsforthefourradiostationswereanalyzed,followedbythedata for each item: speech rate, pauses, and the relationshipbetween them.GeneraldatacorrespondingtoRNE,RF,RAI,andBBCaresetoutinTable1.AnanalysisofvariationbymeansofanANOVAshowsthatsignificantdif-

ferencesareevidentforallthevariablesanalyzed:speechrate(F(3,49)=33.86,P <0.000),pauses(F(3,49)=9.78,P <0.000),lengthofpauses(F(3,49)=6.13,P <0.001),andwordsperpause(F(3,49)=12.39,P <0.000).Thedataclearly show thatMediterranean radio stations — RNE and RAI — have thehighestspeechrate,RFisinthemiddle,andtheBBCinparticularhasalowerspeechrate.Theonlyradiostationwithaspeechrateofmorethan200wpmistheSpanish radio stationRNE(6.99σ/s), although the Italian radio station,RAI,isclosetothislimit(6.41σ/s).SlowerspeechratesaremanifestedbytheFrenchradiostationRF(6.29σ/s)andtheEnglishradiostationfromtheBBC(5.93σ/s).Ascanbeseen,thevaluesaresimilartothoseobtainedbyPellegrinoandhis

colleagues(2011) — Spanish(7.82),French(7.18),Italian(6.99),andEnglish(6.19) — thoughinallcasestheyareslightlylower,asistobeexpectedfromadiscourseinamediumsuchasradio.ThesmallestdifferencesoccurbetweenspontaneousspeechandradionewsinEnglish,followedbyItalian.Post-hoctestsforthesemeans,specificallyTukey’stest,showthatthedif-

ferencesaresubstantialinallareaswhereRNEhasbeencomparedtotheotherbroadcasters(P <0.000)andforallareaswheretheBBCiscomparedtotheotherbroadcasters:RNEandRAI(P <0.000)andindeedRF(P <0.005).ThedataareshowninFigure1.If the pauses are closely examined, the results can be presented in the

followingorderofradiostations.Firstly,RNEbroadcastersproducetheleast

Table1. Means and standard deviations of radio stations

Station Speedrate(wpm) Pausesperminute

Lengthofpauses(milliseconds)

Wordsperpause

Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD

RNE 209.96 22.17 8.60 3.08 110 0.05 23.92 7.36RAI 192.46 15.39 9.87 2.55 146 0.06 20.08 4.62RF 188.93 12.90 10.47 2.47 153 0.05 18.63 3.58BBC 167.54 11.67 11.47 2.69 169 0.07 18.61 3.58

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numberofpauses:8.6ppm( pausesperminute).Not far awayare theRAIbroadcasterswhohaveameanof9.87ppm.TheFrenchbroadcastershaveameanof10.47ppm.And,finally,thebroadcasterswiththegreatestnumberofpausesarefromtheBBCwith11.47ppm,asisshowninFigure2.Post-hoctestsonthesemeasures,inparticularTukey’stest,showthatthe

differences are significant if we compare RNE on the one hand with RF(P <0.004)andtheBBC(P <0.000)ontheother.Owing to physiological reasons, all the pauses analyzed in this research

haveinvolvedbreathing.Thesewerepausesproducedbetweenphonicgroupswhose functions are to organize discourse syntactically and to allow thepresentertobreathe.Inthecorpus,accordingtosomestudiesaddressingtheissueofpausesontheradio,nostrategicrhetoricalpausesweremade.Inallinstances examined, pauseswere vocal noises, primarily inhalations,whichwereclearlyperceivedbythelistener.Infact,thepresenters’intakesofairareperfectlyaudibleandvisibleinthesoundeditor,ascanbeseeninthefollowingexampleofacompletephrasefromaBBCnewsitem(Figure3).Theradiostationsmaintainthesameorderwhenitcomestothenumberof

pausesandspeechrate.Thismeansthatspeechrateisrelatedtopauses.Whena broadcaster maintains a high speech rate, he also makes fewer pauses

Figure1. Broadcast speech rate


Figure2. Broadcast pauses

Figure3. Distribution of pauses in a BBC sentence

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perminute,assuggestedbyGrosjeanandCollins(1979). Indeed, there isasignificantinversecorrelationbetweenthesevariableswhenmeasuredusingPearson’scorrelation(r =−0.207,Sig.(2-tailed):0.003).Accordingly,broad-castersontheBBChavemorepausesintheirspeecheswhileSpanishbroad-castersusefewerpauses.Atthesametime,thismeansthatspeechthatisdeliv-eredatafasterrate,onRNEforinstance,isstillperceivedataswifterratebythelistenersbecauseofthelowernumberofpausesused(Misonoetal.1991);whereas the general pace is considered slower,with theBBC for example,whenaslowerspeechrateiscombinedwithmorepauses.Becausethepausesinthisstudyaresegmentationpausesandnotrhetoricalpauses,thesediffer-encescanbeexplainedbytheparagraphstructureofeachlanguage.Shorterparagraphsmeanmoreparagraphswhichmeanmorefrequentpausesandlon-gerpauses.Infact,dataonthelengthofpausesbearthesameorderwithregardtothe

radiostations.PauseswithashorterdurationaremadeonRNE(110ms)andonRAI(140ms).Bycontrast,longerpausesareonRF(150ms)andtheBBC(160ms).Nevertheless, these pauses are very brief in accordancewith thefindingsdescribedinCampioneandVéronis(2002),inGrosjeanandCollins(1979),andinKendall(2009).Thedifferencesbetweenthestationsaremini-malexceptwhenthetwostationsateitherendofthespectrumarecontrasted.Tukey’stestrevealsthatthedifferencesaresignificantwhenRNEiscomparedtotheBBC(P <0.001).Figure4showsthesedata.Lastly, the relationship betweenwords and pauses is also analyzed.This

determines thenumberofwordspronouncedbeforeeachpause.ThesedatademonstratethatbroadcastersontheBBCpronounceanaveragenumberof18wordsforeachpause(thatis,thattheypauseafterevery18words);broadcastersonRFutterameanof18wordsperpause;thoseonRAIutterameanof20wordsperpause;and, lastly,broadcastersonRNEpronounce24wordsperpause.Post-hoctestsforthesemeanvaluesshowthatthedifferencesaresig-nificantforallcaseswhenRNEiscomparedtoRF,theBBC(P <0.000)andRAI(P <0.001).Figure5showsthesedata.Inconclusion,thepausesanalyzedinthisstudywerefewinnumber,less

thanthe12.2words/pauseestablishedbyGrosjeanandCollins(1979)inpro-fessionalspeech,andbriefer in termsof lengththan270ms.RAIandRNEobtainedtheworstresults,accordingtothestudiesconductedbyGrosjeanandCollins (1979) andGustafson-Capková andMegyesi (2001).Therefore, thebest structuredmessage (with slower speech rate andmore pauses) is thatproducedbytheBBCandRF.Forevery18wordsthereisonepause,whichallowsthelistenertoassimilatetheinformationbetter.Thatisbecauseslowspeech rate with pauses allows a listener extra time for the processing ofspeech,thusonewouldexpecttohavehigherintelligibilityscores.However,onRAI(20wordsperpause)andRNE(24wordsperpause)themessageshave


agreaternumberofwordsforeachpause.Thisproducesahighlyincessantspeech with no differences between the significant and the supplementaryparts,preventing the listener frombeingallowed time inorder to retain theinformationintheirmemory.Theexplanationisstraightforward.AsisshowninFigure6,theBBCpresentersdistributetheinformationperiodswithmorepauses, whichmake the text more segmented. This means that the phonicgroups aremore clearly differentiated and these, as oral units ofmeaning,enable the listener to better distinguish the data and assimilate themmoreefficiently.Incontrast,thediscourseoftheRNEpresenters,withhardlyanypauses,producesanundifferentiated,continuousexpressionwithscarcedis-tributionoftheinformationamongthephonicgroups,whichhinderslistenercomprehension.

4.2. Second study

Havingcarriedoutthisprioranalysis,thesecondpartofthisstudysoughttoverifywhether the level of perception of a radio bulletin could be affectedbythepaceofdelivery.Inordertoassessthisobjectiveinthefourbulletins(BBC,RF,RAI,andRNE),anANOVAwasperformedonthetwodependent

Figure4. Broadcast length of pauses

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Figure5. Broadcast words per pause

Figure6. Broadcast distribution of speed and pauses


variables:subjectiveassessmentofspeechrateandsubjectiveassessmentofdifficulty.Usinganalphalevelof0.001toevaluatehomogeneityassumptions,Box’sM testonhomogeneityofcovariancewasnotsignificant(P=0.456).Levene’shomogeneityofvariancetestwasstatisticallyinsignificant(subjec-tiveassessmentofspeechrate:P =0.121;subjectiveassessmentofdifficulty:P =0.218)makingitpossibletoassumethatthevariationswerethesameandfellinlinewiththeprincipleofhomoscedasticity.GeneraldatacorrespondingtoRNE,RF,RAI,andBBCaresetoutinTable2.Theaimofthefirstpartofthequestionnairewastoexaminetheextentto

which the subjects in the sample were able by themselves to perceive thespeechrateofthebulletin.Forthefourcases,thedifferenceswerestatisticallysignificant(F(3,56)=13.26,P =0.000).ThepairwisecomparisonsshowthatthedifferencesareonlysignificantforBBCandRNE(P =0.000).TheresultsinresponsetothisquestionshowthatbothBBCandRFbulletinswereconsid-eredtobenormal;theRAIbulletinwasconsideredbetweennormalandfast;and,lastly,RNEwasclosesttoreceivingthefastestrating.Inrelationtothesecondquestionwheretheindividualshadtoclassifyhow

easythebulletinwastounderstand,thedifferenceswerestatisticallysignificant(F(3,56)=26.92,P =0.000).Thepairwisecomparisonsshowthatthediffer-encesaresignificantforallcomparisonsmade,exceptwhencomparingBBCandRFbulletins,whichshowsimilarvalues.Therefore,theBBCbulletinwaseasytounderstand,theRFbulletinwasconsideredasnormal,theRAIbulletinwasbetweennormalanddifficulttounderstand,and,lastly,theRNEbulletinwasconsideredthemostdifficulttounderstand.Thesedataleadustoconcludethattheextenttowhichtheindividualssur-

veyedexperiencesubjectiveassessmentvariesaccording to thespeechrate.Bulletinshavingapaceconsideredtobenormal(BBCandRF)wereconsid-eredtheeasiesttounderstand.Ontheotherhand,thosethatwerefaster(RAIandRNE)werethemostdifficulttounderstand,especiallyRNE,asshowninFigure7.

Table2. Means and standard deviations of perception

Bulletin Speechrate Difficulty

Mean SD Mean SD

BBC 2.75 0.63 1.85 0.98RF 3 0.72 2.45 0.99RAI 3.45 0.68 3.60 0.82RNE 4.15 0.93 4.10 0.64

Speechrate:veryfast(5),fast(4),normal(3),slow(2),orveryslow(1)Difficulty:verydifficult(5),difficult(4),normal(3),easy(2),orveryeasy(1)

406 Emma Rodero

5. Discussionandconclusion

Speech rate isoneof themost important elementsofvoiceon the radio.Alistener’sunderstandingdependstoalargeextentonthespeedandpausesthatbroadcastersmakeintheirmessage.Ahighspeechratewithfewpausescanaffectthelistener’spotentialtounderstandtheinformation.Thisissufficientcauseinordertogiveseriousconsiderationtospeechrateandtothereadingspeedandpausesadopted.Followinganalysisoftheseelements,onlyoneradiostation,BBC,wouldbe

withinthesuitablelimits,with167wpm,althoughRF,with189wpm,wouldbeclose to therecommendablerate,asper thefindingsofpreviousstudies.ConsideringtheresultsofPellegrino’sstudy(Pellegrinoetal.2011),inwhichFrenchisthesecondfastestlanguageofthoseanalyzedinthisstudy,itmaybeconcludedthatitisnotanexcessivespeed.Infact,theresultsofthepresentstudyofperceptionshowthatnativesofthesetwolanguagesdidnotexperi-encecomprehensiondifficultieswhentheylistenedtothem.Nevertheless,RAIandRNEhaveveryhigh speed rates,with192and210wpm, respectively,especiallyRNE,surpassing200wpm.SomeSpanish investigationsconfirmthesevaluesandtheylocatetheRNEspeedratebetween210and230wpm,in

Figure7. Perception of speech rate and difficulty


accordancewiththefindingsofRodero(2007).ThesefindingscanbeexplainedbecauseinMediterraneancountries,especiallyinSpain,speechisfasterthaninothercountries,asPellegrinoetal.(2011)haveshown.But,inanycase,thisspeedrateisconsideredasexcessiveforamedialikeradio,althoughSpanishandItalianlistenersareaccustomedtoafasterspeech.Infact,theresultsofthisstudy of perception clearly show that there is an imbalance between theexpectedspeechrateinradionewswithregardtothespeedofthespokenlan-guageandthespeedwhichactuallyoccursineverydaypractice.Thisposesaveryrealproblemwhichtheradioindustrywoulddowelltoaddress.Thiscan-notbeignored:ifthebroadcasterwantstobetrulyeffectiveincommunicatingnewsonradio,hehas touseaslowerspeedrate,similar to thatonRFandespeciallythatonBBC.Alongwithspeech,theotheraspectconsideredinthisstudyisthenumber

ofpauses.Thepausesanalyzedinthisstudywerefewinnumber,lessthanthe12.2words/pauseestablishedbyGrosjeanandCollins(1979)inprofessionalspeech. Instead, thepauseswerebriefer in termsof length than270ms, inaccordancewiththefindingsdescribedbyCampioneandVéronis(2002)andKendall(2009).RAIandRNEobtainedtheworstresults,affirmingthefind-ings byGrosjean and Collins (1979) andMegyesi andGustafson-Capková(2001).Also,whenabroadcastermaintainsahighspeechrate,healsomakesfewerpausesperminute.Likewise,thesepauseshavebeenmotivatedbytheneedtobreathe;there-

fore,thepauseshavenotbeenstrategicallydeterminedsilencesoroneshavingacertainrhetoricalfunction.Thebroadcastersanalyzedhavenotusedpausesinastrategicway,forexample,tohighlightaparticularideaorpieceofdataanddistinguishitfromsecondaryinformation.Thepausesinthisstudyhavemerelybeenthosenecessaryforsyntacticalsegmentationand,inparticular,forthepresenter tocatchbreath.Thus,allpauses in thisstudyhavebeenvocalnoises:mainlyinhalations.Itisadvisableforbroadcasterstobreathecorrectlyinordertoavoidthesefrustratingnoises,especiallywhenitcomestogasping.They are recommended to inhale in shallow draughts. On the basis of thefindingsofthepresentstudy,thisrecommendationcanbeappliedtoallradiostations.Finally,theconclusiontobedrawnfromthefirstpartofthestudyisthatthe

BBChastheradiostationwiththemostappropriategeneralspeechrate,allow-ingforabetterunderstandingonthepartoflistenersnotonlyonaccountofthefact that the speech rate adopted is within recommended values, but alsobecausetheBBChadmore,longerpausesperminute.Asaresult,informationfromBBCcanbeconsideredformallybetterstructured,asitisshowninFig-ure6.Bycombiningdeliberatepacewithpauses,BBCprovidesaccesstofreshdatainabetterway,ensuringthatthelistenerdoesnotperceiveproblemsofcomprehension.AftertheBBC,RFisthenetworkthatobtainsthebestresults.

408 Emma Rodero

Thespeechrateadoptedisalittlehigherthoughitimproveswiththenumberofpausesand the length thereof.Accordingly, themessageconveyed isnotperceivedasbeing too fastand the listenerdoesnotperceivedifficultiesofcomprehensionNevertheless, theother two radio stations — RAIandRNE — havehigher

values than theirEnglish andFrenchcounterparts, especially in the caseofSpain. Firstly, RAI broadcasters pronounce 192wpmwith few and shorterpausesperminute,meaningthatthemessageisperceivedasmoreaccelerated.Secondly,thevaluesforRNEarealsosomewhatnegative.Thespeechrateofthislatternetworkisthehighestfoundinthisstudy:210wpm,apaceatwhichthelistenerclaimstoperceivedifficultiesofcomprehension.Similarly,itistheradio station inwhich fewer pauseswith a shorter length are produced perminute.Itisimportantnottooverlookthefactthat,ifthebroadcasterwantstobe trulyeffective incommunicatingnewsonradio,hemustuseamoderatespeechrate,similartothatusedonRFandespeciallythatoftheBBC.Thisisanaspectthatshouldbereviewed,asindeedthedatafromthesecondpartofthisstudyconfirm.Theresultsof thesecondpartof thisstudyback thefindingsofprevious

researchinwhicharelationshiphasbeenestablishedbetweenthespeechrateofdeliveryandthelevelofperceptionwhenappliedtoradionews,asisthecasewearedealingwith.Asseveralauthorshaveascertained(Meyerson1974;Goldhaber1974;Hudsonetal.2005;Goldstein1940;Lawton1930;Borden1927;Lumley1933;LaBarberaandMacLachlan1979;Nelson1948),thedataillustrate that subjective assessment on the part of the individuals surveyedmatchesthefindingsobtainedwhenitcomestounderstanding.Bulletinsper-ceived as having a normal pace (BBCandRF) and considered as easier tounderstandwererecalledtothegreatestextent.However,thosethatwereper-ceivedasswifter(RAIandRNE)wereassessedasdifficulttounderstand.Inconclusion,ifweconsiderthatakeygoalofradiocommunicationisfor

thelistenertounderstandthenews,itisclearthattheresultsofthisstudyhavesignificant repercussions in the field of teaching and research into mediastudies,andspecifically,onradiocommunication.

5.1. Limitations and future research

Althoughthefindingsofthisresearchprovidesignificantresultsonthespeechrateapplied to radionewsbulletins, thedatamustbe interpretedwithin thelimitsofalaboratory-stylestudy.Firstly,thestudyiscarriedoutusingindividualsandfocusingonlisteningto

a radio bulletin, though in practice this is not the usual, naturalmanner inwhichmost listeners hear the radio.Radio often entails people doing other


activitieswhilelistening;hence,thelistenerisrarelyexclusivelypayingatten-tiontotheradio.Secondly,thefindingsofthisstudycanonlybeappliedtotheinternational

serviceradiobulletinsonthestationsanalyzed.Thisnewsservicebearsdiffer-ent characteristics to those usually found on local broadcasts because it isintendedforaninternationalaudience.Itisalsoimportanttodrawattentiontothefactthatthecharacterofdeliveryofeachbroadcastervariesasitispartofaparticularstyle.Asaconsequence,asamplechosenfromdifferingbroad-castersmaybringaboutvariationsinthefindingsforthevariablesexamined.

Note

1. Inthissense,speakingfastisoneofthecausesofthepoordiction.

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EmmaRoderoholdsadoctorateandaPh.D.inCommunicationfromtheUniversityofSalamanca(Spain).SheisProfessorattheUniversitatPompeuFabra(UPF,Barcelona),withaspecializationinvoiceandprosodyappliedtoradioandtelevision.SheisalsoVisitingProfessorfornumerousuniversitiesinSpainandinLatinAmerica.SheisauthorofVoice and Radio Presentation(IORTV), Radio Production(Cátedra),Advertising on Radio,(Ariel)andhaspublishedaroundfortyjournalarticlesandbookchaptersaboutradiocommunication.Addressforcorrespondence:DepartamentofCommunication,PompeuFabraUniversity(UPF),RocBoronat,138,08108,Barcelona,Spain⟨[email protected]⟩.

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