The Basics of Speech

Chapter 3: The Work of Speaking and Listening

Overview

To become a skillful communicator, you need to know about vocal production and listening. Vocal production involves breath and sound, pitch, resonance, and articulation. Breathing is the first step in creating sound. The length of the vocal cords affects the pitch—the highness or lowness of the sound. The resonators—the pharynx, mouth, and nasal cavities—increase the sound. Speech occurs when the articulators—the tongue, teeth, jaws, hard and soft palate, and lips—form sounds into words. The next step in the communication process— listening—includes receiving, interpreting, evaluating, and responding to messages. Receiving involves hearing and seeing. Interpreting involves understanding what the speaker intended to say. Evaluating involves connecting the message to one’s own ideas and feelings. Responding involves acknowledging the message.

The four types of listening are informational, empathic, critical, and creative. Informational listening involves listening to information such as directions, explanations, or news. Critical listening involves listening to an informative or persuasive message and making decisions about its content. Creative listening means using active imagination while interpreting a message. Empathic listening involves listening to another’s feelings. Three major barriers to listening are external barriers, speaker barriers, and listener barriers. Learning to listen well is important for better communication.