The Power of Speaking Slower

Abstract

From salespeople and customer service representatives to doctors and politicians, marketplace actors often communicate with their voice. But might articulation rate (i.e., how quickly one speaks) shape the impact of their communication? And if so, how? While prior psychological research suggests that speaking more slowly can sometimes be detrimental, in the context of social interactions, we suggest that the opposite may be true. Consistent with this suggestion, a multimethod investigation, including automated audio analysis of hundreds of real customer service calls and controlled experiments, demonstrates that speaking more slowly (within a range of normal speaking speed) boosts customer satisfaction and leads communicators to be perceived more positively. These effects are driven by perceived empathy. Speaking more slowly makes communicators seem more empathetic, which has positive downstream effects. Taken together, these findings shed light on articulation rate’s impact, deepen understanding around drivers of empathy, and highlight how automated audio analysis can provide insight into consumer behavior.

Keywords: articulation rate, empathy, automated audio analysis, social interactions, vocal features, person perception