Briefly identify these aspects of vocal delivery:

volume, rate, pitch, pause, articulation, and pronunciation. Choose two and discuss common problems with them in public speaking.

What will be an ideal response?

Speakers can improve by focusing on these elements of vocal delivery, and the problems commonly accompanying them: 1) Volume – the relative intensity of a voice; problems – too soft, too loud, too little variation, fading away. 2) Rate – the speed at which someone speaks; problems – too fast, too slow, inappropriate to the topic. 3) Pitch – the rate of vocal cord vibration creating relative highness or lowness of a voice, as perceived by listeners; problems –too high, too low, too patterned, incorrect point of emphasis. 4) Pause – a break in the stream of speech; problems – unfilled pauses that are long or badly timed, filled pauses that indicate hesitation or uncertainty. 5) Articulation – movements of speech organs as they produce sounds; problems – incorrect omission, substitution, or addition of sounds or syllables. 6) Pronunciation – production of syllables or words based on accepted standards such as dictionaries; problems – misplaced accent, utterance of sounds that should be silent.