Reduction of Speech Disfluencies Through Online Awareness Training

Abstract

Public speaking in a virtual format is becoming increasingly common given the rise in online education programs and changes necessitated by COVID-19 (Gupta et al., 2021). Therefore, it is important to establish a teaching procedure that is effective for increasing public speaking skills during virtual speeches. One method that has been successful in reducing speech disfluencies during in-vivo speeches is awareness training (e.g., Mancuso & Miltenberger, 2016; Ortiz et al., 2022). We extended previous literature by examining the effects of awareness training delivered online via a video conferencing program on rate of targeted speech disfluencies during virtual speeches. Additional measures were assessed during the study including untargeted speech disfluencies, self and external ratings of public speaking skills and confidence pre- and post-awareness training, self-reported anxiety pre- and post-awareness training, and social validity. Three female graduate students participated in the study. During baseline, all three participants demonstrated moderate to high rates of speech disfluencies during baseline. Following awareness training, all participants engaged in a significant decrease in rate of targeted speech disfluencies that maintained in the presence of a small audience and over a two-week period. Additionally, two participants maintained a low rate of speech disfluencies during a speech delivered during a professional seminar.