Interventions That Target or Affect Voice or Speech Production During Public Speaking: A Scoping Review

Pauline Menjot; Lamia Bettahi; Anne-Lise Leclercq; Nancy Durieux; Angélique Remacle

doi:10.1016/j.jvoice.2023.06.021

Interventions That Target or Affect Voice or Speech Production During Public Speaking: A Scoping Review

J Voice. 2023 Jul 22:S0892-1997(23)00203-5. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2023.06.021. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Pauline Menjot¹, Lamia Bettahi², Anne-Lise Leclercq², Nancy Durieux², Angélique Remacle²

Affiliations

¹ Research Unit for a Life-Course Perspective on Health and Education, Faculty of Psychology, Speech Therapy and Education Sciences, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium. Electronic address: pauline.menjot@uliege.be.
² Research Unit for a Life-Course Perspective on Health and Education, Faculty of Psychology, Speech Therapy and Education Sciences, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.

PMID: 37487795
DOI: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2023.06.021

Abstract

Objectives: Public speaking (PS) is frequently necessary in many professional, educational, and personal settings. Mastering this communication skill is particularly important in today's society. Training techniques for PS have been described in the literature. Given that PS anxiety affects performance, especially voice characteristics and speech fluency, the purpose of this scoping review is to examine, map, and narratively summarize the available evidence on PS interventions that target or affect voice or speech.

Methods: An extensive literature search was conducted in three bibliographic databases: Medline ALL/Ovid, PsycINFO/Ovid, and Eric/Ovid. Of the 850 studies identified, 22 met the eligibility criteria, and one was added from the reference lists of the included studies.

Results: A total of 23 studies were included. The interventions identified aim to improve speaking skills either by explicitly targeting the voice or speech (direct intervention, n = 15) or by targeting the cognitive, behavioral, psychological, or physical environment impacting the speaker's production (indirect intervention, n = 8).

Conclusions: This scoping review provides the first published methodological summary of the characteristics of existing PS interventions that target or affect voice and speech. Heterogeneous characteristics were observed. Further studies are needed to determine which interventions are most effective.

Keywords: Communication skills; Oral communication; Public speaking; Scoping review; Training; Voice.

Publication types

Review