Effect of Speakers' Sex and Size of Audience on Heart-Rate Changes during Short Impromptu Speeches

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine whether over-all heart rate and heart-rate arousal pattern ate similar for 10 male and 10 female speakers and in speaking situations with both a large as well as a small audience. Equal numbers of male and female subjects were exposed to normal-sized audiences of 21 and very small audiences of 3 during a short impromptu speech, and their heart rates monitored continuously before, during, and after speaking. With limited exception, patterns of heart-rate increment corresponded with those established in previous studies, although females conformed less closely to established patterns. Females experienced greater increment, on the average, than males, and their patterns of arousal differed in certain minor details. Before a small audience slightly greater increments were elicited than before a normal audience, and there were some indications that males and females responded differently to the two speaking situations.