A Perceptual Study of Communication Effectiveness in Cluttering

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate listener perception of communication effectiveness when listening to samples of speakers who clutter and exhibit excessive revisions as compared to control speakers matched by gender and education level. Method: In this study, 100 undergraduate listeners rated 30-s monologue samples of adults who clutter and whose speech contained excessive revisions. Ratings were collected via a visual analog scale. After marking their ratings, listeners were asked to write down any details they could recall from each monologue. Results: Adults who clutter were rated significantly poorer than controls in the categories of message, conciseness, flow, and organization. There were no significant differences in ratings by class year. Descriptively, listeners also inaccurately identified the main idea of each speaker's message more often when listening to adults with cluttering as compared to controls. Thematic analysis of listener comments emphasized themes of increased speed, difficulty understanding words, and lack of organization and cohesion among adults who clutter. By contrast, listener comments for controls emphasized increased flow and ease in following speakers' messages. Conclusions: This study provides objective data that listeners judged those who clutter with excessive revisions less favorably than controls in terms of their ability to understand the speakers' main point, ability to get to the point, smooth flow of speech, organization of message, and clarity of speech. These judgments occurred despite normal scores on standardized language tests among the participants with cluttering.