Some effects of time ‐ Compressed speech on persuasion

It has long been recognized that oral communication is very slow, from an information‐transmitting viewpoint. For a number of years, scholars have been discussing the limitations of each medium (see Lee Loevinger's, “The Limits of Technology in Broadcasting,” Journal of Broadcasting, X:4:285, Fall 1966) or specific ways to render the spoken word over radio more efficient (see Charles Rossiter's “Some Implications of Compressed Speech for Broadcasters, Journal of Broadcasting, XV:3:303, Summer 1971). The following article describes the results of a specific experiment in this area. Lawrence Wheeless is assistant professor in the Department of Speech Communication of Illinois State University, Normal. This paper is based on his doctoral dissertation, which was directed by Prof. Raymond S. Ross of Wayne State University.