Cluttering: melody and intonation

Speaking monotonously

Many people who clutter speak in a monotonous way. This often results in a long-winded and difficult to follow story. So, in cluttering melody definitely adds to the perception of the message. A monotonous manner of speaking can show in two ways: speaking at the same pitch or in the same melody pattern. Some people who clutter have the habit of pronouncing each sentence using the same melody, like a record that keeps playing the same tune. This is also called melodic monotony.

Practicing melody and intonation

It helps being aware of the melody and intonation patterns that you (or your cluttering clients) are using. You can learn to improve these aspects of speech, for example by varying the pitch. Or by putting more emphasis on words. It makes your speech more pleasant to listen to. For people who clutter it is good to know that there are all kinds of software tools available online that can help you visualizing your cluttering melody patterns. An example of such a tool is Praat. In this program a blue line indicates your pitch. If the highest score within a time frame of 10 seconds demonstrates a difference of 80/100-200 Hz, then this is normal. A score below 80Hz (for male) or 100Hz (for female) is considered to be monotone.

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