What is speech?

Speech is how we say sounds and words. It includes articulation, fluency, and voice.

  • Articulation is how we make speech sounds using the mouth, lips, and tongue. For example, we need to be able to say the “r” sound to say “rabbit” instead of “wabbit.”
  • Voice is how we use our vocal folds and breath to make sounds. Our voice can be loud or soft or high- or low-pitched. We can hurt our voice by talking too much, yelling, or coughing a lot.
  • Fluency is the rhythm of our speech. We sometimes repeat sounds or pause while talking. People who do this a lot may stutter.

You can read more information from the American Speech-Language Hearing Association here.