{"dataset":{"name":"Speaking rate in words per minute","title":"Speaking Rate Statistics: Words per Minute","question":"How many words per minute do people speak in conversation, presentations, reading aloud and recordings?","url":"https://yapapp.cc/data/speaking-rate","measure":{"label":"Speaking rate","unit":"words per minute","short":"WPM","decimals":0},"dimensions":[{"key":"context","label":"Context","values":["Conversation","Reading aloud","Presentations and lectures","Broadcast and podcasts","Audiobooks","Dictation","Other"]},{"key":"population","label":"Who"},{"key":"language","label":"Language"},{"key":"n","label":"People"},{"key":"year","label":"Year"}],"include":"Measured speaking rates in words per minute for a stated kind of speech, from research, corpora and published guidance that states how it was measured.","exclude":"Rates in syllables or phones per second without a words-per-minute figure, and advice without a measurement.","method":"Rows come from the facts already cited across the library and from a structured search of phonetics and speech research (OpenAlex and Semantic Scholar). Each figure is stored as a fact with the exact words of its source, checked automatically against the live page.","limitations":"Word length differs between languages, so words-per-minute rates compare well only within one language. Pauses are counted in some studies and not in others.","sources":5,"updated":"2026-10-19","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","credit":"Yap (2026). Speaking rate in words per minute [Data set]. https://yapapp.cc/data/speaking-rate"},"rows":[{"row":"Yuan et al. 2006, net rate","value":236,"low":null,"high":null,"as_written":"236","unit":"words per minute","context":"Conversation","population":"Speakers in telephone conversations","language":"English and Chinese","n":null,"year":2006,"conversion":"Net rate: silences and non-speech noises removed, so only time with spoken words counts.","claim":"When silences and non-speech noises are removed from conversational telephone speech, the average net speaking rate is 236 words per minute.","quote":"we find an average “net” speaking rate of 236 WPM, with a minimum of 158 WPM and a maximum of 312 WPM","where_in_source":"Section 2, speaking rate measures","fact_url":"https://yapapp.cc/facts/yuan-2006-net-speaking-rate-236-wpm","source_title":"Towards an integrated understanding of speaking rate in conversation","source_publisher":"Interspeech 2006","source_year":"2006","source_url":"https://www.isca-archive.org/interspeech_2006/yuan06_interspeech.pdf","source_doi":null,"checked":"2026-10-16"},{"row":"Yuan et al. 2006, range","value":201,"low":111,"high":291,"as_written":"111 to 291","unit":"words per minute","context":"Conversation","population":"Speakers in telephone conversations","language":null,"n":null,"year":2006,"conversion":"Range across individual conversations, measured over elapsed time. Num is the midpoint of 111 and 291.","claim":"Measured over elapsed time, the speaking rate of individual conversations ranges from 111 to 291 words per minute.","quote":"the rate measured in this way ranges from 111 WPM to 291 WPM","where_in_source":"Section 2, speaking rate measures","fact_url":"https://yapapp.cc/facts/yuan-2006-conversation-rate-range-111-291-wpm","source_title":"Towards an integrated understanding of speaking rate in conversation","source_publisher":"Interspeech 2006","source_year":"2006","source_url":"https://www.isca-archive.org/interspeech_2006/yuan06_interspeech.pdf","source_doi":null,"checked":"2026-10-16"},{"row":"Yuan et al. 2006, overall","value":196,"low":null,"high":null,"as_written":"196","unit":"words per minute","context":"Conversation","population":"Speakers in telephone conversations","language":"English and Chinese","n":null,"year":2006,"conversion":"Words of both speakers divided by total elapsed time, so pauses and listening turns are included.","claim":"In large corpora of conversational telephone speech in English and Chinese, the overall average rate was 196 words per minute, counting all elapsed time.","quote":"we find an overall average rate of 196 words per minute (WPM)","where_in_source":"Paper text, overall rate","fact_url":"https://yapapp.cc/facts/speaking-rate-196-wpm-conversation","source_title":"Towards an integrated understanding of speaking rate in conversation","source_publisher":"Interspeech 2006","source_year":"2006","source_url":"https://www.isca-archive.org/interspeech_2006/yuan06_interspeech.pdf","source_doi":null,"checked":"2026-10-16"},{"row":"Brysbaert 2019, oral reading","value":183,"low":null,"high":null,"as_written":"183","unit":"words per minute","context":"Reading aloud","population":"Participants in 77 published studies","language":"English","n":5965,"year":2019,"conversion":null,"claim":"The same meta-analysis, using 77 studies and 5,965 participants, finds an average oral reading rate of 183 words per minute.","quote":"The average oral reading rate (based on 77 studies and 5,965 participants) is 183 wpm.","where_in_source":"Abstract","fact_url":"https://yapapp.cc/facts/brysbaert-2019-oral-reading-183-wpm","source_title":"How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate","source_publisher":"Journal of Memory and Language","source_year":"2019","source_url":"https://reader.ku.edu/sites/reader/files/2024-01/How%20many%20words%20do%20we%20read%20per%20minute%20(1).pdf","source_doi":"10.1016/j.jml.2019.104047","checked":"2026-10-16"},{"row":"Kennedy inaugural address","value":96.5,"low":null,"high":null,"as_written":"97","unit":"words per minute","context":"Presentations and lectures","population":"John F. Kennedy, inaugural address","language":null,"n":null,"year":2010,"conversion":"Overall rate over the whole speech, counting all pauses. The source gives no collection year, so the year is the publication year of the source.","claim":"The overall speaking rate of John F. Kennedy's inaugural address was 96.5 words per minute, the second slowest of the inaugural addresses in the past 60 years.","quote":"the overall speaking rate in JFK's inaugural address was 96.5 words per minute","where_in_source":"Opening paragraph, which cites a 2010 blog post by Terry Collmann","fact_url":"https://yapapp.cc/facts/jfk-inaugural-address-96-5-wpm","source_title":"Kennedy Speed: Fact or Factoid?","source_publisher":"Language Log","source_year":"2010","source_url":"https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2630","source_doi":null,"checked":"2026-10-16"},{"row":"Shannon 1995, Hamlet recitation","value":655,"low":null,"high":null,"as_written":"655","unit":"words per minute","context":"Other","population":"Sean Shannon, record recitation","language":null,"n":1,"year":1995,"conversion":"Memorized recitation of the 260-word soliloquy, timed at 23.8 seconds. A single timed record attempt, filed under Other.","claim":"Sean Shannon's Guinness record recitation of the 260-word Hamlet soliloquy ran at 655 words per minute.","quote":"This means that Sean spoke at a rate of 655 words per minute!","where_in_source":"Article body","fact_url":"https://yapapp.cc/facts/shannon-1995-fastest-talker-655-wpm","source_title":"Can you recite Hamlet's 'to be or not to be' soliloquy quicker than the fastest talker?","source_publisher":"Guinness World Records","source_year":"2018","source_url":"http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2018/1/can-you-recite-hamlets-to-be-or-not-to-be-soliloquy-quicker-than-the-fastest-t-509944","source_doi":null,"checked":"2026-10-16"},{"row":"BrainGate 2024, copy task","value":31.6,"low":null,"high":null,"as_written":"32","unit":"words per minute","context":"Other","population":"One BrainGate participant, copy task","language":null,"n":1,"year":2024,"conversion":"Self-paced speaking rate in a copy task: prompted sentences the participant attempted to say, decoded into text. Filed under Other because it is neither conversation nor reading aloud by a speaker.","claim":"In a 2024 BrainGate study, one participant's copy task was decoded at his self-paced speaking rate of 31.6 words per minute.","quote":"at the participant’s self-paced speaking rate of 31.6 words per minute","where_in_source":"Results, copy task in the final five evaluation sessions","fact_url":"https://yapapp.cc/facts/card-2024-copy-task-31-6-wpm","source_title":"An accurate and rapidly calibrating speech neuroprosthesis","source_publisher":"medRxiv preprint, deposited in PubMed Central (later published in the New England Journal of Medicine, 2024)","source_year":"2024","source_url":"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11030484/","source_doi":"10.1101/2023.12.26.23300110","checked":"2026-10-17"}]}