Problems with speech/voice?

[Droopy]

Does anyone else have problems with speech or their voice? I find that when I'm with friends and try to talk my voice just goes. It's like the words don't want to come out and when they do, it's just a mumble. I often get told by friends that they can't make me out or thought that I said something else. When I'm with one or two people and in a quiet place my voice is usually fine. When I'm talking on Skype or in a video my voice seems to be loud and clear.

Any ideas as to what the problem may be? I have a theory that it could be because a lot of the time I don't speak and am quiet. Also my voice breaking during my teenage years hasn't helped any. I guess it's like riding a bike. If you suddenly stop for a few years and then one day attempt to again, it's not as easy and you may have to re-learn or get practice to build up to the point that you once were at. During my early childhood years I talked a lot and my voice was generally good. The same can't be said for now though.

Anyone else have problems with their voice or speech?

 

[eon]

Yes. I've been called mumbler most of my life. It's that in one on one situations, I will tend to begin speaking too quickly. I've also noticed that I fail to use inquisitive tones when I am repeating practiced questions, if I let it go on autopilot. I really have to exert a huge effort to speak... my job is talking to people almost constantly all day, so I've had a lot of chance to observe myself in that practiced process vs what happens when I am having to improvise in conversation. It just wears me out, and I've only so recently become cognizant of this that I'm kind of amazed. I am trying to figure out how to best transfer some of my vocal practice from working to improvisation scenarios..

Dr. Tony Attwood comments that speech is almost always impacted greatly in both the cognitive part and the motor requirements in spectrum individuals. I found that chapter utterly fascinating.

 

[petrossa]

Yep, sometimes i sound like i'm drunk. I have the feeling as if my thoughts are ahead of my speech and the next word is already being pronounced when i speak. It then comes out as half one word, half the other word.

I then have to take a good pause, gather my thoughts, picture the phrase and mostly decide to let i go

 

[Sofi]

I have some problems with my speech. I was very delayed speech when I was young and it took a long while to develop. I am told I speak in a monotone with no expression of emotion in my voice and sometimes talk much too loud for the situation. Other times, in a bigger group maybe, I talk quiet and mumble and get the words mixed up in the sentence a lot like "there is a lot of cupboard in the cereal" instead of "there is a lot of cereal in the cupboard"
So, I am better at communicating on the internet.

 

[142857]

Like Sofi, my speech developed very late. I remember having speech therapy until I was 8 years old or thereabouts. I now speak in a kind of dopey monotone.

Speaking inappropriately loudly or softly is a common aspie trait. My 5 year old son (who speaks very well and whose speech wasn't delayed) has only 2 volumes, super loud or a very quiet whisper. I got home from gym a few hours ago, around 11pm, and he woke up and came out to talk to me and play with his toys, also to get me to make him some milk. He wanted to watch cartoons on TV, but I thought that was a bad idea because I would never get him back to bed, so I put on one of the movie channels.

As chance would have it "The Towering Inferno" was just starting. It was a huge movie when I was about my son's age, but for some reason I've never watched more than a few minutes of it. It would have been great to watch it with my son but he kept getting too excited by all the fire engines, explosions, collapsing rooves, burning people and so on (and this was while the fire was still isolated to the 81st floor) and he would start yelling a running commentary on the action. After waking his mum and his sister a couple of times I turned the TV off and sent him to bed, which did not please the boy at all.

 

[Kodak]

Yes, been told that I mumble, I speak with a montone that lacks emotion despite attempts to get expression in speech.
I have had some speech therapy but I still have problems with my speech. I am also often told that I speak very quietly, perhaps that ties in with mumbling?
One of the reasons why I hate talking....

 

[lyricalillusions]

I've been told on numerous occasions that my voice is too soft for people to hear, even when I make an effort to speak louder, which isn't easy to do because I already feel I'm speaking too loudly,

 

[Heritor]

I often have trouble speaking clearly, because when I have a lot to say, I just can't get the words out fast enough and I skip words and mumble the words that do come out. If my mouth and brain were in a marathon together, my brain would win by a landslide. My thoughts just move so quickly, I can't form the words right, and I just don't think to slow down very often. Sometimes when I do think to talk slowly, I still talk fast because I fear that I may forget something if I don't get it all out fast enough. Unfortunately, since I often have to repeat myself anyway, I occasionally do lose a few of my thoughts on the matter.

The brain/eye combination should be working like a strainer. The thoughts start to pour in and the mouth begins neatly excreting the content. I just so often feel that the holes of my strainer are too small. I get such a huge load piling up and I just want it all to hurry up and get through. If I try widening the holes to speed things up, the contents start splashing out in an uncanny manner. Trying to watch a strainer do its business with tiny holes and a huge load is just like trying to get a ton of thoughts out with a slow voice- I get ancy and impatient. So since I usually forget to slow down and often ignore my conscience to do so when I do remember, talking with me can become a very stressful excercise. That is why I prefer to write, and spend my time communicating online. Don't get me wrong. I love to talk, it's just that, trying to be considerate, oral messages are usually not in my company's best interest.

 

[Heritor]

Err, meant to say brain/mouth combination. Won't let me edit now.

 

[squiggle]

Yea, going a while at a time without speaking much makes it more likely I stutter. I'm naturally quite quiet now. I get problems with not being able to articulate myself when speaking about something. It's ok typing because you can think before you type. It can be quite hard trying to explain myself sometimes. I often get it where I want to say something but freeze or it ends up coming out funny for whatever reason Tends to happen more in a group of people. I tend to be ok when its just with one person who I know and is easy to talk to.

 

[shinyedge]

I have always thought my voice sounded monotone when I heard it on tape. The first time I heard it I thought it sounded like another kid who I always thought was stupid. It usually doesn't sound that way to me when I am talking.

The biggest problem I have, though, is that I pause a lot to gather my ideas. I remember a teacher when I was in high school who seemed to find it painful to listen to me. She would mouth the words in anticipation of what I was trying to say.

If I try to talk more quickly I can get the words mixed up. I think that's usually because my thoughts are way ahead of what I am trying to say, and I am not paying that much attention to what I am saying at the moment. The most frustrating thing is that when I pause, people interrupt and change the subject when I still had a lot more to say.

That's why I like writing. I can communicate much better in writing than through talking, because I can take the time to think things through.

 

[Kida]

Most of the time, I speak too quietly.
When I'm with my parents, I'm just fine.
But with nearly everyone else, I just speak very quiet.
I've tried to change it, but it just kinda happens each time.
It's kinda frustrating. I'm already pretty scared about talking to most people, and then I finally gather the courage to say something, and they can't make out what I'm saying because it's so quiet, and I have to say it again.

I also commonly find that I sound kinda stupid.
The sentences are all weirdly structured, the words are jumbled, sometimes I don't even properly finish a sentence.
In my head or when I'm typing, I'm, for most part, capable of forming proper sentences and such. But then when I actually speak them, they just come out all weird.
I'm not even really sure why.

 

[anne.bc]

My fiance had a lisp when he was a child. I have noticed he has had similar traits to my Aspie traits, so sometimes I think he has it. He DEFINITELY has obsessions. Maybe lisps are an Aspie thing too, because I have had to re-tell everyone what I just said because it wasn't clear enough on many occasions. It's frustrating. I hear the military can fix that but I'm not touchin' that with a 30 foot pole. LOL

 

[jimited]

I used to mumble quite alot and because people always used to say something I became very self aware of it, which is probably why I hardly mumble anymore though I am still suseptable to mumbling every once in a while. my voice used to be quite monotone aswell but as I have got older, it has become more normal though my partner says I still have a hint of monotone.

 

[Pusteblume]

I tend to stutter when I talk to ppl I don't know or when it's more then 3-4 ppl at the same time.
But I also have more or less hard time to get my thoughts to words and then the words to speech, it's much easier for me to write on all occations then to speak, so I prefer that kind of communication. I also have a little problem with talking in right kind of tone, usually I talk too soft or too loud(if I'm able to speak).

 

[pacman]

I can often be very monotonous.

 

[Mellotron]

I have often been told I speak too quietly or I mumble. People have often said "what did you say?" when I talk. I try to speak louder and more forceful but I don't like to come off too forceful. I think I have a monotone voice a lot too, its hard to convey emotion in things when I speak sometimes. I really have to push it out when I'm at work or around people I'm not completely comfortable with. But sometimes when I'm really into something I'm talking about I can become too loud I think.

 

[kicker]

I talk softly or so I'm told. I also stutter if I try to talk without thinking about what I'm gonna say first. I speak in monotone and I pause a lot mid sentence/thought. Which gets annoying cause people cut in before I'm done speaking.

 

[SUM1]

I've been remarked that I speak monotonously, and very quietly.

 

[total-recoil]

People say I sometimes mumble so guess I'm similar.

Yes, been told that I mumble, I speak with a montone that lacks emotion despite attempts to get expression in speech.
I have had some speech therapy but I still have problems with my speech. I am also often told that I speak very quietly, perhaps that ties in with mumbling?
One of the reasons why I hate talking....