example of introduction of informative speech

Informative Speeches — Types, Topics, and Examples

What is an informative speech.

An informative speech uses descriptions, demonstrations, and strong detail to explain a person, place, or subject. An informative speech makes a complex topic easier to understand and focuses on delivering information, rather than providing a persuasive argument.

Types of informative speeches

The most common types of informative speeches are definition, explanation, description, and demonstration.

A definition speech explains a concept, theory, or philosophy about which the audience knows little. The purpose of the speech is to inform the audience so they understand the main aspects of the subject matter.

An explanatory speech presents information on the state of a given topic. The purpose is to provide a specific viewpoint on the chosen subject. Speakers typically incorporate a visual of data and/or statistics.

The speaker of a descriptive speech provides audiences with a detailed and vivid description of an activity, person, place, or object using elaborate imagery to make the subject matter memorable.

A demonstrative speech explains how to perform a particular task or carry out a process. These speeches often demonstrate the following:

How to do something

How to make something

How to fix something

How something works

How to write an informative speech

Regardless of the type, every informative speech should include an introduction, a hook, background information, a thesis, the main points, and a conclusion.

Introduction

An attention grabber or hook draws in the audience and sets the tone for the speech. The technique the speaker uses should reflect the subject matter in some way (i.e., if the topic is serious in nature, do not open with a joke). Therefore, when choosing an attention grabber, consider the following:

What’s the topic of the speech?

What’s the occasion?

Who’s the audience?

What’s the purpose of the speech?

Common Attention Grabbers (Hooks)

Ask a question that allows the audience to respond in a non-verbal way (e.g., a poll question where they can simply raise their hands) or ask a rhetorical question that makes the audience think of the topic in a certain way yet requires no response.

Incorporate a well-known quote that introduces the topic. Using the words of a celebrated individual gives credibility and authority to the information in the speech.

Offer a startling statement or information about the topic, which is typically done using data or statistics. The statement should surprise the audience in some way.

Provide a brief anecdote that relates to the topic in some way.

Present a “what if” scenario that connects to the subject matter of the speech.

Identify the importance of the speech’s topic.

Starting a speech with a humorous statement often makes the audience more comfortable with the speaker.

Include any background information pertinent to the topic that the audience needs to know to understand the speech in its entirety.

The thesis statement shares the central purpose of the speech.

Demonstrate

Preview the main ideas that will help accomplish the central purpose. Typically, informational speeches will have an average of three main ideas.

Body paragraphs

Apply the following to each main idea (body) :

Identify the main idea ( NOTE: The main points of a demonstration speech would be the individual steps.)

Provide evidence to support the main idea

Explain how the evidence supports the main idea/central purpose

Transition to the next main idea

Review or restate the thesis and the main points presented throughout the speech.

Much like the attention grabber, the closing statement should interest the audience. Some of the more common techniques include a challenge, a rhetorical question, or restating relevant information:

Provide the audience with a challenge or call to action to apply the presented information to real life.

Detail the benefit of the information.

Close with an anecdote or brief story that illustrates the main points.

Leave the audience with a rhetorical question to ponder after the speech has concluded.

Detail the relevance of the presented information.

Before speech writing, brainstorm a list of informative speech topic ideas. The right topic depends on the type of speech, but good topics can range from video games to disabilities and electric cars to healthcare and mental health.

Informative speech topics

Some common informative essay topics for each type of informational speech include the following:

Informative speech examples

The following list identifies famous informational speeches:

“Duties of American Citizenship” by Theodore Roosevelt

“Duty, Honor, Country” by General Douglas MacArthur

“Strength and Dignity” by Theodore Roosevelt

Explanation

“Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” by Patrick Henry

“The Decision to Go to the Moon” by John F. Kennedy

“We Shall Fight on the Beaches” by Winston Churchill

Description

“I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Pearl Harbor Address” by Franklin Delano Roosevelt

“Luckiest Man” by Lou Gehrig

Demonstration

The Way to Cook with Julia Child

This Old House with Bob Vila

Bill Nye the Science Guy with Bill Nye

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Informative Speech Outline – Template & Examples

Jim Peterson has over 20 years experience on speech writing. He wrote over 300 free speech topic ideas and how-to guides for any kind of public speaking and speech writing assignments at My Speech Class.

Informative speeches are used in our day-to-day lives without even noticing it, we use these speeches whenever we inform someone about a topic they didn’t have much knowledge on, whenever we give someone instructions on how to do something that they haven’t done before, whenever we tell someone about another person. Informative speaking is fairly new to the world of public speaking. Ancient philosophers like Aristotle, Cicero and, Quintilian envisioned public speaking as rhetoric, which is inherently persuasive.

In this article:

What is an Informative Speech?

Here are some ways to prepare for your speech, 1. develop support for your thesis, 2. write your introduction and conclusion, 3. deliver the speech, example of an informative speech outline.

An informative speech is designed to inform the audience about a certain topic of discussion and to provide more information. It is usually used to educate an audience on a particular topic of interest. The main goal of an informative speech is to provide enlightenment concerning a topic the audience knows nothing about. The main types of informative speeches are descriptive, explanatory, demonstrative, and definition speeches. The topics that are covered in an informative speech should help the audience understand the subject of interest better and help them remember what they learned later. The goal of an informative speech isn’t to persuade or sway the audience to the speaker’s point of view but instead to educate. The details need to be laid out to the audience so that they can make an educated decision or learn more about the subject that they are interested in.

It is important for the speaker to think about how they will present the information to the audience.  

Informative Speech Preparation

When you are preparing your informative speech, your preparation is the key to a successful speech. Being able to carry your information across to the audience without any misunderstanding or misinterpretation is very important.

1. Choose Your Topic

Pick a topic where you will explain something, help people understand a certain subject, demonstrate how to use something.

2. Make a Thesis Statement

Think about what point you are trying to get across, What is the topic that you want to educate your audience on? “I will explain…” “I will demonstrate how to…” “I will present these findings…”

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3. Create Points That Support Your Thesis

Take a moment to think about what would support your thesis and take a moment to write the points down on a sheet of paper. Then, take a moment to elaborate on those points and support them. 

Typical Organization for an Informative Speech:

How to Speech: 4 Key steps to doing what you are talking about.

Example: Step One: Clean the chicken of any unwanted feathers and giblets. Step Two: Spice the chicken and add stuffings. Step Three: Set oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Step Four: Place chicken in the oven and cook for an hour. 

History/ What Happened Speech: Points listing from the beginning to the latest events that you want to discuss in your speech.

Example: First, Harry met Sally. Second, Harry took Sally out to the roadhouse. Third, Harry and Sally started their courtship. Fourth, Harry and Sally moved in together and adopted a dog named Paco.

What is it Speech: Two to Four main points that discuss the key elements of your subject.

Example: First, there must be four wheels. Second, the car’s engine must be functioning. Third, the doors must be functional. Fourth, in order to get to your destination, the car’s steering has to be functional.

Explain it Speech: Two to Four main points that go through the key elements of the topic to explain it.

Example: Firstly, the car drives by the engine that powers it to move forward. Secondly, by the wheels that rotate in a forward or backward motion. Thirdly, the car’s engine is powered by gas which gives it the ability to function and essentially move the car.

Write down support for your points. Take some time to research your topic thoroughly. It is good to gather statistics, expert opinions, facts, and much more to make your speech unique and effective. 

There are three main types of support you should use to strengthen your speech: 

Interest supports.

Interest supports are used to increase the audience’s interest in the topic you are presenting.

• Personal experiences
• Interaction (e.g., Questions to the audience)

Evidence Supports

Evidence increases solid factual support in your speech. Examples of evidence supported are statistics, expert opinions, direct quotations. Studies, surveys, and facts.

Multimedia Aids

Multimedia aids such as posters with pictures and writing, DVDs, music or recordings on a stereo player, videotapes, and PowerPoint presentations.

Write your introduction. Provide a quick attention getter, state your thesis, elaborate on why it is important to you and your audience. It is expected that you preview your main points in the introduction by listing all your main points of discussion in your introduction.

Write your conclusion. Tie the speech together, build to a higher point and give it a sense of conclusion.

Practice your speech until you feel confident. Present your material as effectively as possible.

Informative Speech Outline

Creating an outline for an informative speech will help you organize your ideas and information to share with your audience in an effective manner. A well-planned outline will ensure that all the important information is included in your speech and ensure that you don’t wander off-topic.

Topic: This will be the title of your speech.

Purpose: To inform the audience about the topic.

Thesis: A theme statement that clearly describes the topic and points made in the presentation.

• Introduction
• Attention-grabbing opening statement
• Reason to listen to the speech
• Thesis statement
• Preview of points to be covered
• First main point
• First subpoint
• Supporting detail
• Second subpoint
• Second main point
• Third main point
• Restatement of main points
• Restatement of thesis
• Concluding remarks

When developing an outline, follow these rules to ensure a successful speech:

• Include one idea for every point, subpoint, or supporting detail.
• If there is one point, there must be a second point. If there is one supporting point, there should be a second supporting point. 
• Be consistent. If you are using full sentences to describe points and subpoints, use full sentences throughout the outline. Ensure that the verb tense is consistent throughout your outline as well.

Informative Speech Outline Examples

Topic: Adoption

Purpose: To inform people about adoption

Thesis: Adoption is the act of transferring parental rights and duties to someone other than the adopted person’s biological parents. The number of children adopted each year by American families is an estimate only.

• What do Edgar Allan Poe, John Lennon, Steve Jobs, and Eleanor Roosevelt all have in common? They were all adopted. Adoption is the act of transferring parental rights and duties to someone other than the adopted person’s biological parents. The adoption process is lengthy, expensive, and varies from country to country and even state to state. Not only does adoption vary from state to state, but sometimes the adoption process even varies within regions of a state.
• Many children get adopted every year. No one knows how adoption works.
• Adoption is a life-changing event, not just for the children involved but also for every single family made whole through adoption.
• Adoption processes vary from place to place. Types of adoption. Benefits and detriments to adoption. Many children who are adopted have experienced neglect and abuse.
• Adoption processes vary from place to place.
• The adoption process varies from state to state.
• It is more expensive in certain states than in others.
• The amount of paperwork throughout the process also depends on the state legislature.
• The adoption process varies within a state.
• In certain states, the adoption process is different from one region to the next.
• The process is different depending on the child protection laws set in each region inside a state.
• Types of adoption
• There are different types of adoption.
• There is step-parent or other family member adoption
• There is also adoption across state lines
• The more traditional adoption types are commonly known.
• There is private adoption which is most commonly found throughout the U.S.
• Adoption through foster care is a good thing to try for first-time adopters.
• The adoption process is expensive.
• There are a lot of upfront expenses.
• You are subjected to adoption agency fees to help you find a suitable match for your family.
• You also have to pay to adopt the child you want to adopt.
• There are a lot of big expenses in terms of the child too.
• Readying a living space to suit a child’s wants and needs can be expensive.
• Many new expenses come to light like healthcare, school, etc.
• Adoption processes vary from state to state. There are many different types of adoption. Adoption can be expensive, so you have to ensure that you are financially capable of caring for another human being.
• Adoption is the act of transferring parental rights and duties to someone other than the adopted person’s biological parents. The number of children adopted each year by American families is an estimate only.
• Adoption is an absolutely life-changing adventure, but everyone needs to be more educated before walking into a demanding process. There will be many emotions, expenses, and frustration, but it truly is worth it in the end.

Topic: Snakebites and how they’re treated

Purpose: To inform the audience of the dangers of snakes and how to respond to being bitten by a snake.

Thesis: Snakebites are dangerous and could ultimately lead to loss of life if not acted upon correctly.

• Imagine that you and your friend are walking in the woods, one sunny day in the fall when leaves cover the ground. Suddenly, your friend accidentally steps on a snake and gets bitten.
• Your friend’s chance of survival depends on your knowledge of acting promptly and taking proper measures in this situation.
• Today I will inform you about three common poisonous snakes seen in our country and explain to you the effects of a snake bite.
• Three poisonous snakes. Effects of the snake’s venom. How to administer first aid in the event of a snake bite.
• Three poisonous snakes
• There are two types of Rattlesnakes.
• William Pinkston: Responsible for more deaths in this country.
• Western diamondback: found from Texas to Eastern California.
• Copperhead and Cottonmouth
• Before striking, it opens its mouth wide to reveal its white inside.
• That’s how it got its name.
• The effects of snake venom on the human body
• Hepatotoxic
• Destroys blood vessels and red blood cells.
• Deadly and fatal to the victim.
• It affects the optic nerves in the eyes, causing blindness.
• It affects the nerves controlling the respiratory muscles, causing suffocation and eventually leading to death if left untreated.
• How to administer first aid in the event of a snake bite.
• Immobilize the bitten area slightly lower than the heart.
• Apply a flat constricting band 2-4 inches above the bite.
• With a sterile scalpel or knife, make one incision that connects the fang marks.
• Squeeze venom gently from the incision with your fingers for 30 minutes.
• Get the victim to the hospital as soon as possible.
• Snake bites are dangerous and could ultimately lead to loss of life if not acted upon correctly.
• Snake bites are dangerous and could ultimately lead to loss of life if they are not cared for properly, and the victim doesn’t get the necessary treatment in time.

Informative speeches have one main goal: to inform the audience of a specific topic of interest. For you to have an effective and successful informative speech, it is important to do your research and draw up an informative speech outline. The speech outline ensures that you do not wander off topic or get carried away with one point. 

If, on the other hand, you have to prepare persuasive speech, we have a guide on outlining and preparing for it the right way right here .

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15 Informative Speech Examples to Inspire Your Next Talk

• The Speaker Lab
• May 13, 2024

Table of Contents

A good informative speech is one of the most effective tools in a speaker’s arsenal. But with so many potential topics out there, it can be tough to know where to start. That’s why we’ve compiled 15 informative speech examples to help you find your perfect subject. Whether you’re unearthing secrets from history for your listeners or delving into future technologies, informative speeches can prove to be the recipe for the perfect talk.

But crafting an effective informative speech is about more than just picking a topic. You have to research topics, put your thoughts in order, and speak up clearly and confidently. In this post, we’ll explore strategies for each step of the process, so you can create a speech that informs, engages, and makes a lasting impact on your listeners. Let’s get started.

15 Informative Speech Examples

If you’re looking for some inspiration for your next informative speech, look no further. Below are 15 examples of informative speech topics that are sure to engage and educate your audience.

• The history and evolution of social media platforms
• The benefits and drawbacks of renewable energy sources
• The impact of sleep deprivation on mental and physical health
• The role of emotional intelligence in personal and professional success
• The science behind climate change and its potential consequences
• The importance of financial literacy for young adults
• The influence of artificial intelligence on various industries
• The benefits of regular exercise and a balanced diet
• The history and cultural significance of a specific art form or genre
• The impact of technology on interpersonal communication
• The psychology behind procrastination and effective strategies to overcome it
• The role of diversity and inclusion in fostering innovation and creativity
• The importance of mental health awareness and resources for students
• The future of space exploration and its potential benefits for humanity
• The impact of globalization on local economies and cultures

These topics cover a wide range of subjects, from technology and science to psychology and culture. By choosing one of these informative speech examples, you’ll have plenty of material to work with to create an engaging and educational presentation.

Remember, the key to a successful informative speech is to choose a topic that you’re passionate about and that will resonate with your audience. Do your research, organize your thoughts, and practice your delivery to ensure that your message comes across loud and clear.

What Is an Informative Speech?

If you’ve ever been to a conference or seminar, chances are you’ve heard an informative speech. But what exactly is an informative speech? Simply put, it’s a type of speech designed to educate the audience on a particular topic. The goal is to provide interesting and useful information, ensuring the audience walks away with new knowledge or insights. Unlike persuasive speeches that aim to convince the audience of a viewpoint, informative speeches focus on explaining a subject clearly and objectively.

Types of Informative Speeches

Informative speeches come in various forms, each with its own purpose. The most common types are definition, explanation, description, and demonstration speeches. Depending on the objective, an informative speech can take on different structures and styles.

For example, a definition speech aims to explain a concept or term, while a demonstration speech shows the audience how to perform a task or process. An explanatory speech, on the other hand, provides a detailed account of a complex subject, breaking it down into digestible parts.

Purpose of Informative Speeches

At its core, the purpose of an informative speech is to share knowledge with the audience. These speeches are characterized by their fact-based, non-persuasive nature. The focus is on delivering information in an engaging and accessible way.

A well-crafted informative speech not only educates but also sparks curiosity and encourages further learning. By dedicating yourself to providing valuable information and appealing to your audience’s interests, you can succeed as an informative speaker.

Strategies for Selecting an Informative Speech Topic

Choosing the right topic is crucial for an effective informative speech. You want a subject that is not only interesting to you but also relevant and engaging for your audience. Consider their knowledge level, background, and expectations when selecting your topic.

One strategy is to focus on a subject you’re passionate about or have expertise in. This allows you to speak with authority and enthusiasm, making your speech more compelling. Another approach is to address current events or trending topics that are on people’s minds.

When brainstorming potential topics, consider your speech’s purpose and the type of informative speech you want to deliver. Is your goal to define a concept, explain a process, describe an event, or demonstrate a skill? Answering these questions will help guide your topic selection.

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How to Write an Informative Speech

Now that you’ve selected your topic, it’s time to start writing your informative speech. The key to a successful speech is thorough preparation and a clear, organized structure. Let’s break down the steps involved in crafting an engaging and informative presentation.

Researching Your Topic

Before you start writing, it’s essential to conduct thorough research on your topic. Gather facts, statistics, examples, and other supporting information for your informative speech. These things will help you explain and clarify the subject matter to your audience.

As you research, use reliable sources such as academic journals, reputable websites, and expert opinions to ensure the accuracy and credibility of your information. Take notes and organize your findings in a way that makes sense for your speech’s structure.

Structuring Your Speech

A typical informative speech structure includes three main parts, namely, an introduction, body, and conclusion. The introduction should grab the audience’s attention, establish your credibility , and preview the main points you’ll cover.

The body of your speech is where you’ll present your main points and supporting evidence. Use clear transitions between each point to maintain a logical flow. The conclusion should summarize your key takeaways and leave a lasting impression on your audience.

Outlining Your Speech

Creating an outline is a crucial step in organizing your thoughts and ensuring a coherent flow of information. Start by listing your main points and then add subpoints and supporting details for each section.

A well-structured outline will serve as a roadmap for your speech, keeping you on track and helping you stay focused on your key messages. It also makes the writing process more efficient and less overwhelming.

Writing Your Draft

With your outline in hand, it’s time to start writing your draft. Focus on presenting information clearly and concisely, using simple language and avoiding jargon. Provide examples and analogies throughout your informative speech in order to illustrate complex ideas and make them more relatable to your audience.

As you write, keep your audience in mind and tailor your language and examples to their level of understanding. Use transitions to link your ideas and maintain a smooth flow throughout the speech.

Editing and Revising

Once you’ve completed your draft, take the time to edit and revise your speech. First, check for clarity, accuracy, and logical organization. Then, eliminate unnecessary details, repetition, and filler words.

Read your speech aloud to identify any awkward phrasing or unclear passages. Lastly, seek feedback from others and be open to making changes based on their suggestions. Remember, the goal is to create a polished and effective informative speech.

Delivering an Informative Speech

You’ve written a fantastic informative speech, but now comes the real challenge: delivering it effectively. The way you present your speech can make all the difference in engaging your audience and ensuring they retain the information you’re sharing.

Practicing Your Speech

Practice makes perfect, and this couldn’t be more true when it comes to public speaking . Rehearse your speech multiple times to build confidence and familiarity with the content. Practice in front of a mirror, family members, or friends to get comfortable with your delivery.

As you practice, focus on your pacing, intonation, and body language. Aim for a conversational tone and maintain eye contact with your audience. The more you practice, the more natural and engaging your delivery will become.

Using Visual Aids

Visual aids such as slides, charts, or props can enhance your informative speech by making complex information more accessible and engaging. When utilized in your informative speech, they can help illustrate key points, provide visual examples, and break up the monotony of a purely verbal presentation.

Of course, it’s important to ensure your visuals are clear, relevant, and easy to understand. Otherwise, they may end up obscuring your points instead of clarifying them. In light of this, avoid cluttering your slides with too much text or overwhelming your audience with too many visuals. Use them strategically to support your message, not distract from it.

Engaging Your Audience

Engaging your audience is crucial for a successful informative speech. Use rhetorical questions, anecdotes, or interactive elements to keep them involved and attentive. Encourage participation, if appropriate, and maintain a conversational tone to create a connection with your listeners.

Pay attention to your audience’s reactions and adapt your delivery accordingly. If you sense confusion or disinterest, try rephrasing your points or providing additional examples to clarify your message. Remember, your goal is to educate and inspire your audience, so keep them at the forefront of your mind throughout your speech.

Handling Nerves

It’s normal to feel nervous before and during a speech, but there are strategies to help you manage those nerves . Take deep breaths, visualize success, and focus on your message rather than your anxiety. Remember, your audience wants you to succeed, and a little nervousness can actually enhance your performance by showing enthusiasm and authenticity.

If you find yourself getting overwhelmed, take a moment to pause, collect your thoughts, and regain your composure. Smile, make eye contact, and remind yourself that you’ve prepared thoroughly and have valuable information to share.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

To deliver an effective informative speech, it’s important to be aware of common pitfalls and mistakes. One of the biggest errors is overloading your audience with too much information. Remember, less is often more when it comes to public speaking.

Another mistake is failing to organize your content logically or using complex jargon without explanation. Make sure your speech has a clear structure and that you’re explaining any technical terms or concepts in a way that your audience can understand.

Finally, don’t neglect the importance of practice and preparation. Winging it or relying too heavily on notes can lead to a disjointed and unengaging speech. Take the time to rehearse, refine your delivery, and internalize your key points.

By avoiding these common mistakes and focusing on the strategies we’ve discussed, you’ll be well on your way to delivering an informative speech that educates, engages, and inspires your audience.

Tips for Delivering a Compelling Informative Speech

Once you’ve chosen your topic and done your research, it’s time to focus on delivering a compelling speech. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• Start with a strong attention-grabbing opening that draws your audience in and sets the tone for your speech.
• Use clear, concise language and avoid jargon or technical terms that your audience may not understand.
• Incorporate storytelling, examples, and anecdotes to make your points more relatable and memorable.
• Use visual aids , such as slides or props, to enhance your message and keep your audience engaged.
• Practice your delivery and timing to ensure that you stay within your allotted time and maintain a natural, conversational tone.

By following these tips and choosing a topic that you’re passionate about, you’ll be well on your way to delivering an informative speech that educates and inspires your audience.

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20 Bonus Topics for Informative Speeches

In case the informative speech examples above didn’t pique your interest, we have several more for you to consider. Ranging from topics like science and technology to history and education, these 20 topics are perfect for your next presentation.

• The history and development of virtual reality technology
• The benefits and challenges of remote work
• The science behind the formation of hurricanes and tornadoes
• The impact of social media on political campaigns and elections
• The importance of sustainable fashion and its environmental benefits
• The role of emotional support animals in mental health treatment
• The history and cultural significance of a specific cuisine or dish
• The impact of plastic pollution on marine ecosystems
• The benefits and risks of gene editing technology
• The psychology behind conspiracy theories and their spread online
• The importance of digital privacy and data security in the modern age
• The role of music therapy in healthcare and wellness
• The impact of deforestation on biodiversity and climate change
• The history and evolution of a specific sport or athletic event
• The benefits and challenges of alternative education models
• The science behind the human immune system and how vaccines work
• The impact of mass incarceration on communities and families
• The role of storytelling in preserving cultural heritage and traditions
• The importance of financial planning for retirement and old age
• The impact of urban agriculture on food security and community development

Choosing a Topic That Resonates With Your Audience

When selecting a topic for your informative speech, it’s important to consider your audience and what will resonate with them. Think about their interests, backgrounds, and knowledge levels, and choose a topic that will be both informative and engaging.

For example, if you’re speaking to a group of high school students, you may want to choose a topic that relates to their experiences or concerns, such as the impact of social media on mental health or the importance of financial literacy for young adults. If you’re speaking to a group of business professionals, you may want to focus on topics related to industry trends, leadership strategies, or emerging technologies.

By choosing a topic that resonates with your audience, you’ll be more likely to capture their attention and keep them engaged throughout your speech. And remember, even if you’re not an expert on the topic, you can still deliver an informative and engaging speech by doing your research and presenting the information in a clear and accessible way.

FAQs on Informative Speech Examples

What is an example of informative speech.

An example includes breaking down the impacts of climate change, detailing causes, effects, and potential solutions.

What are the 3 types of informative speeches?

The three main types are explanatory (breaks down complex topics), descriptive (paints a picture with words), and demonstrative (shows how to do something).

What are the 5 useful topics of an informative speech?

Top picks include technology advances, mental health awareness, environmental conservation efforts, cultural diversity appreciation, and breakthroughs in medical research.

What is an effective informative speech?

An effective one delivers clear info on a specific topic that educates listeners without overwhelming them. It’s well-researched and engaging.

Informative speech examples are everywhere, if you know where to look. From TED Talks to classroom lectures, there’s no shortage of inspiration for your next presentation. All you have to do is find a topic that lights your fire while engaging your audience.

Remember, a great informative speech is all about clarity, organization, and engagement. By following the tips and examples we’ve covered, you’ll be well on your way to delivering an informative speech that educates, enlightens, and leaves a lasting impression. So go ahead, pick your topic, and start crafting your own informative speech today!

• Last Updated: May 9, 2024

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Informative speech examples

4 types of informative speeches: topics and outlines

By:  Susan Dugdale  | Last modified: 08-05-2023

The primary purpose of an informative speech is to share useful and interesting, factual, and accurate information with the audience on a particular topic (issue), or subject.

Find out more about how to do that effectively here. 

What's on this page

The four different types of informative speeches, each with specific topic suggestions and an example informative speech outline: 

• description
• demonstration
• explanation

What is informative speech?

• The 7 key characteristics of an informative speech

We all speak to share information. We communicate knowledge of infinite variety all day, every day, in multiple settings.

Teachers in classrooms world-wide share information with their students.

Call centers problem solve for their callers.

News outlets (on and offline) issue reports on local, national and international events and issues, people of interest, weather, traffic flow around cities...

Health care professionals explain the treatment of addictive behaviors, the many impacts of long Covid, the development of new treatments...

Specialist research scientists share their findings with colleagues at conferences.

A pastry chef demonstrates how to make perfect classic croissants.

The range of informative public speaking is vast!  Some of us do it well. Some of us not so well - largely because we don't fully understand what's needed to present what we're sharing effectively. 

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The key characteristics of an informative speech

So, what are the key characteristics or essential elements, of this type of speech? There are seven.

1. Objectivity

The information you give is factual, neutral and objective. You make no attempt to persuade or push (advocate) a particular viewpoint.

Your personal opinions: feelings thoughts, or concerns about the topic you're presenting are not given. This is not a persuasive speech.

As an example,  here's an excerpt from a Statistics Department report on teenage births in New Zealand - the country I live in.

Although it's a potentially a firecracker subject: one arousing all sorts of emotional responses from outright condemnation of the girls and their babies to compassionate practical support, the article sticks to the facts. 

The headline reads: "Teenage births halved over last decade"

"The number of teenage women in New Zealand giving birth has more than halved over the last decade, Stats NZ said today.

There were 1,719 births registered to teenage women (those aged under 20 years) in 2022, accounting for around 1 in every 34 births that year. In 2012, there were 3,786 births registered to teenage mothers, accounting for around 1 in every 16 births that year."

For more see: Statistics Department NZ - Teenage births halved over last decade 

You present your information clearly and concisely, avoiding jargon or complex language that may confuse your audience.

The candidate gave a rousing stump speech , which included a couple of potentially inflammatory statements on known wedge issues .

If the audience is familiar with political jargon that sentence would be fine. If they're not, it would bewilder them. What is a 'stump speech' or a 'wedge issue' ?

Stump speech: a candidate's prepared speech or pitch that explains their core platform.

Wedge issue: a controversial political issue that divides members of opposing political parties or the same party.

For more see: political jargon examples

3. Relevance

The content shared in your speech should be relevant and valuable. It should meet your audience's needs or spark their curiosity.

If the audience members are vegetarians, they're highly unlikely to want to know anything about the varying cuts of beef and what they are used for.

However, the same audience might be very interested in finding out more about plant protein and readily available sources of it.  

4. Organizational pattern

The speech should have a logical sequential structure with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion.

If I am giving a demonstration speech on how to bake chocolate chip cookies, to be effective it needs to move through each of the necessary steps in the correct order.

Beginning with how to spoon the mixture on to the tray, or how to cool the cookies on a wire rack when you've taken them out of the oven, is confusing.   

5. Research and credibility

Informative speeches are based on thorough research and reliable sources to ensure accuracy and credibility. And sources need to be properly cited.

My friend told me, my mother says, or I saw it on Face Book is neither authoritative nor enough. ☺

Example: My speech is on literacy rates in USA. To be credible I need to quote and cite reputable sources.

• https://www.apmresearchlab.org/10x-adult-literacy
• https://www.thinkimpact.com/literacy-statistics/

6. Visual aids

Slides, charts, graphs, or props are frequently used to help the audience fully understand what they're being told.

For example, an informative speech on the rise and fall of a currency's daily exchange rate is made a great deal easier to follow and understand with graphs or charts illustrating the key points.

Or for a biographical speech, photos of the person being talked about will help hold the attention of your audience.  

7. Effective delivery

To be effective your speech needs to be delivered in a way that captures and hold the audience's attention. That means all aspects of it have been rehearsed or practiced. 

If you're demonstrating, you've gone through every step to ensure you have the flow of material right.

If you're using props (visual aids) of any sort you've made sure they work. Can they be seen easily? Do they clearly illustrate the point you're making?

Is your use of the stage (or your speaking space) good? Does your body language align with your material? Can your voice be heard? Are you speaking clearly? 

Pulling together a script and the props you're going to use is only part of the task of giving a speech. Working on and refining delivery completes it.

To give a successful speech each of these seven aspects needs to be fine-tuned: to hook your audience's interest, to match their knowledge level, your topic, your speech purpose and, fit within the time constraints you've been given.

Types of informative speeches

There are four types of informative speeches: definition, description, explanation and demonstration. A speech may use one, or a mix of them.

1. Informing through definition 

An informative speech based on definition clearly, and concisely, explains a concept * , theory, or philosophy. The principal purpose is to inform the audience, so they understand the main aspects of the particular subject being talked about.

* Definition of concept from the Cambridge dictionary - an  abstract principle or idea 

Examples of topics for definition or concept speeches

A good topic could be:

• What is global warming?
• What are organics?
• What are the core beliefs of Christianity?
• What is loyalty?
• What is mental health?
• What is modern art? 
• What is freedom?
• What is beauty?
• What is education?
• What are economics?
• What is popular culture?

These are very broad topic areas- each containing multiple subtopics, any of which could become the subject of a speech in its own right. 

Example outline for a definition or concept informative speech

Speech title:.

What is modern art?

- people who want an introductory overview of modern art to help them understand a little more about what they're looking at - to place artists and their work in context 

Specific purpose:

- to provide a broad outline/definition of modern art 

Modern art refers to a broad and diverse artistic movement that emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and continued to develop throughout the 20th century. 

It is characterized by a radical departure from traditional artistic styles and conventions and encompasses a wide range of artistic styles, techniques, and media, reflecting the cultural, social, and technological changes of the time.

Key characteristics or main points include:

• Experimentation and innovation : Modern artists sought to break away from established norms and explore new ways of representing the world. They experimented with different materials, techniques, and subjects, challenging the boundaries of traditional art forms.
• Abstraction : Modern art often features abstract and non-representational elements, moving away from realistic depictions. Artists like Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian explored pure abstraction, using shapes, lines, and colors to convey emotions and ideas.
• Expression of the inner self : Many modern artists aimed to convey their inner emotions, thoughts, and experiences through their work. This led to the development of various movements like Expressionism (See work of Evard Munch) and Surrealism (See work of Salvador Dali). 
• Rejection of academic conventions : Artists sought to break free from the rigid rules of academic art and embrace more individualistic and avant-garde approaches. For example: Claude Monet, (1840 -1926) Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Édouard Manet
• Influence of industrialization and urbanization : The rapid changes brought about by industrialization and urbanization in the 19th and 20th centuries influenced modern art. Artists were inspired by the dynamics of the modern world and its impact, often negative, on human life. 
• Multiple art movements : Modern art encompasses a wide array of movements and styles, for example Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art... Each movement brought its own unique perspective on art and society.
• Focus on concept and process : Modern artists began to emphasize the underlying ideas and concepts behind their work, giving greater importance to the creative process itself. 

Modern art should not be confused with contemporary art. While modern art refers specifically to the artistic developments of the early to mid-20th century, contemporary art encompasses art created by artists living and working in the present day. The transition from modern art to contemporary art happened around the late 20th century- 1950s onward.

References:

• mymodernmet.com/abstract artists
• differencess.com/expressionism vs surrealism
• lorimcnee.com/artists who died without recognition
• industrial revolution the influence on art
• mymodernmet.com/important art movements
• theartstory.org/conceptual-art
• Image: The Scream, Edvard Munch  

2. Informing through description

Informing through description means creating detailed, vivid verbal pictures for your audience to make what you're talking about come to life in the minds of those listening which in turn, will make your subject matter memorable.

Examples of good informative speech topics that could be used for descriptive speeches

• How I celebrate Christmas
• My first day at school
• My home town
• A time I feared for my life
• A time when I felt contented and happy

My first car

• An object I find fascinating: lotus shoes, bustles, corsets, panniers (These are historical items of women's clothing.)
• Working from home: the joys, the hazards
• My dream home, job, or holiday
• An event I'll never forget
• The most valuable or interesting thing I own
• Martin Luther King, Benjamin Franklin, President Lincoln... a notable person from the past or present, including someone you may know: a family member, friend or yourself, or a public figure (an artist, singer, dancer, writer, entrepreneur, inventor...)

Example outline for a descriptive informative speech

- to take the audience with me back to the time when we bought our first car and have them appreciate that car's impact on our lives 

Central idea:

Our Austin A50 was a much-loved car

About the car:

- English, Austin A50, 1950ish model - curvy, solid, a matron of cars

Background to purchase:

• 1974 - we were 20 and 21 - young and broke
• The car cost $200 - a lot of money for me at that time. I raided my piggy bank to buy it.
• It was a trade up from the back of the motorbike - now I could sit side by side and talk, rather than sit behind and poke my husband, when I wanted to say important things like, 'Slow down', or 'I'm cold'. The romance of a motorbike is short-lived in winter. It diminishes in direct proportion to the mountain of clothes needing to be put on before going anywhere - coats, scarf, boots, helmet... And this particular winter was bitter: characterized by almost impenetrable grey fog and heavy frosts. It was so cold the insides of windows of the old house we lived in iced up.
• It was tri-colored - none of them dominating - bright orange on the bonnet, sky blue on the rear doors and the roof, and matt black on the front doors and the boot. (Bonus - no one would ever steal it - far too easily identified!)
• The chrome flying A proudly rode the bonnet.
• The boot, (trunk lid) was detachable. It came off - why I can't remember. But it needed to be opened to fill the tank, so it meant lifting it off at the petrol station and leaning it up against the boot while the tank filled, and then replacing it when done.
• There were bench seats upholstered in grey leather (dry and cracked) front and back with wide arm rests that folded down.
• The windows wound up and down manually and, in the rear, there were triangle shaped opening quarter-windows.
• The mouse-colored lining that had been on the doors and roof was worn, torn and in some patches completely missing. Dust poured in through the crevices when we drove on the metal roads that were common where we lived.
• It had a column gear change - 4 gears, a heater that didn't function, proper old-school semaphore trafficators indicators that flicked out from the top of the door pillars and blinked orange, a clutch that needed a strong push to get it down, an accelerator pedal that was slow to pick up and a top speed of around 50 mph. 

Impact/benefits:

We called her Prudence. We loved, and remember, her fondly because:

• I was taught to drive in her - an unforgettable experience. I won the bunny hopping record learning to coordinate releasing the clutch and pressing down on the accelerator. Additionally, on metal roads, I found you needed to slow before taking corners. Sliding on two wheels felt precarious. The bump back down to four was a relief.  
• We did not arrive places having to disrobe - take off layers of protective clobber.
• We could talk to each without shouting and NOW our road trips had a soundtrack - a large black portable battery driven tape player sat on the back parcel shelf blasting out a curious mix of Ry Cooder, Bach, Mozart's Flute Concerto, Janice Joplin... His choice. My choice. Bliss.
• My father-in-law suggested we park it down the street rather than directly outside his house when we visited. To him Prudence was one eccentricity too many! An embarrassment in front of the neighbors. ☺
• austinmemories.com/styled-33/styled-39/index.html
• wikipedia.org/Austin_Cambridge
• archive.org/1956-advertisement-for-austin-a-50

3. Informing through demonstration

Informing through demonstration means sharing verbal directions about how to do a specific task: fix, or make, something while also physically showing the steps, in a specific chronological order.

These are the classic 'show-n-tell', 'how to' or process speeches.

Examples of process speech topics:

• How to bake chocolate chip cookies
• How to use CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) correctly
• How to prepare and plant a tub of vegetables or flowers
• How to read a topographic map
• How to make a tik-tok reel
• How to knit a hat

How to brainstorm material for a speech

For literally  100s more demonstration topic ideas

A demonstrative informative speech outline example

To demonstrate the brainstorming process and to provide practical strategies (helpful tips) for freeing and speeding up the generation of ideas

Main ideas:

Understanding brainstorming - explanation of what brainstorming is and its benefits

Preparing for brainstorming - the starting point - stating the problem or topic that needs brainstorming, working in a comfortable place free from distractions, encouraging open-mindedness and suspension of judgment.

Techniques for brainstorming : (Show and tell on either white board or with large sheets of paper that everyone can see) mind mapping, and free writing. Take topic ideas from audience to use.

Example : notes for maid of honor speech for sister

Benefits : Demonstrate how mind maps can help visually organize thoughts and connections, how free writing allows ideas to flow without stopping to judge them

Encourages quantity over quality - lots of ideas - more to choose from. May generate something you'd never have thought of otherwise.

Select, refine, develop (show and tell) 

For more see: brainstorm examples

4. Informing through explanation 

Informing through explanation is explaining or sharing how something works, came to be, or why something happened, for example historical events like the Civil War in the United States. The speech is made stronger through the use of visuals - images, charts of data and/or statistics.

Examples of explanatory informative speech topics

• How did the 1919 Treaty of Versailles contribute to the outbreak of World War Two?
• What led to The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865)?
• Why is there an increase in type two diabetes and problems associated with obesity in first world countries, for example, in UK and USA?
• How do lungs work?
• What causes heart disease?
• How electric vehicles work?   
• What caused the Salem witch trials?
• How does gravitation work?
• How are rainbows formed?
• Why do we pay taxes?
• What is cyberbullying? Why is it increasing?

Example explanatory informative speech outline

The Treaty of Versailles: how did it contribute to the outbreak of World War Two

- to explain how the Treaty of Versailles (1919) was a significant causal factor leading up World War two

Central ideas:

Historical context : World War One, 'the war to end all wars' ended in 1918. The Allied Powers: USA, UK, France, Italy and Japan, met in Paris at the Paris Peace Conference 1919 to work out the details and consequences of the Treaty of Versailles, which would impact the defeated Central Powers, principally Germany. 

These included:

• territorial boundary changes which stripped Germany of land in Europe, and established new nations - e.g. Poland and Czechoslovakia
• military restrictions - the disarmament of the German military, restrictions on weapons and technology, demilitarization of the Rhineland
• reparations - demands that they were unable to meet, plus being forced to accept a "war guilt" clause (Article 231) had an enormous impact, economically and psychologically. The country plunged into deep recession - albeit along with many other countries. (The Great Depression 1929-1939 which ended with the beginning of World War Two.)

The League of Nations - The League of Nations was an international diplomatic group developed after World War I as a way to solve disputes between countries before they erupted into open warfare. Despite being active in its set up, USA refused to join it - a stance that weakened its effectiveness.

Controversies within Germany: Public anger and resentment, plus political instability as result of reparations, territory loss and economic hardships

Controversies with Treaty partners: The Treaty's perceived fairness and effectiveness: Italy and Japan felt their settlements were inadequate compared to what had been taken by UK, USA and France.

The rise of 'isms'   Simmering discontent eventually emerged as the rise of Fascism in Italy, Nazism in Germany and Statism (a mix of nationalism, militarism and “state capitalism”) in Japan.

Expansionist Nationalism Spread of expansionist nationalism - a state's right to increase its borders because it is superior in all ways. Therefore, Hitler was 'right' to take back what had previously been regarded as German territory (Czechoslovakia and Austria), and to go after more, all the while goading the Allied Powers to act. When his armies went into Poland, Britain declared war against Germany - 21 years after the end of the last.

• history.com/treaty-of-versailles-world-war-ii-guilt-effects
• tinyurl.com/Treaty-of-Versailles
• Image:  tinyurl.com/signing-Treaty-of-Versailles

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How to Write an Informative Speech (With Outline and Examples)

Speechwriting can seem like a difficult skill to master. Knowing how to get your point across in a set time limit while engaging an audience feels tricky. But it's not so hard when you've got the right structure with an outline example for an informative speech.

That's why I'll walk you through how to write an informative speech in this tutorial. Once you follow these steps, you'll be able to make a speech that'll leave any crowd more informed on any topic you choose.

Jump to content in this section:

Different Types of Informative Speeches

• Choose Your Topic
• Perform Research
• Define Your Thesis Statement
• Outline Your Speech
• Consider Your Audience
• Write a Draft
• Prepare Your Visual Aid (Optional)
• Rehearse and Rewrite

More Tips for Your Informative Speech

Envato elements: a subscription for unlimited creativity.

Before you can even consider putting pen to paper (or more likely, fingers to keyboard), you must know not all informative speeches are the same. There are a many different types to be aware of. But we'll focus on definition, demonstration, explanatory, and descriptive informative speech styles.

Let's dive into what makes them unique:

• Definition . These speeches aim to define concepts or theories that audiences may not know. Use this type if you've got a new idea or concept your audience is unfamiliar with.
• Demonstration . This speech is all about process. Walk your audience through the steps on how to perform, create, or fix something. Make sure your steps are in order!
• Explanatory . An explanatory speech is about the state of a given topic. This could be the state of a business, country, or sports team. The goal is to show why the chosen topic is in the state that it finds itself.
• Descriptive . This type of speech is all about the details. You'll want to use it when you want to paint a vivid picture about your topic. These speeches tend to be filled with descriptions of physical characteristics, comparisons, and functions as a result.

As you can see, knowing that you want to inform your audience is just a small part of your speech. To make your speech as effective as possible, write with the right type of speech in mind.

1. Choose Your Topic

Before starting your informative speech outline example, you need to know what you're writing about. That's why it's important to pick the right topic. Now, I understand that in some situations where you've got no choice in what you speak about. But if you get to pick yourself, let me give you some pointers.

First, you want to pick something that you're passionate about. It's a lot easier to engage an audience when they can tell that you care about the topic you're speaking about. Think about the types of things you're drawn too and see if there's an opportunity to choose it as your speech topic.

Also ask yourself how much you know about the topic. Even if you're passionate about it, you might not have the facts and figures to draw upon to properly inform a crowd. Consider the time you have available to prepare your speech before you lock in your topic.

But arguably your most important consideration when choosing a topic is your audience. What will be interesting to them? Think about the demographics of who you'll be talking to as you select your topic. We'll talk later about how this will affect your writing.

2. Perform Research

It's hard to write an example of an outline for an informative speech if you're not informed yourself! That's why it's important to do some research. Providing verified sources is one of the best ways to strengthen what you've got to say.

The key word there is verified. Make sure your sources are trustworthy before including them in your speech. Look to reputable journalists, peer-reviewed papers, and accredited universities. Find out who are the leaders in the niche your topic is in and see what they've got to say on the subject.

3. Define Your Thesis Statement

If your speech is our solar system, your thesis statement is the sun everything orbits around. Don't start thinking about other attention getters for informative speeches without your thesis in place.

So, what's a thesis statement? It's a summary of the central point of your whole speech that's part of your introduction. This isn't a long summary either. Your thesis statement shouldn't be longer than a sentence. Sure that's short, but it's plenty opportunity to get the point of your speech across.

A strong thesis is important to have. It gives you a north star to write towards, so you never lose focus of your main point. A focused speech is a strong one that'll engage your audience. 

4.  Outline Your Speech

Now that you've defined your thesis, it's time to structure your speech. And the best way to do that is to create an example of an outline for your informative speech.

Keep in mind that the outline of your informative speech is an overview example. You're not going into full detail of your speech just yet, that'll come in your draft. What you want to do is create the flow you'd like your speech to take. These can be as simple as bullet points.

Start with your introduction, end with your conclusion, and place all the important beats in between. You can even add one or two sentences for each point of your speech. This is the basic structure you should have if you've never made an example of an outline for an informative speech.

5. Consider Your Audience

Playing to your audience is one of the biggest keys to giving a successful speech. As I mentioned earlier, understanding the demographic is important. After all, teenagers and adults have different viewpoints that must be considered.

But that's not the only consideration. Before you start your informative speech outline, think about how knowledgeable your crowd is. A general audience will require you to simplify so that everyone can understand. But if you're speaking to people with technical understanding in your subject, you can dive into the nitty-gritty of your topic.

This is made easier with a strong example of an outline for your informative speech in hand. And so is the next step, which is writing.

6. Write a Draft

It's now time to write your informative speech draft. This is where you bring your topic, research, and audience knowledge to life. So have fun with it! You're the one providing the information, so write with confidence.

As you write, keep your outline example for an informative speech in mind, as well as these points:

Writing Your Introduction

Your introduction might be the most important part of your speech. As they say, you only get one chance at a first impression. So, make yours memorable.

You can do that by starting your informative speech with a line that'll hook your audience. This can be with an intriguing question or concept, an anecdote, or a quote. We've got an incredible tutorial that can give you more information on attention getters for informative speeches.

Once you've nailed your opener, it's time to introduce your thesis statement. As mentioned earlier, your thesis statement is a brief summary of the rest of your speech. Add a transition that allows you to flow into the first key point of your informative speech outline example.

Constructing the Body of Your Speech

Writing the body of your informative speech is a lot easier thanks to your outline. The perfect example is to say it's the GPS for the rest of your speech. How long that journey will be and what twists and turns it'll take all depend on your content.

Even if your body paragraphs have different focuses, there will be similarities in how you present their contents. You'll always want to start by introducing what the key point you're introducing will be. Then dive further into the point and present any facts or figures you found in your research. And, if you've structured your speech well, introduce a transition into the next key point.

Now, notice how I said there will be similarities, and not that your paragraphs will be identical. That's because an identical structure is easy to spot and not very interesting for your audience. Find ways to mix things up in your writing to make sure you're keeping audiences engaged. Take some time to watch some informative speech examples online. Notice that the best ones always find ways to inform without following a strict writing style.

Concluding in Style

All good things must come to an end, and that includes the stellar speech you're writing. So, when it's time to bring it all to a close, do so in a memorable way.

Your conclusion needs a few elements. One of them is a summary of all the topics you've discussed. It's like a brief recap of your key points. Also restate your thesis. Remember, the last time you brought up your thesis statement was in the introduction! It's a good idea to reinforce your main goal before you end. And make sure your end feels like an end. Even if you're informing your audience about ongoing efforts, your speech will need to have a sense of finality.

7. Prepare Your Visual Aid (Optional)

Unlike creating an outline example for your informative speech, this step isn't mandatory. but if you know you'll have a screen at your disposal, take advantage of it. One of the best attention getters for informative speeches is a visual presentation. It's especially helpful when your topic can be easily shown, but it's also helpful for abstract concepts.

A slide deck is easy to create if you use a template. You can find the one that best fits your topic from Envato Elements. The creative service has thousands of presentations with a great offer. But I'll tell you more about that later. For now, check out some of the PowerPoint and Keynote presentation templates you can use to share any visuals you've got for your audience:

8. Rehearse and Rewrite

You've come a long way from selecting your topic and creating the outline for your informative speech. You're just about ready to give your speech, but before you do you've got one last thing to do: practice.

There are a couple ways to practice. You can do it by yourself, with or without the help of a mirror. If you do go this route, make sure you force yourself to fully do your informative speech out loud. It's the best example of what you'll do in front of a crowd. If you've got a willing friend or family member, sit them down and rehearse with them. An outside perspective will give you the best feedback of what you can do to improve your delivery.

If you're speech has a time limit, make sure you time yourself with each run through. Doing this will help you see how close you are to your max allotment. You'll also be able to see whether you're rushing through your speech or speaking a bit too slowly.

Sometimes the words we write don't always translate when speaking out loud. Take this as an opportunity to rewrite when necessary. Make your speech more natural so it's easier for you to get the words out. You might also realize you left out key details you think your audience needs to know.

These steps are always going to be helpful when writing your speech. but I've got a few more tips to keep in mind if you want to take things to the next level:

• Inform, don't persuade . Once you've finished your informative speech outline example and prepare to write, don't forget its goal. You're here to share information. Avoid using words and phrases that may aim to convince. You don't want your audience to leave with the feeling that they've just heard a sales pitch.
• Make everything flow . For effective speeches, you'll hear a lot about storytelling. A story makes sure your audience stays engaged. You don't have to structure your speech like a fairytale. But think about how you'd like each key point and idea to connect with each other. Have this at the front of your mind when putting together your outline example for your informative speech.
• Personal touches are nice . If you had the freedom to pick your topic, you probably picked one that you care about. Don't be afraid to let that show in your speech! If you found a key point to be especially interesting, verbalize it. Audiences engage better with your information if they know you're engaged with it too.
• Interact with your audience . Look to interactivity if you're looking for easy ways to engage your audience. Now, you don't need to invite someone from the crowd to stand next to you while you talk. But you can ask them questions or open the floor so you can answer some yourself. Props, quizzes, or even asking for a show of hands are options at your disposal.
• Use key points for memorization . Remembering everything in your speech can be tricky. But there are some memorization tricks you can use. One of them is to focus memorizing the key points first. This helps you keep the flow of your informative speech in mind. Brenda Barron, an Envato Tuts+ instructor, has even more useful memorization tips that you can check out:

I mentioned earlier how you can get presentation templates from the Envato Elements platform. But that's not all you can get. Envato Elements has a great offer: for a low monthly fee, you get unlimited downloads of everything available on the creative site. You can access and download premium PowerPoint templates, fonts, and photos for no extra fees.

Explore Envato Elements

There are few services with an offer this useful. If you give speeches, are a student, or work as a creative professional, it's a no-brainer. Take advantage of this compelling offer by signing up for Envato Elements today.

You're Ready to Write Your Informative Speech

No matter the niche, you can trust that these steps apply to your speech. Download a template and get started.

We started off by picking a topic and performing research. We then defined a thesis and created an outline of your informative speech example. After thinking about your audience, we wrote a draft, rehearsed, and made our edits.

You've done the work in putting together a well-structured foundation. Now comes the fun part in giving your speech. Good luck!

• Speech Crafting →

How to Write an Informative Speech Outline: A Step-by-Step Guide

It’s the moment of truth — the anxiety-inducing moment when you realize writing the outline for your informative speech is due soon. Whether you’re looking to deliver a report on the migratory patterns of the great white stork or give a lecture on the proper techniques of candle making, knowing how to write an effective outline is essential.

That’s why we’ve put together this complete, step-by-step guide on how to write an informative speech outline. From selecting a topic to transitioning during your speech, this guide will have you well on your way to writing a compelling informative speech outline . So grab your pen and paper, put on your thinking cap, and let’s get started!

What is an Informative Speech Outline?

An informative speech outline is a document used to plan the structure and core content of a public speech. It’s used by speakers to ensure their talk covers all the important points, stays on-topic and flows logically from one point to another. By breaking down complex topics into smaller, concise sections, an effective outline can help keep a speaker organized, set objectives for their talk, support key points with evidence and promote audience engagement. A well-structured outline can also make a presentation easier to remember and act as an invaluable reminder if nerves ever get the better of the speaker. On one hand, an informative speech outline enables speakers to cover multiple ideas in an efficient manner while avoiding digressions. On the other hand, it’s important that speakers remain flexible to adjust and adapt content to meet audience needs. While there are some tried-and-tested strategies for creating outlines that work, many successful speakers prefer to tweak and modify existing outlines according to their personal preferences. In conclusion, preparing an informative speech outline can boost confidence and create an effective structure for presentations. With this in mind, let’s now look at how to structure an informative speech outline

How to Structure an Informative Speech Outline

The structure of your informative speech outline should be based on the points you need to cover during your presentation. It should list out all of the main points in an organized and logical manner, along with supporting details for each point. The main structure for an informative speech should consist of three parts: the introduction, body and conclusion.

Introduction

When starting to craft your structure, begin by introducing the topic and giving a brief synopsis of what the audience can expect to learn from your speech. By setting up what they will gain from your presentation, it will help keep them engaged throughout the rest of your talk. Additionally, include any objectives that you want to achieve by the end of your speech.

The body of an informative speech outline typically consists of three parts: main points, sub-points, and supporting details. Main points are the core topics that the speaker wishes to cover throughout the speech. These can be further broken down into sub-points, that explore the main ideas in greater detail. Supporting details provide evidence or facts about each point and can include statistics, research studies, quotes from experts, anecdotes and personal stories . When presenting an informative speech, it is important to consider each side of the topic for an even-handed discussion. If there is an argumentative element to the speech, consider incorporating both sides of the debate . It is also important to be objective when presenting facts and leave value judgments out. Once you have determined your main points and all of their supporting details, you can start ordering them in a logical fashion. The presentation should have a clear flow and move between points smoothly. Each point should be covered thoroughly without getting overly verbose; you want to make sure you are giving enough information to your audience while still being concise with your delivery.

Writing an informative speech outline can be a daunting yet rewarding process. Through the steps outlined above, speakers will have created a strong foundation for their speech and can now confidently start to research their topics . The outline serves as a guiding map for speakers to follow during their research and when writing their eventual speech drafts . Having the process of developing an informative speech broken down into easy and manageable steps helps to reduce stress and anxiety associated with preparing speeches .

• The introduction should be around 10-20% of the total speech duration and is designed to capture the audience’s attention and introduce the topic.
• The main points should make up 40-60% of the speech and provide further detail into the topic. The body should begin with a transition, include evidence or examples and have supporting details. Concluding with a recap or takeaway should take around 10-20% of the speech duration.

While crafting an informative speech outline is a necessary step in order for your presentation to run smoothly, there are many different styles and approaches you can use when creating one. Ultimately though, the goal is always to ensure that the information presented is factual and relevant to both you and your audience. By carefully designing and structuring an effective outline, both you and your audience will be sure to benefit greatly from it when it comes time for delivering a successful presentation .

Now that speakers know how to create an effective outline, it’s time to begin researching the content they plan to include in their speeches. In the next section we’ll discuss how to conduct research for an informative speech so speakers are armed with all the facts necessary to deliver an interesting and engaging presentation .

How to Research for an Informative Speech

When researching an informative speech, it’s important to find valid and reliable sources of information. There are many ways that one can seek out research for an informative speech, and no single method will guarantee a thorough reliable research. Depending on the complexity of the topic and the depth of knowledge required, a variety of methods should be utilized. The first step when researching for an informative speech should be to evaluate your present knowledge of the subject. This will help to determine what specific areas require additional research, and give clues as to where you might start looking for evidence. It is important to know the basic perspectives and arguments surrounding your chosen topic in order to select good sources and avoid biased materials. Textbooks, academic journals, newspaper articles, broadcasts, or credible websites are good starting points for informational speeches. As you search for information and evidence, be sure to use trustworthy authors who cite their sources. These sources refer to experts in the field whose opinions add credibility and can bolster your argument with facts and data. Evaluating these sources is particularly important as they form the foundation of your speech content and structure. Analyze each source critically by looking into who wrote it and evaluating how recent or relevant it is to the current conversation on your chosen topic. As with any research paper, one must strive for accuracy when gathering evidence while also surveying alternative positions on a topic. Considering both sides of a debate allows your speech to provide accurate information while remaining objective. This will also encourage audience members to draw their conclusions instead of taking your word for it. Furthermore, verifying sources from multiple angles (multiple avenues) ensures that information is fact-checked versus opinionated or biased pieces which might distort accuracy or mislead an audience member seeking truth about a controversial issue. At this stage in preparing for an informative speech, research should have been carried out thoroughly enough to allow confidently delivering evidence-based statements about a chosen topic. With all of this necessary groundwork completed, it’s time to move onto the next stage: sourcing different types of evidence which will allow you to illustrate your point in an even more helpful way. It is now time to transition into discussing “Sources & Evidence”.

Sources and Evidence

When crafting an informative speech outline, it is important to include accurate sources and valid evidence. Your audience needs to be sure that the content you are presenting not only reflects a clear understanding of the topic but is also backed up with reliable sources. For example, if you are speaking about climate change, include research studies, statistics, surveys and other forms of data that provide concrete evidence that supports your argument or position. Additionally, be sure to cite any sources used in the speech so that your audience can double-check the accuracy. In some cases, particularly when discussing sensitive topics, each side of the issue should be addressed. Not only does this make for a more balanced discussion, it also allows you to show respect for different points of view without compromising your own opinion or position. Presenting both sides briefly will demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter and show your ability to present a well-rounded argument. Knowing how to source accurately and objectively is key to creating an informative speech outline which will be compelling and engaging for an audience. With the right sources and evidence utilized correctly, you can ensure that your argument is both authoritative and convincing. With these fundamentals in place, you can move on to developing tips for crafting an informative speech for maximum impact and engagement with the listeners.

Tips for Crafting an Informative Speech

When crafting an informative speech, there are certain tips and tricks that you can use to make sure your outline is the best it can be. Firstly, if you are speaking about a controversial issue, make sure you present both sides of the argument in an unbiased manner. Rely on researching credible sources, and discuss different points of views objectively. Additionally, organize and prioritize your points so that they are easy to follow and follow a logical progression. Begin with introducing a succinct thesis statement that briefly summarizes the main points of your speech. This will give the audience a clear idea of what topics you will be discussing and help retain their attention throughout your speech. Furthermore, be mindful to weave in personal anecdotes or relevant stories so that the audience can better relate to your ideas. Make sure the anecdotes have a purpose and demonstrate the key themes effectively. Acquiring creative ways to present data or statistics is also important; avoid inundating the audience with too many facts and figures all at once. Finally, ensure that all visual aids such as props, charts or slides remain relevant to the subject matter being discussed. Visual aids not only keep listeners engaged but also make difficult concepts easier to understand. With these handy tips in mind, you should be well on your way to constructing an effective informative speech outline! Now let’s move onto exploring some examples of effective informative speech outlines so that we can get a better idea of how it’s done.

Examples of Effective Informative Speech Outlines

Informative speeches must be compelling and provide relevant details, making them effective and impactful. In order to create an effective outline, speakers must first conduct extensive research on the chosen topic. An effective informative speech outline will clearly provide the audience with enough information to keep them engaged while also adhering to a specific timeframe. The following are examples of how to effectively organize an informative speech: I. Introduction: A. Stimulate their interest – pose a question, present intriguing facts or establish a humorous story B. Clearly state the main focus of the speech C. Establish your credibility– explain your experience/research conducted for the speech II. Supporting Points: A. Each point should contain facts and statistics related to your main idea B. Each point should have its own solid evidence that supports it III. Conclusion: A. Summarize supporting points B. Revisit your introduction point and explain how it’s been updated/changed through the course of the discussion C. Offer a final statement or call to action IV. Bibliography: A. Cite all sources used in creating the speech (provide an alphabetical list) Debate both sides of argument if applicable: N/A

Commonly Asked Questions

What techniques can i use to ensure my informative speech outline is organized and cohesive.

When crafting an informative speech outline, there are several techniques you can use to ensure your speech is organized and cohesive. First of all, make sure your speech follows a logical flow by using signposting , outlining the main ideas at the beginning of the speech and then bulleting out your supporting points. Additionally, you can use transitions throughout the speech to create a smooth order for your thoughts, such as ‘next’ and ‘finally’. Furthermore, it is important that each point in your outline has a specific purpose or goal, to avoid rambling and confusion. Finally, use visual aids such as charts and diagrams to emphasise key ideas and add clarity and structure to your speech. By following these techniques , you can ensure your informative speech outline is well organized and easy to follow.

How should I structure the order of the information in an informative speech outline?

The structure of an informative speech outline should be simple and organized, following a linear step-by-step process. First, you should introduce the topic to your audience and provide an overview of the main points. Next, give an explanation of each point, offer evidence or examples to support it, and explain how it relates to the overall subject matter. Finally, you should conclude with a summary of the main points and a call for action. When structuring the order of information in an informative speech outline, it is important to keep topics distinct from one another and stick to the logical progression that you have established in your introduction. Additionally, pay attention to chronology if appropriate; when discussing historical events, for example, make sure that they are presented in the correct order. Moreover, use transition phrases throughout your outline to help move ideas along smoothly. Finally, utilize both verbal and visual aids such as diagrams or graphics to illustrate complex knowledge effectively and engage your audience throughout your presentation.

What are the essential components of an informative speech outline?

The essential components of an informative speech outline are the introduction, body, and conclusion. Introduction: The introduction should establish the topic of your speech, provide background information, and lead into the main purpose of your speech. It’s also important to include a strong attention-grabbing hook in order to grab the audience’s attention. Body: The body is where you expand on the main points that were outlined in the introduction. It should provide evidence and arguments to support these points, as well as explain any counterarguments that might be relevant. Additionally, it should answer any questions or objections your audience may have about the topic. Conclusion: The conclusion should restate the purpose of your speech and summarize the main points from the body of your speech. It should also leave your audience feeling inspired and motivated to take some kind of action after hearing your speech. In short, an effective informative speech outline should strongly focus on bringing all of these elements together in a cohesive structure to ensure that you deliver an engaging presentation that educates and informs your audience.

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43 Informative Speech Outline Templates & Examples

Are you looking for ways to make your informative speech interesting? There are multiple ways through which you can make it sound interesting to your audience. If you are a student, you may have to write such kind of speeches every now and then. Besides students, business owners also have to come up with such kind of speeches for their audience.

Table of Contents

• 1 Informative Speech Outline Examples
• 2 What is an Informative Speech?
• 3.1 Definitional Speech
• 3.2 Descriptive Speech
• 3.3 Explanatory Speech
• 3.4 Demonstration Speech
• 4 Informative Speech Outline Templates
• 5.1 Eye Contact
• 5.2 Tone of Your Voice
• 5.3 Expressive Hand and Body Gestures
• 6 Informative Speech Samples
• 7 Tips for Your Informative Speech from a Professional

You can use multiple ways to enhance your informative speeches. In order to know more about informative speeches, its types, and how you can make it sound interesting, read through this article

Informative Speech Outline Examples

What is an Informative Speech?

An informative speech is a type of speech mostly based on facts and figure. The facts are presented in front of the audience to teach them about a specific topic. It is necessary for an informative speech to have reliable sources to support claims. At times, presenters think to add some life to their speeches by putting in visual aids, images or appealing photographs. This is done to ensure that the audience remains engaged and not get overwhelmed with just facts and figures. As the name implies, an informative speech likely focuses on the general information covering history, evolution and other necessary information in order to teach the audience about a specific topic. For instance, if you are giving an informative speech about baking bread, you can explain the history of bread, its evolution and how to bake it efficiently. Sometimes, people often think that informative essays and informative speeches are one as the same thing, but it is not so. Unlike informative essays , the presentation is the key element for informative speeches.

Furthermore, while giving an informative speech, your tone can vary. You can fluctuate your tone, raising your voice or talking normally. But most importantly, you should include credible sources to support your ideas and claims. The audience can become more knowledgeable on the subject. The speaker of the informative speech should be well-versed about the entire subject and able to answer the detailed questions that are asked. The speaker should do thorough research on the topic and should be able to defend their side.

Normally, there are four types of topics for informative speeches: concepts, objects, events, and processes. Like other types of speeches, an informative speech also has an introduction, body, and conclusion. So, make sure you do include all the parts in order to make the right kind of informative speech outline. If you are not sure about the informative speech outline, you can download the informative speech outline template. We have several different kinds of informative speech outline examples for you. Simply download any of them and edit it with your speech.

Additionally, informative speech is unlike the persuasive speech as it just highlights the facts and figures in order to draw upon conclusions. On the contrary, persuasive speech has certain opinions and conclusions in the speech besides the sourceable facts. An informative speech has limitless options. From fictitious to non-fictitious topics, informative speeches can be given on any kind of topic. But just make sure that you have enough knowledge about it. All in all, the main goal of the informative speech is to provide enlightenment about the specific topic the audience does not know about.

Types of Informative Speeches

Now that you have understood what actually informative speech is, you should also understand that there are different types of speeches. Check out the four types below.

Definitional Speech

In the definitional speeches, the speaker explains the meaning of theories, concepts, issues and philosophies that the audience may not know about. In such types of speeches, the speakers may begin by providing a history of the topic and background to the subject. Let’s continue the similar example which we mentioned above of baking bread.

Considering this example under this form of speech, the speaker would elucidate about what a bread actually is, the history of the bread, how it changed from time and what are the parts of a bread called. The speaker will give shape to such kinds of things throughout the speech.

Descriptive Speech

The purpose of a descriptive speech is to provide vivid and detailed information of a person, place, animal, or thing. Also, it is supported by a word picture. This kind of informative speech is different from the definitional speeches because it helps in determining the characteristics, functions, features and the key points of the topic.

For instance, if you are providing a speech on the famous Statue of Liberty in the United States, you should let the audience know all about its nuts and bolts. You should know what kind of material is used in order to make it, how it was made, what is its historical significance, why is it located on that spot etc. There are many things that you need to answer in these kinds of descriptive speeches.

Explanatory Speech

An explanatory speech is also known as a briefing. Explanatory speech is somehow like descriptive speech as both of them share the function of clarifying the topic. But these kinds of speeches mostly focus on reports of historical and current events, transformations, customs, inventions, outcomes, policies, and options.

Additionally, these speeches focus on the explanations more, considering how and why aspect most importantly. On the contrary, descriptive speeches do not go in too many details while the explanatory speeches go into depth.

Demonstration Speech

Demonstration speech type is also one of the informative speech types that help listeners determine how to accomplish or perform things on their own. This type of speech is based on demonstration. When speakers have to give this type of speech, they focus on the processes having a series of steps which has specific beginning and ending. These types of speeches are normally given to the audience who do not have any know-how about the product. For instance, if a representative is giving speech to the audience in public about a product, they would use demonstration speech approach.

Also, there are certain products that include set of tools and associated features. It can be quite challenging to write the demonstration speeches as they may include several objects, steps, features, related events or relationships. If you want to prepare this speech, you should first remember to keep safety of the audience in your mind. You should make sure that the tools or elements you are using do not hurt the audience.

For instance, if you want to give a demonstration speech using fire, make sure that you do it carefully. There have been many cases in history when demonstration speeches have gone wrong. So, you must ensure to keep the safety of the audience in your mind. Besides, if you want to write a demonstration speech, we have a template available for that too. Simply download it and edit the outline with respect to your needs.

Informative Speech Outline Templates

Checklist for Your Informative Speech

According to a research, when you give speech to the audience, words are the least important part while communicating. As per the study, when you do face-to-face conversation with others, you need to focus on your actions. Here are some elements that you need to take care of. Find the checklist for your informative speech below.

Eye Contact

Your audience will get bored if you just read through the text on the presentation. This would not help the audience in understanding the speech you are giving to them. A good speech is the one which is supported by proper eye contact and is accompanied with good presentation skills. Also, according to a study, effective communication is based on trust.

Your audience will trust you if you make an eye contact with them. You should see into the eyes of the audience in order to evaluate if they are interested and grasping the idea or not. The cooperation increases when we watch the audience. When you would make an eye contact, it would increase trustworthiness and also encourage future cooperation.

Tone of Your Voice

In addition to making an eye contact, the tone of your voice is equally important when it comes to giving a speech. Your audience will not be interested if you give the speech in a monotonous tone. Also, informative speeches may also get dull due to the facts and figures in it. Along with the tone of your voice, the facial expressions also matter.

According to experts, if the tome remains the same, neural dissonance takes place inside the brain causing confusion in the person. In order to express joy, your voice should become increasingly melodic and when you want to portray sadness, you can shift your tone to monotonic. There is a lot of variability in both, the speed and tone.

Expressive Hand and Body Gestures

Hand and body gestures also play a very important role. Your audience would get really very bored if you stand straight in one position and do not use your hand and body gestures. The gestures are really very important as they help in the comprehending the language. Audience’s brain would want both, your sound as well as your body movements in order to accurately perceive what is meant.

According to a research, if our gestures and words are dissimilar, it will likely create a confusing state for the listener’s brain. So, you need to ensure that you use your hand and body gestures during your speech but make sure that you do it at the right time. We would suggest you to practice speaking in front of the mirror and use your hands in order to describe the words that you are going to speak in front of the audience.

Informative Speech Samples

Tips for Your Informative Speech from a Professional

If you want to write an effective informative speech, then you should be following the tips below by the professional.

• You should be providing information in every minute of your speech. There should not be any filler texts or information. An informative speech is made for the core reason to make every minute worth for the audience. Keep in mind that you are not trying to impress them; you are just trying to provide them information during your speech.
• In addition to providing information to the audience, you should also give examples of real world situations so that your audience can relate to the information on practical basis. You are just there to help your audience learn information.
• Make sure that you make an eye contact with your audience in order to help them trust you. Remember that your goal is to educate the audience and make them believe in what you say.
• You should be quite sincere and credible about the speech you are giving to your audience. You should not put the information that you think is not reliable.
• At the end of the information speech, you should be ready to ask questions. Or let your audience know that you would ask them in the end so that they stay prepared by the end of the session.

Informative speech outline is readily available on our main website. If you are looking for informative speech outline template of any type, you can download it from our main website and use for your effective informative speech. We hope our templates help you in giving the best speech.

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How to Write an Informative Speech

Last Updated: August 20, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Lynn Kirkham . Lynn Kirkham is a Professional Public Speaker and Founder of Yes You Can Speak, a San Francisco Bay Area-based public speaking educational business empowering thousands of professionals to take command of whatever stage they've been given - from job interviews, boardroom talks to TEDx and large conference platforms. Lynn was chosen as the official TEDx Berkeley speaker coach for the last four years and has worked with executives at Google, Facebook, Intuit, Genentech, Intel, VMware, and others. There are 13 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 1,397,293 times.

An informative speech tells an audience about a process, event, or concept. Whether you’re explaining how to grow a garden or describing a historical event, writing an informative speech is pretty straightforward. Knowing the topic inside and out is key, so start by conducting thorough research. Organize your speech logically so your audience can easily follow, and keep your language clear. Since speeches are recited out loud, be sure to set aside time after writing to perfect your delivery.

Researching the Topic

• Suppose your prompt instructs you to inform the audience about a hobby or activity. Make a list of your clubs, sports, and other activities, and choose the one that interests you most. Then zoom in on one particular aspect or process to focus on in your speech.
• For instance, if you like tennis, you can’t discuss every aspect of the sport in a single speech. Instead, you could focus on a specific technique, like serving the ball.

• For example, if your speech is about a historical event, find primary sources, like letters or newspaper articles published at the time of the event. Additionally, include secondary sources, such as scholarly articles written by experts on the event.
• If you’re informing the audience about a medical condition, find information in medical encyclopedias, scientific journals, and government health websites.

Tip: Organize your sources in a works cited page. Even if the assignment doesn’t require a works cited page, it’ll help you keep track of your sources. [3] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source

• For instance, if your speech is on growing plants from seeds, explain the process step-by-step to a friend or relative. Ask them if any parts in your explanation seemed muddy or vague.
• Break down the material into simple terms, especially if you’re addressing a non-expert audience. Think about how you’d describe the topic to a grandparent or younger sibling. If you can’t avoid using jargon, be sure to define technical words in clear, simple terms.

• For example, if your speech is on the poet Charles Baudelaire, a strong thesis would be, “I am here to explain how city life and exotic travel shaped the key poetic themes of Charles Baudelaire’s work.”
• While the goal of an informative speech isn't to make a defensible claim, your thesis still needs to be specific. For instance, “I’m going to talk about carburetors” is vague. “My purpose today is to explain how to take apart a variable choke carburetor” is more specific.

• For instance, a speech meant to persuade an audience to support a political stance would most likely include examples of pathos, or persuasive devices that appeal to the audience's emotions.
• On the other hand, an informative speech on how to grow pitcher plants would present clear, objective steps. It wouldn't try to argue that growing pitcher plants is great or persuade listeners to grow pitcher plants.

Drafting Your Speech

• Delivering memorized remarks instead of reading verbatim is more engaging. A section of a speaking outline would look like this: III. YMCA’s Focus on Healthy Living  A. Commitment to overall health: both body and mind  B. Programs that support commitment   1. Annual Kid’s Day   2. Fitness facilities   3. Classes and group activities

• For example, you could begin with, “Have you ever wondered how a figure skater could possibly jump, twist, and land on the thin blade of an ice skate? From proper technique to the physical forces at play, I’ll explain how world-class skaters achieve jaw-dropping jumps and spins.”
• Once you've established your purpose, preview your speech: “After describing the basic technical aspects of jumping, I’ll discuss the physics behind jumps and spins. Finally, I’ll explain the 6 types of jumps and clarify why some are more difficult than others.”
• Some people prefer to write the speech's body before the introduction. For others, writing the intro first helps them figure out how to organize the rest of the speech.

• For instance, if your speech is about the causes of World War I, start by discussing nationalism in the years prior to the war. Next, describe the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, then explain how alliances pulled the major players into open warfare.
• Transition smoothly between ideas so your audience can follow your speech. For example, write, “Now that we’ve covered how nationalism set the stage for international conflict, we can examine the event that directly led to the outbreak of World War I: the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. [11] X Research source

• For instance, your conclusion could point out, “Examining the factors that set the stage for World War I shows how intense nationalism fueled the conflict. A century after the Great War, the struggle between nationalism and globalism continues to define international politics in the twenty-first century.”

• Typically, speeches aren’t read verbatim. Instead, you’ll memorize the speech and use a bare bones outline to stay on track.

Avoid information overload: When you compose your speech, read out loud as you write. Focus on keeping your sentence structures simple and clear. Your audience will have a hard time following along if your language is too complicated. [14] X Trustworthy Source University of North Carolina Writing Center UNC's on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing process Go to source

Perfecting Your Delivery

• While it’s generally okay to use slightly different phrasing, try to stick to your complete outline as best you can. If you veer off too much or insert too many additional words, you could end up exceeding your time limit.
• Keep in mind your speaking outline will help you stay focused. As for quotes and statistics, feel free to write them on your notecards for quick reference.

Memorization tip: Break up the speech into smaller parts, and memorize it section by section. Memorize 1 sentence then, when you feel confident, add the next. Continue practicing with gradually longer passages until you know the speech like the back of your hand.

• Instead of slouching, stand up tall with your shoulders back. In addition to projecting confidence, good posture will help you breathe deeply to support your voice.

• Have them point out any spots that dragged or seemed disorganized. Ask if your tone was engaging, if you used body language effectively, and if your volume, pitch, and pacing need any tweaks.

• If you keep exceeding the time limit, review your complete sentence outline. Cut any fluff and simplify complicated phrases. If your speech isn’t long enough, look for areas that could use more detail or consider adding another section to the body.
• Just make sure any content you add is relevant. For instance, if your speech on nationalism and World War I is 2 minutes too short, you could add a section about how nationalism manifested in specific countries, including Britain, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Serbia.

Sample Informative Speeches

Expert Q&A

• You're probably much better at informative speeches than you think! If you have ever told your parents about your day at school or explained to a friend how to make chicken noodle soup, you already have experience giving an informative speech! Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• If you get nervous, try to relax, take deep breaths, and visualize calming scenery. Remember, there’s nothing to worry about. Just set yourself up for success by knowing the material and practicing. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• When composing your speech, take your audience into consideration, and tailor your speech to the people you’re addressing. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-realworldcomm/chapter/11-1-informative-speeches/
• ↑ https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/a-primer-on-communication-studies/s11-01-informative-speeches.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_page_basic_format.html
• ↑ https://open.lib.umn.edu/communication/chapter/11-1-informative-speeches/
• ↑ https://www.comm.pitt.edu/informative-speaking
• ↑ https://rasmussen.libanswers.com/faq/337550
• ↑ Lynn Kirkham. Public Speaking Coach. Expert Interview. 20 November 2019.
• ↑ https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/centers/oralcommunication/guides/how-to-outline-a-speech
• ↑ https://wac.colostate.edu/resources/writing/guides/informative-speaking/
• ↑ https://www.comm.pitt.edu/structuring-speech
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/speeches/
• ↑ https://www.speechanddebate.org/wp-content/uploads/High-School-Competition-Events-Guide.pdf
• ↑ https://open.lib.umn.edu/communication/chapter/10-4-physical-delivery/

About This Article

To write an informative speech, start with an introduction that will grab your audience's attention and give them an idea of where the rest of your speech is headed. Next, choose 3 important points that you want to make to form the body of your speech. Then, organize the points in a logical order and write content to address each point. Finally, write a conclusion that summarizes the main points and ends with a message that you want your audience to take away from it. For tips on researching topics for an informative speech, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Planning and Presenting an Informative Speech

In this guide, you can learn about the purposes and types of informative speeches, about writing and delivering informative speeches, and about the parts of informative speeches.

Purposes of Informative Speaking

Informative speaking offers you an opportunity to practice your researching, writing, organizing, and speaking skills. You will learn how to discover and present information clearly. If you take the time to thoroughly research and understand your topic, to create a clearly organized speech, and to practice an enthusiastic, dynamic style of delivery, you can be an effective "teacher" during your informative speech. Finally, you will get a chance to practice a type of speaking you will undoubtedly use later in your professional career.

The purpose of the informative speech is to provide interesting, useful, and unique information to your audience. By dedicating yourself to the goals of providing information and appealing to your audience, you can take a positive step toward succeeding in your efforts as an informative speaker.

Major Types of Informative Speeches

In this guide, we focus on informative speeches about:

These categories provide an effective method of organizing and evaluating informative speeches. Although they are not absolute, these categories provide a useful starting point for work on your speech.

In general, you will use four major types of informative speeches. While you can classify informative speeches many ways, the speech you deliver will fit into one of four major categories.

Speeches about Objects

Speeches about objects focus on things existing in the world. Objects include, among other things, people, places, animals, or products.

Because you are speaking under time constraints, you cannot discuss any topic in its entirety. Instead, limit your speech to a focused discussion of some aspect of your topic.

Some example topics for speeches about objects include: the Central Intelligence Agency, tombstones, surgical lasers, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the pituitary gland, and lemmings.

To focus these topics, you could give a speech about Franklin Delano Roosevelt and efforts to conceal how he suffered from polio while he was in office. Or, a speech about tombstones could focus on the creation and original designs of grave markers.

Speeches about Processes

Speeches about processes focus on patterns of action. One type of speech about processes, the demonstration speech, teaches people "how-to" perform a process. More frequently, however, you will use process speeches to explain a process in broader terms. This way, the audience is more likely to understand the importance or the context of the process.

A speech about how milk is pasteurized would not teach the audience how to milk cows. Rather, this speech could help audience members understand the process by making explicit connections between patterns of action (the pasteurization process) and outcomes (a safe milk supply).

Other examples of speeches about processes include: how the Internet works (not "how to work the Internet"), how to construct a good informative speech, and how to research the job market. As with any speech, be sure to limit your discussion to information you can explain clearly and completely within time constraints.

Speeches about Events

Speeches about events focus on things that happened, are happening, or will happen. When speaking about an event, remember to relate the topic to your audience. A speech chronicling history is informative, but you should adapt the information to your audience and provide them with some way to use the information. As always, limit your focus to those aspects of an event that can be adequately discussed within the time limitations of your assignment.

Examples of speeches about events include: the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, Groundhog's Day, the Battle of the Bulge, the World Series, and the 2000 Presidential Elections.

Speeches about Concepts

Speeches about concepts focus on beliefs, ideas, and theories. While speeches about objects, processes, and events are fairly concrete, speeches about concepts are more abstract. Take care to be clear and understandable when creating and presenting a speech about a concept. When selecting a concept, remember you are crafting an informative speech. Often, speeches about concepts take on a persuasive tone. Focus your efforts toward providing unbiased information and refrain from making arguments. Because concepts can be vague and involved, limit your speech to aspects that can be readily explained and understood within the time limits.

Some examples of topics for concept speeches include: democracy, Taoism, principles of feminism, the philosophy of non-violent protest, and the Big Bang theory.

Strategies for Selecting a Topic

In many cases, circumstances will dictate the topic of your speech. However, if the topic has not been assigned or if you are having difficulty figuring out how to frame your topic as an informative speech,the following may be useful.

Begin by thinking of your interests. If you have always loved art, contemplate possible topics dealing with famous artists, art works, or different types of art. If you are employed, think of aspects of your job or aspects of your employer's business that would be interesting to talk about. While you cannot substitute personal experience for detailed research, your own experience can supplement your research and add vitality to your presentation. Choose one of the items below to learn more about selecting a topic.

Learn More about an Unfamiliar Topic

You may benefit more by selecting an unfamiliar topic that interests you. You can challenge yourself by choosing a topic you'd like to learn about and to help others understand it. If the Buddhist religion has always been an interesting and mysterious topic to you, research the topic and create a speech that offers an understandable introduction to the religion. Remember to adapt Buddhism to your audience and tell them why you think this information is useful to them. By taking this approach, you can learn something new and learn how to synthesize new information for your audience.

Think about Previous Classes

You might find a topic by thinking of classes you have taken. Think back to concepts covered in those classes and consider whether they would serve as unique, interesting, and enlightening topics for the informative speech. In astronomy, you learned about red giants. In history, you learned about Napoleon. In political science, you learned about The Federalist Papers. Past classes serve as rich resources for informative speech topics. If you make this choice, use your class notes and textbook as a starting point. To fully develop the content, you will need to do extensive research and perhaps even a few interviews.

Talk to Others

Topic selection does not have to be an individual effort. Spend time talking about potential topics with classmates or friends. This method can be extremely effective because other people can stimulate further ideas when you get stuck. When you use this method, always keep the basic requirements and the audience in mind. Just because you and your friend think home-brew is a great topic does not mean it will enthrall your audience or impress your instructor. While you talk with your classmates or friends, jot notes about potential topics and create a master list when you exhaust the possibilities. From this list, choose a topic with intellectual merit, originality, and potential to entertain while informing.

Framing a Thesis Statement

Once you settle on a topic, you need to frame a thesis statement. Framing a thesis statement allows you to narrow your topic, and in turns allows you to focus your research in this specific area, saving you time and trouble in the process.

Selecting a topic and focusing it into a thesis statement can be a difficult process. Fortunately, a number of useful strategies are available to you.

Thesis Statement Purpose

The thesis statement is crucial for clearly communicating your topic and purpose to the audience. Be sure to make the statement clear, concise, and easy to remember. Deliver it to the audience and use verbal and nonverbal illustrations to make it stand out.

Strategies For Framing a Thesis Statement

Focus on a specific aspect of your topic and phrase the thesis statement in one clear, concise, complete sentence, focusing on the audience. This sentence sets a goal for the speech. For example, in a speech about art, the thesis statement might be: "The purpose of this speech is to inform my audience about the early works of Vincent van Gogh." This statement establishes that the speech will inform the audience about the early works of one great artist. The thesis statement is worded conversationally and included in the delivery of the speech.

Thesis Statement and Audience

The thesis appears in the introduction of the speech so that the audience immediately realizes the speaker's topic and goal. Whatever the topic may be, you should attempt to create a clear, focused thesis statement that stands out and could be repeated by every member of your audience. It is important to refer to the audience in the thesis statement; when you look back at the thesis for direction, or when the audience hears the thesis, it should be clear that the most important goal of your speech is to inform the audience about your topic. While the focus and pressure will be on you as a speaker, you should always remember that the audience is the reason for presenting a public speech.

Avoid being too trivial or basic for the average audience member. At the same time, avoid being too technical for the average audience member. Be sure to use specific, concrete terms that clearly establish the focus of your speech.

Thesis Statement and Delivery

When creating the thesis statement, be sure to use a full sentence and frame that sentence as a statement, not as a question. The full sentence, "The purpose of this speech is to inform my audience about the early works of Vincent van Gogh," provides clear direction for the speech, whereas the fragment "van Gogh" says very little about the purpose of the speech. Similarly, the question "Who was Vincent van Gogh?" does not adequately indicate the direction the speech will take or what the speaker hopes to accomplish.

If you limit your thesis statement to one distinct aspect of the larger topic, you are more likely to be understood and to meet the time constraints.

Researching Your Topic

As you begin to work on your informative speech, you will find that you need to gather additional information. Your instructor will most likely require that you locate relevant materials in the library and cite those materials in your speech. In this section, we discuss the process of researching your topic and thesis.

Conducting research for a major informative speech can be a daunting task. In this section, we discuss a number of strategies and techniques that you can use to gather and organize source materials for your speech.

Gathering Materials

Gathering materials can be a daunting task. You may want to do some research before you choose a topic. Once you have a topic, you have many options for finding information. You can conduct interviews, write or call for information from a clearinghouse or public relations office, and consult books, magazines, journals, newspapers, television and radio programs, and government documents. The library will probably be your primary source of information. You can use many of the libraries databases or talk to a reference librarian to learn how to conduct efficient research.

Taking Notes

While doing your research, you may want to carry notecards. When you come across a useful passage, copy the source and the information onto the notecard or copy and paste the information. You should maintain a working bibliography as you research so you always know which sources you have consulted and so the process of writing citations into the speech and creating the bibliography will be easier. You'll need to determine what information-recording strategies work best for you. Talk to other students, instructors, and librarians to get tips on conducting efficient research. Spend time refining your system and you will soon be able to focus on the information instead of the record-keeping tasks.

Citing Sources Within Your Speech

Consult with your instructor to determine how much research/source information should be included in your speech. Realize that a source citation within your speech is defined as a reference to or quotation from material you have gathered during your research and an acknowledgement of the source. For example, within your speech you might say: "As John W. Bobbitt said in the December 22, 1993, edition of the Denver Post , 'Ouch!'" In this case, you have included a direct quotation and provided the source of the quotation. If you do not quote someone, you might say: "After the first week of the 1995 baseball season, attendance was down 13.5% from 1994. This statistic appeared in the May 7, 1995, edition of the Denver Post ." Whatever the case, whenever you use someone else's ideas, thoughts, or words, you must provide a source citation to give proper credit to the creator of the information. Failure to cite sources can be interpreted as plagiarism which is a serious offense. Upon review of the specific case, plagiarism can result in failure of the assignment, the course, or even dismissal from the University. Take care to cite your sources and give credit where it is due.

Creating Your Bibliography

As with all aspects of your speech, be sure to check with your instructor to get specific details about the assignment.

Generally, the bibliography includes only those sources you cited during the speech. Don't pad the bibliography with every source you read, saw on the shelf, or heard of from friends. When you create the bibliography, you should simply go through your complete sentence outline and list each source you cite. This is also a good way to check if you have included enough reference material within the speech. You will need to alphabetize the bibiography by authors last name and include the following information: author's name, article title, publication title, volume, date, page number(s). You may need to include additional information; you need to talk with your instructor to confirm the required bibliographical format.

Some Cautions

When doing research, use caution in choosing your sources. You need to determine which sources are more credible than others and attempt to use a wide variety of materials. The broader the scope of your research, the more impressive and believable your information. You should draw from different sources (e.g., a variety of magazines-- Time, Newsweek, US News & World Report, National Review, Mother Jones ) as well as different types of sources (i.e., use interviews, newspapers, periodicals, and books instead of just newspapers). The greater your variety, the more apparent your hard work and effort will be. Solid research skills result in increased credibility and effectiveness for the speaker.

Structuring an Informative Speech

Typically, informative speeches have three parts:

Introduction

In this section, we discuss the three parts of an informative speech, calling attention to specific elements that can enhance the effectiveness of your speech. As a speaker, you will want to create a clear structure for your speech. In this section, you will find discussions of the major parts of the informative speech.

The introduction sets the tone of the entire speech. The introduction should be brief and to-the-point as it accomplishes these several important tasks. Typically, there are six main components of an effective introduction:

Attention Getters

Thesis statement, audience adaptation, credibility statement, transition to the body.

As in any social situation, your audience makes strong assumptions about you during the first eight or ten seconds of your speech. For this reason, you need to start solidly and launch the topic clearly. Focus your efforts on completing these tasks and moving on to the real information (the body) of the speech. Typically, there are six main components of an effective introduction. These tasks do not have to be handled in this order, but this layout often yields the best results.

The attention-getter is designed to intrigue the audience members and to motivate them to listen attentively for the next several minutes. There are infinite possibilities for attention-getting devices. Some of the more common devices include using a story, a rhetorical question, or a quotation. While any of these devices can be effective, it is important for you to spend time strategizing, creating, and practicing the attention-getter.

Most importantly, an attention-getter should create curiosity in the minds of your listeners and convince them that the speech will be interesting and useful. The wording of your attention-getter should be refined and practiced. Be sure to consider the mood/tone of your speech; determine the appropriateness of humor, emotion, aggressiveness, etc. Not only should the words get the audiences attention, but your delivery should be smooth and confident to let the audience know that you are a skilled speaker who is prepared for this speech.

The crowd was wild. The music was booming. The sun was shining. The cash registers were ringing.

This story-like re-creation of the scene at a Farm Aid concert serves to engage the audience and causes them to think about the situation you are describing. Touching stories or stories that make audience members feel involved with the topic serve as good attention-getters. You should tell a story with feeling and deliver it directly to the audience instead of reading it off your notecards.

Example Text : One dark summer night in 1849, a young woman in her 20's left Bucktown, Maryland, and followed the North Star. What was her name? Harriet Tubman. She went back some 19 times to rescue her fellow slaves. And as James Blockson relates in a 1984 issue of National Geographic , by the end of her career, she had a $40,000.00 price on her head. This was quite a compliment from her enemies (Blockson 22).

Rhetorical Question

Rhetorical questions are questions designed to arouse curiosity without requiring an answer. Either the answer will be obvious, or if it isn't apparent, the question will arouse curiosity until the presentation provides the answer.

An example of a rhetorical question to gain the audiences attention for a speech about fly-fishing is, "Have you ever stood in a freezing river at 5 o'clock in the morning by choice?"

Example Text: Have you ever heard of a railroad with no tracks, with secret stations, and whose conductors were considered criminals?

A quotation from a famous person or from an expert on your topic can gain the attention of the audience. The use of a quotation immediately launches you into the speech and focuses the audience on your topic area. If it is from a well-known source, cite the author first. If the source is obscure, begin with the quote itself.

Example Text : "No day dawns for the slave, nor is it looked for. It is all night--night forever . . . ." (Pause) This quote was taken from Jermain Loguen, a fugitive who was the son of his Tennessee master and a slave woman.

Unusual Statement

Making a statement that is unusual to the ears of your listeners is another possibility for gaining their attention.

Example Text : "Follow the drinking gourd. That's what I said, friend, follow the drinking gourd." This phrase was used by slaves as a coded message to mean the Big Dipper, which revealed the North Star, and pointed toward freedom.

You might chose to use tasteful humor which relates to the topic as an effective way to attract the audience both to you and the subject at hand.

Example Text : "I'm feeling boxed in." [PAUSE] I'm not sure, but these may have been Henry "Box" Brown's very words after being placed on his head inside a box which measured 3 feet by 2 feet by 2 1\2 feet for what seemed to him like "an hour and a half." He was shipped by Adams Express to freedom in Philadelphia (Brown 60,92; Still 10).

Shocking Statistic

Another possibility to consider is the use of a factual statistic intended to grab your listener's attention. As you research the topic you've picked, keep your eyes open for statistics that will have impact.

Example Text : Today, John Elway's talents are worth millions, but in 1840 the price of a human life, a slave, was worth $1,000.00.

Example Text : Today I'd like to tell you about the Underground Railroad.

In your introduction, you need to adapt your speech to your audience. To keep audience members interested, tell them why your topic is important to them. To accomplish this task, you need to undertake audience analysis prior to creating the speech. Figure out who your audience members are, what things are important to them, what their biases may be, and what types of subjects/issues appeal to them. In the context of this class, some of your audience analysis is provided for you--most of your listeners are college students, so it is likely that they place some value on education, most of them are probably not bathing in money, and they live in Colorado. Consider these traits when you determine how to adapt to your audience.

As you research and write your speech, take note of references to issues that should be important to your audience. Include statements about aspects of your speech that you think will be of special interest to the audience in the introduction. By accomplishing this task, you give your listeners specific things with which they can identify. Audience adaptation will be included throughout the speech, but an effective introduction requires meaningful adaptation of the topic to the audience.

You need to find ways to get the members of your audience involved early in the speech. The following are some possible options to connect your speech to your audience:

Reference to the Occasion

Consider how the occasion itself might present an opportunity to heighten audience receptivity. Remind your listeners of an important date just passed or coming soon.

Example Text : This January will mark the 130th anniversary of a "giant interracial rally" organized by William Still which helped to end streetcar segregation in the city of Philadelphia (Katz i).

Reference to the Previous Speaker

Another possibility is to refer to a previous speaker to capitalize on the good will which already has been established or to build on the information presented.

Example Text : As Alice pointed out last week in her speech on the Olympic games of the ancient world, history can provide us with fascinating lessons.

The credibility statement establishes your qualifications as a speaker. You should come up with reasons why you are someone to listen to on this topic. Why do you have special knowledge or understanding of this topic? What can the audience learn from you that they couldn't learn from someone else? Credibility statements can refer to your extensive research on a topic, your life-long interest in an issue, your personal experience with a thing, or your desire to better the lives of your listeners by sifting through the topic and providing the crucial information.

Remember that Aristotle said that credibility, or ethos, consists of good sense, goodwill, and good moral character. Create the feeling that you possess these qualities by creatively stating that you are well-educated about the topic (good sense), that you want to help each member of the audience (goodwill), and that you are a decent person who can be trusted (good moral character). Once you establish your credibility, the audience is more likely to listen to you as something of an expert and to consider what you say to be the truth. It is often effective to include further references to your credibility throughout the speech by subtly referring to the traits mentioned above.

Show your listeners that you are qualified to speak by making a specific reference to a helpful resource. This is one way to demonstrate competence.

Example Text : In doing research for this topic, I came across an account written by one of these heroes that has deepened my understanding of the institution of slavery. Frederick Douglass', My Bondage and My Freedom, is the account of a man whose master's kindness made his slavery only more unbearable.

Your listeners want to believe that you have their best interests in mind. In the case of an informative speech, it is enough to assure them that this will be an interesting speech and that you, yourself, are enthusiastic about the topic.

Example Text : I hope you'll enjoy hearing about the heroism of the Underground Railroad as much as I have enjoyed preparing for this speech.

Preview the Main Points

The preview informs the audience about the speech's main points. You should preview every main body point and identify each as a separate piece of the body. The purpose of this preview is to let the audience members prepare themselves for the flow of the speech; therefore, you should word the preview clearly and concisely. Attempt to use parallel structure for each part of the preview and avoid delving into the main point; simply tell the audience what the main point will be about in general.

Use the preview to briefly establish your structure and then move on. Let the audience get a taste of how you will divide the topic and fulfill the thesis and then move on. This important tool will reinforce the information in the minds of your listeners. Here are two examples of a preview:

Simply identify the main points of the speech. Cover them in the same order that they will appear in the body of the presentation.

For example, the preview for a speech about kites organized topically might take this form: "First, I will inform you about the invention of the kite. Then, I will explain the evolution of the kite. Third, I will introduce you to the different types of kites. Finally, I will inform you about various uses for kites." Notice that this preview avoids digressions (e.g., listing the various uses for kites); you will take care of the deeper information within the body of the speech.

Example Text : I'll tell you about motivations and means of escape employed by fugitive slaves.

Chronological

For example, the preview for a speech about the Pony Express organized chronologically might take this form: "I'll talk about the Pony Express in three parts. First, its origins, second, its heyday, and third, how it came to an end." Notice that this preview avoids digressions (e.g., listing the reasons why the Pony Express came to an end); you will cover the deeper information within the body of the speech.

Example Text : I'll talk about it in three parts. First, its origins, second, its heyday, and third, how it came to an end.

After you accomplish the first five components of the introduction, you should make a clean transition to the body of the speech. Use this transition to signal a change and prepare the audience to begin processing specific topical information. You should round out the introduction, reinforce the excitement and interest that you created in the audience during the introduction, and slide into the first main body point.

Strategic organization helps increase the clarity and effectiveness of your speech. Four key issues are discussed in this section:

Organizational Patterns

Connective devices, references to outside research.

The body contains the bulk of information in your speech and needs to be clearly organized. Without clear organization, the audience will probably forget your information, main points, perhaps even your thesis. Some simple strategies will help you create a clear, memorable speech. Below are the four key issues used in organizing a speech.

Once you settle on a topic, you should decide which aspects of that topic are of greatest importance for your speech. These aspects become your main points. While there is no rule about how many main points should appear in the body of the speech, most students go with three main points. You must have at least two main points; aside from that rule, you should select your main points based on the importance of the information and the time limitations. Be sure to include whatever information is necessary for the audience to understand your topic. Also, be sure to synthesize the information so it fits into the assigned time frame. As you choose your main points, try to give each point equal attention within the speech. If you pick three main points, each point should take up roughly one-third of the body section of your speech.

There are four basic patterns of organization for an informative speech.

• Chronological order
• Spatial order
• Causal order
• Topical order

There are four basic patterns of organization for an informative speech. You can choose any of these patterns based on which pattern serves the needs of your speech.

Chronological Order

A speech organized chronologically has main points oriented toward time. For example, a speech about the Farm Aid benefit concert could have main points organized chronologically. The first main point focuses on the creation of the event; the second main point focuses on the planning stages; the third point focuses on the actual performance/concert; and the fourth point focuses on donations and assistance that resulted from the entire process. In this format, you discuss main points in an order that could be followed on a calendar or a clock.

Spatial Order

A speech organized spatially has main points oriented toward space or a directional pattern. The Farm Aid speech's body could be organized in spatial order. The first main point discusses the New York branch of the organization; the second main point discusses the Midwest branch; the third main point discusses the California branch of Farm Aid. In this format, you discuss main points in an order that could be traced on a map.

Causal Order

A speech organized causally has main points oriented toward cause and effect. The main points of a Farm Aid speech organized causally could look like this: the first main point informs about problems on farms and the need for monetary assistance; the second main point discusses the creation and implementation of the Farm Aid program. In this format, you discuss main points in an order that alerts the audience to a problem or circumstance and then tells the audience what action resulted from the original circumstance.

Topical Order

A speech organized topically has main points organized more randomly by sub-topics. The Farm Aid speech could be organized topically: the first main point discusses Farm Aid administrators; the second main point discusses performers; the third main point discusses sponsors; the fourth main point discusses audiences. In this format, you discuss main points in a more random order that labels specific aspects of the topic and addresses them in separate categories. Most speeches that are not organized chronologically, spatially, or causally are organized topically.

Within the body of your speech, you need clear internal structure. Connectives are devices used to create a clear flow between ideas and points within the body of your speech--they serve to tie the speech together. There are four main types of connective devices:

Transitions

Internal previews, internal summaries.

Within the body of your speech, you need clear internal structure. Think of connectives as hooks and ladders for the audience to use when moving from point-to-point within the body of your speech. These devices help re-focus the minds of audience members and remind them of which main point your information is supporting. The four main types of connective devices are:

Transitions are brief statements that tell the audience to shift gears between ideas. Transitions serve as the glue that holds the speech together and allow the audience to predict where the next portion of the speech will go. For example, once you have previewed your main points and you want to move from the introduction to the body of the Farm Aid speech, you might say: "To gain an adequate understanding of the intricacies of this philanthropic group, we need to look at some specific information about Farm Aid. We'll begin by looking at the administrative branch of this massive fund-raising organization."

Internal previews are used to preview the parts of a main point. Internal previews are more focused than, but serve the same purpose as, the preview you will use in the introduction of the speech. For example, you might create an internal preview for the complex main point dealing with Farm Aid performers: "In examining the Farm Aid performers, we must acknowledge the presence of entertainers from different genres of music--country and western, rhythm and blues, rock, and pop." The internal preview provides specific information for the audience if a main point is complex or potentially confusing.

Internal summaries are the reverse of internal previews. Internal summaries restate specific parts of a main point. To internally summarize the main point dealing with Farm Aid performers, you might say: "You now know what types of people perform at the Farm Aid benefit concerts. The entertainers come from a wide range of musical genres--country and western, rhythm and blues, rock, and pop." When using both internal previews and internal summaries, be sure to stylize the language in each so you do not become redundant.

Signposts are brief statements that remind the audience where you are within the speech. If you have a long point, you may want to remind the audience of what main point you are on: "Continuing my discussion of Farm Aid performers . . . "

When organizing the body of your speech, you will integrate several references to your research. The purpose of the informative speech is to allow you and the audience to learn something new about a topic. Additionally, source citations add credibility to your ideas. If you know a lot about rock climbing and you cite several sources who confirm your knowledge, the audience is likely to see you as a credible speaker who provides ample support for ideas.

Without these references, your speech is more like a story or a chance for you to say a few things you know. To complete this assignment satisfactorily, you must use source citations. Consult your textbook and instructor for specific information on how much supporting material you should use and about the appropriate style for source citations.

While the conclusion should be brief and tight, it has a few specific tasks to accomplish:

Re-assert/Reinforce the Thesis

Review the main points, close effectively.

Take a deep breath! If you made it to the conclusion, you are on the brink of finishing. Below are the tasks you should complete in your conclusion:

When making the transition to the conclusion, attempt to make clear distinctions (verbally and nonverbally) that you are now wrapping up the information and providing final comments about the topic. Refer back to the thesis from the introduction with wording that calls the original thesis into memory. Assert that you have accomplished the goals of your thesis statement and create the feeling that audience members who actively considered your information are now equipped with an understanding of your topic. Reinforce whatever mood/tone you chose for the speech and attempt to create a big picture of the speech.

Within the conclusion, re-state the main points of the speech. Since you have used parallel wording for your main points in the introduction and body, don't break that consistency in the conclusion. Frame the review so the audience will be reminded of the preview and the developed discussion of each main point. After the review, you may want to create a statement about why those main points fulfilled the goals of the speech.

Finish strongly. When you close your speech, craft statements that reinforce the message and leave the audience with a clear feeling about what was accomplished with your speech. You might finalize the adaptation by discussing the benefits of listening to the speech and explaining what you think audience members can do with the information.

Remember to maintain an informative tone for this speech. You should not persuade about beliefs or positions; rather, you should persuade the audience that the speech was worthwhile and useful. For greatest effect, create a closing line or paragraph that is artistic and effective. Much like the attention-getter, the closing line needs to be refined and practiced. Your close should stick with the audience and leave them interested in your topic. Take time to work on writing the close well and attempt to memorize it so you can directly address the audience and leave them thinking of you as a well-prepared, confident speaker.

Outlining an Informative Speech

Two types of outlines can help you prepare to deliver your speech. The complete sentence outline provides a useful means of checking the organization and content of your speech. The speaking outline is an essential aid for delivering your speech. In this section, we discuss both types of outlines.

Two types of outlines can help you prepare to deliver your speech. The complete sentence outline provides a useful means of checking the organization and content of your speech. The speaking outline is an essential aid for delivering your speech.

The Complete Sentence Outline

A complete sentence outline may not be required for your presentation. The following information is useful, however, in helping you prepare your speech.

The complete sentence outline helps you organize your material and thoughts and it serves as an excellent copy for editing the speech. The complete sentence outline is just what it sounds like: an outline format including every complete sentence (not fragments or keywords) that will be delivered during your speech.

Writing the Outline

You should create headings for the introduction, body, and conclusion and clearly signal shifts between these main speech parts on the outline. Use standard outline format. For instance, you can use Roman numerals, letters, and numbers to label the parts of the outline. Organize the information so the major headings contain general information and the sub-headings become more specific as they descend. Think of the outline as a funnel: you should make broad, general claims at the top of each part of the outline and then tighten the information until you have exhausted the point. Do this with each section of the outline. Be sure to consult with your instructor about specific aspects of the outline and refer to your course book for further information and examples.

Using the Outline

If you use this outline as it is designed to be used, you will benefit from it. You should start the outline well before your speech day and give yourself plenty of time to revise it. Attempt to have the final, clean copies ready two or three days ahead of time, so you can spend a day or two before your speech working on delivery. Prepare the outline as if it were a final term paper.

The Speaking Outline

Depending upon the assignment and the instructor, you may use a speaking outline during your presentation. The following information will be helpful in preparing your speech through the use of a speaking outline.

This outline should be on notecards and should be a bare bones outline taken from the complete sentence outline. Think of the speaking outline as train tracks to guide you through the speech.

Many speakers find it helpful to highlight certain words/passages or to use different colors for different parts of the speech. You will probably want to write out long or cumbersome quotations along with your source citation. Many times, the hardest passages to learn are those you did not write but were spoken by someone else. Avoid the temptation to over-do the speaking outline; many speakers write too much on the cards and their grades suffer because they read from the cards.

The best strategy for becoming comfortable with a speaking outline is preparation. You should prepare well ahead of time and spend time working with the notecards and memorizing key sections of your speech (the introduction and conclusion, in particular). Try to become comfortable with the extemporaneous style of speaking. You should be able to look at a few keywords on your outline and deliver eloquent sentences because you are so familiar with your material. You should spend approximately 80% of your speech making eye-contact with your audience.

Delivering an Informative Speech

For many speakers, delivery is the most intimidating aspect of public speaking. Although there is no known cure for nervousness, you can make yourself much more comfortable by following a few basic delivery guidelines. In this section, we discuss those guidelines.

The Five-Step Method for Improving Delivery

• Read aloud your full-sentence outline. Listen to what you are saying and adjust your language to achieve a good, clear, simple sentence structure.
• Practice the speech repeatedly from the speaking outline. Become comfortable with your keywords to the point that what you say takes the form of an easy, natural conversation.
• Practice the speech aloud...rehearse it until you are confident you have mastered the ideas you want to present. Do not be concerned about "getting it just right." Once you know the content, you will find the way that is most comfortable for you.
• Practice in front of a mirror, tape record your practice, and/or present your speech to a friend. You are looking for feedback on rate of delivery, volume, pitch, non-verbal cues (gestures, card-usage, etc.), and eye-contact.
• Do a dress rehearsal of the speech under conditions as close as possible to those of the actual speech. Practice the speech a day or two before in a classroom. Be sure to incorporate as many elements as possible in the dress rehearsal...especially visual aids.

It should be clear that coping with anxiety over delivering a speech requires significant advanced preparation. The speech needs to be completed several days beforehand so that you can effectively employ this five-step plan.

Anderson, Thad, & Ron Tajchman. (1994). Informative Speaking. Writing@CSU . Colorado State University. https://writing.colostate.edu/guides/guide.cfm?guideid=52

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9.3 Putting It Together: Steps to Complete Your Introduction

Learning objectives.

• Clearly identify why an audience should listen to a speaker.
• Discuss how you can build your credibility during a speech.
• Understand how to write a clear thesis statement.
• Design an effective preview of your speech’s content for your audience.

Erin Brown-John – puzzle – CC BY-NC 2.0.

Once you have captured your audience’s attention, it’s important to make the rest of your introduction interesting, and use it to lay out the rest of the speech. In this section, we are going to explore the five remaining parts of an effective introduction: linking to your topic, reasons to listen, stating credibility, thesis statement, and preview.

Link to Topic

After the attention-getter, the second major part of an introduction is called the link to topic. The link to topic is the shortest part of an introduction and occurs when a speaker demonstrates how an attention-getting device relates to the topic of a speech. Often the attention-getter and the link to topic are very clear. For example, if you look at the attention-getting device example under historical reference above, you’ll see that the first sentence brings up the history of the Vietnam War and then shows us how that war can help us understand the Iraq War. In this case, the attention-getter clearly flows directly to the topic. However, some attention-getters need further explanation to get to the topic of the speech. For example, both of the anecdote examples (the girl falling into the manhole while texting and the boy and the filberts) need further explanation to connect clearly to the speech topic (i.e., problems of multitasking in today’s society).

Let’s look at the first anecdote example to demonstrate how we could go from the attention-getter to the topic.

In July 2009, a high school girl named Alexa Longueira was walking along a main boulevard near her home on Staten Island, New York, typing in a message on her cell phone. Not paying attention to the world around her, she took a step and fell right into an open manhole. This anecdote illustrates the problem that many people are facing in today’s world. We are so wired into our technology that we forget to see what’s going on around us—like a big hole in front of us.

In this example, the third sentence here explains that the attention-getter was an anecdote that illustrates a real issue. The fourth sentence then introduces the actual topic of the speech.

Let’s now examine how we can make the transition from the parable or fable attention-getter to the topic:

The ancient Greek writer Aesop told a fable about a boy who put his hand into a pitcher of filberts. The boy grabbed as many of the delicious nuts as he possibly could. But when he tried to pull them out, his hand wouldn’t fit through the neck of the pitcher because he was grasping so many filberts. Instead of dropping some of them so that his hand would fit, he burst into tears and cried about his predicament. The moral of the story? “Don’t try to do too much at once.” In today’s world, many of us are us are just like the boy putting his hand into the pitcher. We are constantly trying to grab so much or do so much that it prevents us from accomplishing our goals. I would like to show you three simple techniques to manage your time so that you don’t try to pull too many filberts from your pitcher.

In this example, we added three new sentences to the attention-getter to connect it to the speech topic.

Reasons to Listen

Once you have linked an attention-getter to the topic of your speech, you need to explain to your audience why your topic is important. We call this the “why should I care?” part of your speech because it tells your audience why the topic is directly important to them. Sometimes you can include the significance of your topic in the same sentence as your link to the topic, but other times you may need to spell out in one or two sentences why your specific topic is important.

People in today’s world are very busy, and they do not like their time wasted. Nothing is worse than having to sit through a speech that has nothing to do with you. Imagine sitting through a speech about a new software package you don’t own and you will never hear of again. How would you react to the speaker? Most of us would be pretty annoyed at having had our time wasted in this way. Obviously, this particular speaker didn’t do a great job of analyzing her or his audience if the audience isn’t going to use the software package—but even when speaking on a topic that is highly relevant to the audience, speakers often totally forget to explain how and why it is important.

Appearing Credible

The next part of a speech is not so much a specific “part” as an important characteristic that needs to be pervasive throughout your introduction and your entire speech. As a speaker, you want to be seen as credible (competent, trustworthy, and caring/having goodwill). As mentioned earlier in this chapter, credibility is ultimately a perception that is made by your audience. While your audience determines whether they perceive you as competent, trustworthy, and caring/having goodwill, there are some strategies you can employ to make yourself appear more credible.

First, to make yourself appear competent, you can either clearly explain to your audience why you are competent about a given subject or demonstrate your competence by showing that you have thoroughly researched a topic by including relevant references within your introduction. The first method of demonstrating competence—saying it directly—is only effective if you are actually a competent person on a given subject. If you are an undergraduate student and you are delivering a speech about the importance of string theory in physics, unless you are a prodigy of some kind, you are probably not a recognized expert on the subject. Conversely, if your number one hobby in life is collecting memorabilia about the Three Stooges, then you may be an expert about the Three Stooges. However, you would need to explain to your audience your passion for collecting Three Stooges memorabilia and how this has made you an expert on the topic.

If, on the other hand, you are not actually a recognized expert on a topic, you need to demonstrate that you have done your homework to become more knowledgeable than your audience about your topic. The easiest way to demonstrate your competence is through the use of appropriate references from leading thinkers and researchers on your topic. When you demonstrate to your audience that you have done your homework, they are more likely to view you as competent.

The second characteristic of credibility, trustworthiness, is a little more complicated than competence, for it ultimately relies on audience perceptions. One way to increase the likelihood that a speaker will be perceived as trustworthy is to use reputable sources. If you’re quoting Dr. John Smith, you need to explain who Dr. John Smith is so your audience will see the quotation as being more trustworthy. As speakers we can easily manipulate our sources into appearing more credible than they actually are, which would be unethical. When you are honest about your sources with your audience, they will trust you and your information more so than when you are ambiguous. The worst thing you can do is to out-and-out lie about information during your speech. Not only is lying highly unethical, but if you are caught lying, your audience will deem you untrustworthy and perceive everything you are saying as untrustworthy. Many speakers have attempted to lie to an audience because it will serve their own purposes or even because they believe their message is in their audience’s best interest, but lying is one of the fastest ways to turn off an audience and get them to distrust both the speaker and the message.

The third characteristic of credibility to establish during the introduction is the sense of caring/goodwill. While some unethical speakers can attempt to manipulate an audience’s perception that the speaker cares, ethical speakers truly do care about their audiences and have their audience’s best interests in mind while speaking. Often speakers must speak in front of audiences that may be hostile toward the speaker’s message. In these cases, it is very important for the speaker to explain that he or she really does believe her or his message is in the audience’s best interest. One way to show that you have your audience’s best interests in mind is to acknowledge disagreement from the start:

Today I’m going to talk about why I believe we should enforce stricter immigration laws in the United States. I realize that many of you will disagree with me on this topic. I used to believe that open immigration was a necessity for the United States to survive and thrive, but after researching this topic, I’ve changed my mind. While I may not change all of your minds today, I do ask that you listen with an open mind, set your personal feelings on this topic aside, and judge my arguments on their merits.

While clearly not all audience members will be open or receptive to opening their minds and listening to your arguments, by establishing that there is known disagreement, you are telling the audience that you understand their possible views and are not trying to attack their intellect or their opinions.

Thesis Statement

A thesis statement is a short, declarative sentence that states the purpose, intent, or main idea of a speech. A strong, clear thesis statement is very valuable within an introduction because it lays out the basic goal of the entire speech. We strongly believe that it is worthwhile to invest some time in framing and writing a good thesis statement. You may even want to write your thesis statement before you even begin conducting research for your speech. While you may end up rewriting your thesis statement later, having a clear idea of your purpose, intent, or main idea before you start searching for research will help you focus on the most appropriate material. To help us understand thesis statements, we will first explore their basic functions and then discuss how to write a thesis statement.

Basic Functions of a Thesis Statement

A thesis statement helps your audience by letting them know “in a nutshell” what you are going to talk about. With a good thesis statement you will fulfill four basic functions: you express your specific purpose, provide a way to organize your main points, make your research more effective, and enhance your delivery.

Express Your Specific Purpose

To orient your audience, you need to be as clear as possible about your meaning. A strong thesis will prepare your audience effectively for the points that will follow. Here are two examples:

• “Today, I want to discuss academic cheating.” (weak example)
• “Today, I will clarify exactly what plagiarism is and give examples of its different types so that you can see how it leads to a loss of creative learning interaction.” (strong example)

The weak statement will probably give the impression that you have no clear position about your topic because you haven’t said what that position is. Additionally, the term “academic cheating” can refer to many behaviors—acquiring test questions ahead of time, copying answers, changing grades, or allowing others to do your coursework—so the specific topic of the speech is still not clear to the audience.

The strong statement not only specifies plagiarism but also states your specific concern (loss of creative learning interaction).

Provide a Way to Organize Your Main Points

A thesis statement should appear, almost verbatim, toward the end of the introduction to a speech. A thesis statement helps the audience get ready to listen to the arrangement of points that follow. Many speakers say that if they can create a strong thesis sentence, the rest of the speech tends to develop with relative ease. On the other hand, when the thesis statement is not very clear, creating a speech is an uphill battle.

When your thesis statement is sufficiently clear and decisive, you will know where you stand about your topic and where you intend to go with your speech. Having a clear thesis statement is especially important if you know a great deal about your topic or you have strong feelings about it. If this is the case for you, you need to know exactly what you are planning on talking about in order to fit within specified time limitations. Knowing where you are and where you are going is the entire point in establishing a thesis statement; it makes your speech much easier to prepare and to present.

Let’s say you have a fairly strong thesis statement, and that you’ve already brainstormed a list of information that you know about the topic. Chances are your list is too long and has no focus. Using your thesis statement, you can select only the information that (1) is directly related to the thesis and (2) can be arranged in a sequence that will make sense to the audience and will support the thesis. In essence, a strong thesis statement helps you keep useful information and weed out less useful information.

Make Your Research More Effective

If you begin your research with only a general topic in mind, you run the risk of spending hours reading mountains of excellent literature about your topic. However, mountains of literature do not always make coherent speeches. You may have little or no idea of how to tie your research all together, or even whether you should tie it together. If, on the other hand, you conduct your research with a clear thesis statement in mind, you will be better able to zero in only on material that directly relates to your chosen thesis statement. Let’s look at an example that illustrates this point:

Many traffic accidents involve drivers older than fifty-five.

While this statement may be true, you could find industrial, medical, insurance literature that can drone on ad infinitum about the details of all such accidents in just one year. Instead, focusing your thesis statement will help you narrow the scope of information you will be searching for while gathering information. Here’s an example of a more focused thesis statement:

Three factors contribute to most accidents involving drivers over fifty-five years of age: failing eyesight, slower reflexes, and rapidly changing traffic conditions.

This framing is somewhat better. This thesis statement at least provides three possible main points and some keywords for your electronic catalog search. However, if you want your audience to understand the context of older people at the wheel, consider something like:

Mature drivers over fifty-five years of age must cope with more challenging driving conditions than existed only one generation ago: more traffic moving at higher speeds, the increased imperative for quick driving decisions, and rapidly changing ramp and cloverleaf systems. Because of these challenges, I want my audience to believe that drivers over the age of sixty-five should be required to pass a driving test every five years.

This framing of the thesis provides some interesting choices. First, several terms need to be defined, and these definitions might function surprisingly well in setting the tone of the speech. Your definitions of words like “generation,” “quick driving decisions,” and “cloverleaf systems” could jolt your audience out of assumptions they have taken for granted as truth.

Second, the framing of the thesis provides you with a way to describe the specific changes as they have occurred between, say, 1970 and 2010. How much, and in what ways, have the volume and speed of traffic changed? Why are quick decisions more critical now? What is a “cloverleaf,” and how does any driver deal cognitively with exiting in the direction seemingly opposite to the desired one? Questions like this, suggested by your own thesis statement, can lead to a strong, memorable speech.

Enhance Your Delivery

When your thesis is not clear to you, your listeners will be even more clueless than you are—but if you have a good clear thesis statement, your speech becomes clear to your listeners. When you stand in front of your audience presenting your introduction, you can vocally emphasize the essence of your speech, expressed as your thesis statement. Many speakers pause for a half second, lower their vocal pitch slightly, slow down a little, and deliberately present the thesis statement, the one sentence that encapsulates its purpose. When this is done effectively, the purpose, intent, or main idea of a speech is driven home for an audience.

How to Write a Thesis Statement

Now that we’ve looked at why a thesis statement is crucial in a speech, let’s switch gears and talk about how we go about writing a solid thesis statement. A thesis statement is related to the general and specific purposes of a speech as we discussed them in Chapter 6 “Finding a Purpose and Selecting a Topic” .

Choose Your Topic

The first step in writing a good thesis statement was originally discussed in Chapter 6 “Finding a Purpose and Selecting a Topic” when we discussed how to find topics. Once you have a general topic, you are ready to go to the second step of creating a thesis statement.

Narrow Your Topic

One of the hardest parts of writing a thesis statement is narrowing a speech from a broad topic to one that can be easily covered during a five- to ten-minute speech. While five to ten minutes may sound like a long time to new public speakers, the time flies by very quickly when you are speaking. You can easily run out of time if your topic is too broad. To ascertain if your topic is narrow enough for a specific time frame, ask yourself three questions.

First, is your thesis statement narrow or is it a broad overgeneralization of a topic? An overgeneralization occurs when we classify everyone in a specific group as having a specific characteristic. For example, a speaker’s thesis statement that “all members of the National Council of La Raza are militant” is an overgeneralization of all members of the organization. Furthermore, a speaker would have to correctly demonstrate that all members of the organization are militant for the thesis statement to be proven, which is a very difficult task since the National Council of La Raza consists of millions of Hispanic Americans. A more appropriate thesis related to this topic could be, “Since the creation of the National Council of La Raza [NCLR] in 1968, the NCLR has become increasingly militant in addressing the causes of Hispanics in the United States.”

The second question to ask yourself when narrowing a topic is whether your speech’s topic is one clear topic or multiple topics. A strong thesis statement consists of only a single topic. The following is an example of a thesis statement that contains too many topics: “Medical marijuana, prostitution, and gay marriage should all be legalized in the United States.” Not only are all three fairly broad, but you also have three completely unrelated topics thrown into a single thesis statement. Instead of a thesis statement that has multiple topics, limit yourself to only one topic. Here’s an example of a thesis statement examining only one topic: “Today we’re going to examine the legalization and regulation of the oldest profession in the state of Nevada.” In this case, we’re focusing our topic to how one state has handled the legalization and regulation of prostitution.

The last question a speaker should ask when making sure a topic is sufficiently narrow is whether the topic has direction. If your basic topic is too broad, you will never have a solid thesis statement or a coherent speech. For example, if you start off with the topic “Barack Obama is a role model for everyone,” what do you mean by this statement? Do you think President Obama is a role model because of his dedication to civic service? Do you think he’s a role model because he’s a good basketball player? Do you think he’s a good role model because he’s an excellent public speaker? When your topic is too broad, almost anything can become part of the topic. This ultimately leads to a lack of direction and coherence within the speech itself. To make a cleaner topic, a speaker needs to narrow her or his topic to one specific area. For example, you may want to examine why President Obama is a good speaker.

Put Your Topic into a Sentence

Once you’ve narrowed your topic to something that is reasonably manageable given the constraints placed on your speech, you can then formalize that topic as a complete sentence. For example, you could turn the topic of President Obama’s public speaking skills into the following sentence: “Because of his unique sense of lyricism and his well-developed presentational skills, President Barack Obama is a modern symbol of the power of public speaking.” Once you have a clear topic sentence, you can start tweaking the thesis statement to help set up the purpose of your speech.

Add Your Argument, Viewpoint, or Opinion

This function only applies if you are giving a speech to persuade. If your topic is informative, your job is to make sure that the thesis statement is nonargumentative and focuses on facts. For example, in the preceding thesis statement we have a couple of opinion-oriented terms that should be avoided for informative speeches: “unique sense,” “well-developed,” and “power.” All three of these terms are laced with an individual’s opinion, which is fine for a persuasive speech but not for an informative speech. For informative speeches, the goal of a thesis statement is to explain what the speech will be informing the audience about, not attempting to add the speaker’s opinion about the speech’s topic. For an informative speech, you could rewrite the thesis statement to read, “This speech is going to analyze Barack Obama’s use of lyricism in his speech, ‘A World That Stands as One,’ delivered July 2008 in Berlin.”

On the other hand, if your topic is persuasive, you want to make sure that your argument, viewpoint, or opinion is clearly indicated within the thesis statement. If you are going to argue that Barack Obama is a great speaker, then you should set up this argument within your thesis statement.

Use the Thesis Checklist

Once you have written a first draft of your thesis statement, you’re probably going to end up revising your thesis statement a number of times prior to delivering your actual speech. A thesis statement is something that is constantly tweaked until the speech is given. As your speech develops, often your thesis will need to be rewritten to whatever direction the speech itself has taken. We often start with a speech going in one direction, and find out through our research that we should have gone in a different direction. When you think you finally have a thesis statement that is good to go for your speech, take a second and make sure it adheres to the criteria shown in Table 9.1 “Thesis Checklist”

Table 9.1 Thesis Checklist

Preview of Speech

The final part of an introduction contains a preview of the major points to be covered within your speech. I’m sure we’ve all seen signs that have three cities listed on them with the mileage to reach each city. This mileage sign is an indication of what is to come. A preview works the same way. A preview foreshadows what the main body points will be in the speech. For example, to preview a speech on bullying in the workplace, one could say, “To understand the nature of bullying in the modern workplace, I will first define what workplace bullying is and the types of bullying, I will then discuss the common characteristics of both workplace bullies and their targets, and lastly, I will explore some possible solutions to workplace bullying.” In this case, each of the phrases mentioned in the preview would be a single distinct point made in the speech itself. In other words, the first major body point in this speech would examine what workplace bullying is and the types of bullying; the second major body point in this speech would discuss the common characteristics of both workplace bullies and their targets; and lastly, the third body point in this speech would explore some possible solutions to workplace bullying.

Key Takeaways

• Linking the attention-getter to the speech topic is essential so that you maintain audience attention and so that the relevance of the attention-getter is clear to your audience.
• Establishing how your speech topic is relevant and important shows the audience why they should listen to your speech.
• To be an effective speaker, you should convey all three components of credibility, competence, trustworthiness, and caring/goodwill, by the content and delivery of your introduction.
• A clear thesis statement is essential to provide structure for a speaker and clarity for an audience.
• An effective preview identifies the specific main points that will be present in the speech body.
• Make a list of the attention-getting devices you might use to give a speech on the importance of recycling. Which do you think would be most effective? Why?
• Create a thesis statement for a speech related to the topic of collegiate athletics. Make sure that your thesis statement is narrow enough to be adequately covered in a five- to six-minute speech.
• Discuss with a partner three possible body points you could utilize for the speech on the topic of volunteerism.
• Fill out the introduction worksheet to help work through your introduction for your next speech. Please make sure that you answer all the questions clearly and concisely.

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Chapter 6: Introductions and Conclusions

Sample Introductions: Informative and Persuasive

Below you will find examples of informative and persuasive introductions. Notice that each contains the five elements necessary for a good introduction: an attention getter, the establishment of rapport with the audience, the speaker’s credibility, a clear topic reveal, and clearly articulated main points. An important point to mention about the introduction is that the parts should flow or “bridge” into each other. You do not want to have a disconnect between the attention getter, the credibility enhancer, the rap- port, and the reveal. You also can switch the rapport and credibility sections if it makes more sense, but definitely start with the attention-getter and end with the preview.

(Note: We have written these introductions out as paragraphs, but your instructor may require you to present them in a different format in your outline.)

Informative Speech Introductions

Topic: allergies.

My parents knew that something was really wrong when my mom received a call from my home economics teacher saying that she needed to get to the school immediately and pick me up. This was all because of an allergy, something that everyone in this room is either vaguely or extremely familiar with. Allergies affect a large number of people, and three very common allergies include pet and animal allergies, seasonal allergies, and food allergies. All three of these allergies take control over certain areas of my life, as all three types affect me, starting when I was just a kid and continuing today [attention-getter]. Because of this, I have done extensive research on the subject, [credibility] and would like to share some of what I’ve learned with all of you today. Whether you just finished your freshman year of college, you are a new parent, or you have kids that are grown and out of the house, allergies will most likely affect everyone in this room at some point [rapport]. So it will benefit you all to know more about them, specifically the three most common sources of allergies and the most recent approach- es to treating them [purpose and preview].

Topic: Seasonal Affective Disorder (See if you can identify the parts on Example 2.)

When winter is approaching and the days are getting darker and shorter, do you feel a dramatic reduction in energy or do you sleep longer than usual during the fall or winter months? If you answered “yes” to either of these questions, you may be one of the millions of people who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. For most people these problems do not cause great suffering in their life, but for an estimated six percent of the United States population these problems can result in major suffering. As a student in the registered nursing program here at State College, I became interested in SAD after learning more about it and want to share this information with all of you in case you recognize some of these symptoms in yourself or someone you love. In order to fully understand SAD, it is important to look at the medical definition of SAD, the symptoms of this disorder, and the measures that are commonly used to ease symptoms.

Persuasive Speech Introduction

Topic: term life insurance.

You have cried silent tears and uttered desperate prayers, but as you watch the medical team unhook the tubes, turn off the heart monitor and shoot furtive, helpless glances your way, you face the unmistakable reality that cancer has won over your loved one and you are left with unimaginable grief, despair and yes, financial burden. Most of us would not choose to cause our loved ones financial pain on top of the emotional pain of our deaths, but by failing to plan for their financial needs, that is exactly what we do. I have learned a lot about life insurance in my research for this presentation, from taking a thirteen-week course about financial matters, and from the experience of purchasing a term life insurance policy just last year. I know most of you probably have not thought much about life insurance, but someday each and every one of us in this room will pass away and somebody is going to have to pay for our funerals. Term life insurance is affordable, protects those you love from the financial devastation of your uninsured death, and reinforces your commitment to their financial and emotional well-being while you are living. Let’s examine the definition of term life insurance and then its benefits.

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WTO / Education / How to Structure Informative Speech | Outline Examples

How to Structure Informative Speech | Outline Examples

Informative speeches are often given on topics that the audience is unfamiliar with, whether it is in a professional, educational, or social setting. This speech is typically prepared following a basic outline to ensure the listeners receive valuable knowledge. Moreover, the outline helps the speaker deliver information effectively and increase audience engagement by structuring it in a logical and organized manner.

This article will introduce readers to such a speech and discuss the basic components of the outline for creating it. It also provides best practices for preparing this speech and examples you can use as a reference to better understand how to structure these. 

What is an Informative Speech?

An informative speech is a means of conversing or public speaking where the speaker educates the audience on a particular topic they are not familiar with.

The speaker provides facts, insights, and examples to enlighten the audience. The goal is to educate, not persuade, and therefore, should be free of personal opinions or biases to allow the audience to create their own. 

There are four major types:

• Explanatory
• Demonstrative
• Descriptive
• Definition speeches.

To enhance engagement and effectiveness, speakers can utilize visual aids such as slides, diagrams, or videos. Visual aids serve to support and reinforce the spoken content, making it easier for the audience to comprehend and remember the information. It can teach any topic, including scientific findings, social issues, technological innovations, cultural traditions, smoking habits, etc. 

Basic Format of Speech Outline

You must organize the content rationally and present it in a manner that is easy to understand. This is achieved by using the correct outline, which is a framework for organizing and presenting information effectively during a speech or presentation.

The basic outline guides you on the points to include and the order in which they should be presented to avoid stress during the preparation stage. This enhances the logical flow of information when delivering the speech. Consequently, this increases the clarity and coherence of your topic.

Below are the fundamental components of such an outline: 

The first item on the outline is the title of the topic you will be discussing. The title is meant to introduce the topic by giving them an idea of what will be discussed. It should be short, descriptive, and captivating to grasp the audience’s interest. 

“Origin of mental health in the NFL.” 

General purpose  

Each speech is given with an objective or objectives in mind. The general purpose states the overall objective of the speech, which is typically to educate, inform the audience or raise awareness about a particular topic. 

“The long-term negative consequences of contact sports in the country.”

Specific purpose

The specific purpose narrows down to what you intend to achieve through it. You should indicate what the audience should expect to learn by the end of the speech. 

“To educate the audience on how concussions affect the health of players in the NFL.”

Thesis statement

A complete outline will include a thesis statement which is an overview of the main message to be delivered. This statement is meant to guide you on the main idea you want to convey to the audience. 

“Constant knocks to the head of a player leads to concussions and the lack of policies to compel players to enroll into mental health programs after retiring lowers chances of timely interventions.”

Introduction

The introduction is used to provide a preview of the key points to be discussed in it. It should capture the audience’s attention and provide enough details to generate their curiosity.

The introduction will have the following components:

Attention getter 

This is an element used to capture the audience’s attention before you delve into the topic. It can be a quote, question, statistic, poem, or anecdote. The element should be relevant to the topic, engaging, and thought-provoking. However, the quote does not have to be related to the topic. Only use one element at a time. 

“Do you know that 3 out of 10 ex-NFL players struggle with mental health issues.” 

Topic & audience relevance 

Start by explaining why and how the topic is relevant to the audience. To craft a valuable explanation, talk about the significance of the topic to the individuals, specific groups, and society at large. Also, relate the topic to the audience’s interests, experiences, industry, and concerns.

You can discuss and highlight how your speech will benefit or impact the audience. Also, identify common ground with the audience, which can be a shared experience or values to establish a connection that can elicit empathy or understanding.  

Establish credibility 

Your credibility can impact how well the audience receives your speech. So, your outline should help you prepare how to establish credibility.

Credibility can be established by stating the following:

• Qualifications – This includes relevant education achievements, professional experience, and certifications. 
• Expertise – Specify your profession and any relevant projects or research you have undertaken in a related field. 
• Personal experience – Share any real-life experiences you have had that would qualify you to discuss the topic in question. 
• Research – If you have conducted any research on a particular topic, inform the audience. Also, you can reference people you have consulted in regard to the topic. If they are credible sources, this increases the credibility of your speech.

Preview of main points 

The outline prompts you to preview the main points of the topic to be discussed in brief phrases and sentences. This will help the audience understand and anticipate the format in which information will be delivered and the content of your speech. Present the headings logically to help the audience follow along more easily. 

The body component in the outline discusses the main content or topic and supporting information. It is meant to prompt you to write down all the main points to be discussed. The content will have the main points, which are then broken down into subpoints. You should consider discussing 3-5 main points, but these can vary depending on the length of your speech.

This section will have the following parts:

Transition sentence to the main point

This is a sentence made to end the introduction and start the body seamlessly. This transition sentence helps the audience follow your speech and maintain a logical flow of information. You should add transition sentences and phrases whenever you want to connect different but related points. 

The main point is the core idea, concept, or fact you want to convey to the audience. It should support the thesis and can be given in a single sentence. Also, avoid any ambiguity, as every other piece of information is meant to further expound on this point. 

Sub-points are arguments meant to elaborate on the main point. These may include explanations, examples, or research findings. Sub-points will focus on specific aspects, facts, and principles that help clarify the main point. You can have multiple sub-points depending on the depth of information you want to provide.  

Sub-sub points

Sub-sub points are used to justify or break down subpoints. These include statistics, examples, stories, and references that provide additional information and reinforce the main point. They should aim at improving the audience’s understanding. Then, for each main point, provide subpoints and sub-subpoints to maintain the logical flow of the speech.  

This component of the outline is meant to guide you to end the speech on a positive note. It summarizes the information shared with the audience. 

Reiterate the key point(s) by incorporating the following elements in your conclusion:

Transition sentence to conclusion

The transition sentence from the last main point to the conclusion indicates to the audience that you are about to finalize your speech. Use transition words, phrases, and sentences to connect everything discussed in the entire speech.

Summary of main points

Briefly summarize the key message you wanted to educate the audience about. Also, state any key takeaways the audience should keep in their mind. 

Restate your thesis

Restate the thesis in the introduction using different words but retaining the argument. Also, connect the message to your purpose. Reiteration of key elements etches the main idea or concept in the audience’s minds.

Closing statement

At the end, provide a closing argument that is memorable and impactful. Aim to leave a lasting and positive impression on the audience in one of the following ways:

• Call to action – A call to action directs the audience to take specific actions related to the topic discussed in the speech. For instance, participate in a program, change their behavior, support a cause, etc. 
• Thought-provoking question – You can end by raising a question that jogs the audience’s mind and prompts them to learn more about a topic.  
• Powerful quote – Use a quote that is relevant to the message to strengthen the main points further and leave the audience thinking.   
• Hopeful message – Also, you can end with an inspiring message to motivate and inspire the audience in different aspects of their lives, such as being kind, working for their goals, patience, etc. Ending on a positive note can encourage the audience to retain the information you conveyed. 

When you follow this simple outline during the preparation stage, your key message will be delivered effectively, and the sitting will prove productive for you and the audience. However, note that you can modify this basic format to ensure your speech aligns with the time constraints and the topic in question. 

Free Templates

Given below are outline templates that you can download for free:

4 Best Practices to Consider for Writing an Outline

Your outline should help you capture all the relevant details and organize them in a comprehensive and palatable message. So you can tailor it to the specific speech you are preparing. 

Below are things you can do to develop a more effective outline:

Research thoroughly

Research your topic extensively and gather accurate, reliable, and up-to-date information. Then, you can craft an outline that captures and conveys this information effectively. 

Consult examples 

Review multiple examples to get an idea of the basic format of well-structured speeches. Identify how to introduce a topic, convey the key message and conclude the speech. Then, craft your outline and incorporate any unique elements and strategies that will be effective depending on the topic, audience, and forum.  

Use visual aids

You can use charts, images, slides, and props to explain your points. Visual aids increase audience engagement and understanding. They can also be useful to explain complex concepts and leave lasting impressions.  

Engage the audience

Encourage the audience to actively participate during the sitting by asking questions, holding polls, or doing short activities that break the monotony and keep their minds engaged. This can make it more memorable and help the audience understand the key message better. 

Informative speeches are effective tools for educating an audience on a topic you are well-versed with. However, to ensure you convey your message effectively, it is advisable to use a simple outline to prepare how to speak to the audience. While there are basic outline templates you can download, you should personalize them to suit your topic and style of giving speeches. Also, it is advisable to consult several samples to understand how to organize your points. 

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• Informative Speech
• Presentation
• Presentational Speaking
• Public Speaking
• Public Speaking Skills

Education Standards

Aasl 21st century learner standards 2007.

Learning Domain: Knowledge Sharing and Civic Engagement

Standard: Use writing and speaking skills to communicate new understandings effectively.

Standard: Demonstrate leadership and confidence by presenting ideas to others in both formal and informal situations.

Standard: Use knowledge and information skills and dispositions to engage in public conversation and debate around issues of common concern.

Standard: Contribute to the exchange of ideas within and beyond the learning community.

How to Write an Informative Speech

This module features a step-by-step process to create an informative speech. It provides concise instructions supported by topical learning resources (textbook chapters, short online articles, brief videos).

How to Create a Speech Your Audience Cares About

So, you've been tasked with creating an informative speech. How do you do that? Just follow these step-by-step instructions.

Step 1: Analyze Your Audience

Before you begin writing your speech, you should analyze the audience of that speech.  After all, every effective speech is crafted with it's real audience in mind.  When you tailor your speech to your real audience, you give yourself the best opportunity to meet your specific purpose - your goal for your audience.  When analyzing your audience, ask yourself these questions:

• Who will hear/see my message?  
• What are their backgrounds?  
• What do they have in common?  
• Where are their areas of difference?  
• What do they already know about my topic?
• What new information might they find useful?
• How can I connect my speech to my audience members' real lives?

The answers to these questions will help you write a speech that has maximum positive impact.  For even more techniques about connecting to your real audience, read the article  "Common Speaker Pitfalls"  by  Craig Valentine  in  Toastmasters Magazine.

How to Write the Body of Your Speech

Step 2: write your speech body.

"Wait, shouldn't I start with the introduction?" you might ask yourself.

No.  Not unless you are a fan of doing extra, repetitive, unnecessary work.  Are you?  I'm not. :)

While an introduction comes first in your speech (and your outline), you need to know what you're introducing before you can write it.  How can you introduce the content of your speech if you haven't written that content yet?  Sure, you can guess, but one of two things will likely happen:

• You'll guess wrong, and your introduction won't match your speech body when you finally write it.  Then you'll have to either fix it (creating extra work for you), or stick with a disjointed speech that is difficult for the audience to follow.  Neither of these are great options.
• You'll be so worried about making the mistake above that you will force the body of your speech to match the introduction, even when your initial plan isn't the most effective one.  Then, when you do a peer feedback activity in class, you'll get advice from a classmate in which s/he will recommend that you change the introduction and the speech body to make sense (which, again, is more extra work for you).

To Read: 

Save yourself the time and the hassle and write your speech body (approx. 80% of your speech content) first.  How do you do this?  Read  chapter 10, "Creating the Body of a Speech"  in Stand Up, Speak Out: The Ethics and Practice of Public Speaking.

How to Transition Between Your Main Points

You decided on the main points of your speech body.  Good!

You developed those main points with subpoints.  Excellent!

Those subpoints include some combination of examples, definitions, statistics, and testimony to help your audience understand your ideas.  Rock on!

Now you need to tie everything together so your speech body flows logically, which will help your audience follow your speech. Your textbook explained transitions in chapter 10 , but they can be a tricky concept to grasp without an example.  

To Watch: 

Watch this short student speaker video montage to clarify how presenters use transitions to help clarify the organization of their speech body:

Click here for captioned version

How to Write the Introduction to a Speech

You did it!  You wrote the speech body which means you completed about 80% of the speech writing process.  Nice work :)  Only a bit left to do.

Step 3: Write Your Introduction

Now that you have a speech body, you can introduce it to your audience.  Effective introductions intrigue and entice the audience into listening to your message.  They also lay out an organizational plan to help the audience follow your train of thought.  Effective introductions include five important elements to accomplish this goal:

• Attention-getter
• Purpose statement -  I tend to refer to this as a "topic statement"
• Establishment of credibility
• Audience connection
• Main idea preview -  I sometimes refer to this as a "thesis statement preview"

To learn about each of these elements, read  chapter 9 "Introductions Matter: How to Begin a Speech Effectively"  in Stand Up, Speak Out: The Ethics and Practice of Public Speaking.

How to Capture the Audience's Attention

The attention-getter is the most important part of the introduction because it convinces your audience to listen to the rest of your speech.  If you can't catch the audience's attention from the very beginning, getting them to listen to your message later in the speech will be extremely difficult.

Tips for success:

• The attention-getter requires a lot of creativity.  If you get stuck while trying to write it, move on to the easier elements in the intro (topic statement, thesis statement) then circle back around.
• Brainstorm by running through the list of attention-getting devices and consider how you might use them in your speech (ex: "What interesting brief story could I tell about my topic?"  "What thought-provoking question could I ask my audience relating to my topic?"  "What presentation aid could I show to illustrate my topic in a unique way?")
• Don't go with the first attention-getter you think of.  Write down a list of possible ideas (5 - 10) and give yourself time to analyze, refine, and improve them before you commit to one. 
• Don't be afraid to replace your attention-getter with a better one if you have an "aha" moment!

Want some examples of attention-getters?  

Watch this student-produced montage from a variety of public speeches: Click here for captioned version

How to Establish Your Credibility

In addition to convincing the audience to listen to your speech (the attention-getter), you also need to convince them to trust you and the information you're sharing with them.  One way you establish your credibility is nonverbal - how you dress, your posture, eye contact, etc.  Another way is verbal - tell your audience explicitly why they should believe you in a sentence or two in the introduction.

• Do you have personal experience  with your topic?  If so, briefly explain that experience.
• Did your research your topic using credible sources?  If so, briefly preview those.

You will continue to build your credibility throughout the speech body, but mentioning it in the introduction helps the audience trust you from the very beginning of your speech.  

Want to see how real speakers establish their credibility?  Check out this student speaker montage: Click here for captioned version

How to Write the Conclusion of a Speech

Step 4: write your conclusion.

The conclusion of your speech is the shortest part - around 5% - 10% of your total speech length.  Even though it's a small section, it's a powerful one because it helps you reinforce your message for your audience for lasting impact.  An effective conclusion has three specific elements:

Clearly signal the end of your speech by reviewing your topic

• Your textbook authors label this a thesis statement review
• Use a concluding statement at the very beginning of your conclusion.  Common concluding statements include "In conclusion..." "To close..." "Let's review" "To sum it up..." etc.  
• Then add in a reminder of your topic.  For example, "To review, today we learned how to create a natural deodorant from common kitchen products" 

Review your main points

• You may hear me call this a thesis review, because that's how I was trained.  
• I'm trying to switch to the phrasing "main point review" instead to reduce confusion.

End with a concluding device

• I often refer to this as a final thought or memorable ending.
• In a persuasive speech, I'm looking for a clear call to action.  

What are your options for concluding devices?  Read chapter 11, "Concluding with Power,"  in Stand Up, Speak Out: The Ethics and Practice of Public Speaking.

How to Choose the Right Concluding Device

Your concluding device (aka, final thought or memorable ending) is going to be different in an informative speech than it is for a persuasive speech.  

• In an informative speech, you'll leave your audience with a residual message.  You won't ask them to do anything, because doing something is inherently persuasive and thus out of line with your general and specific purpose.
• In a persuasive speech, you will provide a call to action.  

So what's the difference?  Read  the article "How to End a Speech" by Lisa B. Marshall  to find out.

That's it! You just wrote your informative speech. Congratulations :)

Now it's time to create a set of speaking notes, select your presentation aids, rehearse your speech, and present with confidence! Stay tuned for future modules which will cover these topics.

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Understanding Different Types of Informative Speeches with Examples

Ever been asked to create an informative speech that's both interesting and clear? High school and college students usually get to write these kinds of speeches every now and then. 

It's not just about sharing facts and figures; it's about making the topic come alive. The struggle lies in transforming complex subjects into narratives that resonate with your audience.

Don't worry, we're here to help!

• 1. What is an Informative Speech?
• 2. How to Write an Informative Speech?
• 3. Types of Informative Speech
• 4. Informative Speech Examples
• 5. Informative Speech Topics
• 6. Do's and Don'ts of Informative Speech Writing

What is an Informative Speech?

An informative speech is a type of speech writing that is delivered to inform the audience about a particular topic. 

It's your guide to delivering knowledge and insights to an audience. But what exactly is it? Well, think of it as a talk designed to educate, inform, and enlighten. The primary goal is to provide your listeners with valuable information about a specific topic, unlike persuasive speech which intends to persuade the audience.

Why Is an Informative Speech Written?

Informative speeches are written to educate and inform an audience about a specific topic. Here are some key reasons why they are important:

• Clarifying Complex Ideas: They break down complex ideas into simpler, more understandable parts. This helps the audience grasp intricate subjects that they might not fully understand otherwise.
• Raising Awareness: Informative speeches can raise awareness about important issues, such as environmental conservation, public health, or social justice. By presenting facts and data, speakers can inform their audience about critical topics that may affect their lives.
• Educational Purposes: In educational settings, informative speeches are a key method for teachers and students to convey information. They help students develop their research, writing, and public speaking skills.
• Professional Development: In the workplace, informative speeches can be used to share updates, introduce new policies, or provide training. This helps keep everyone informed and on the same page.

In summary, informative speeches educate and engage audiences, making complex topics easy to understand.

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How to Write an Informative Speech?

Speech writing is often the most challenging part of preparing one. If you haven’t written an effective speech you can’t make an influence while presenting it. A successful speech keeps the audience engaged and interested in the information being presented.

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to write a winning informative speech:

Step 1: Choose a Topic 

Opt for a topic that's not just informative but also intriguing, something that'll captivate your audience. It's a decision that hinges on the five W's - Who, What, When, Where, and Why.  

Here's how you can navigate this selection process and create a compelling, fact-based speech:

1. Who - Consider Your Audience

Identify your audience's interests and preferences. Tailor your topic to resonate with them, whether they are students, professionals, or a general audience.

2. What - Define Your Purpose

What are you passionate about? What knowledge can you share? Your topic should align with your expertise and enthusiasm, ensuring you speak with authority and authenticity.

3. When - Consider Relevance

Choose a topic you are passionate about and knowledgeable in. Ensure it aligns with your expertise and enthusiasm.

4. Where - Location Matters

Think about the geographic or cultural relevance of your topic. Local, global, or universal themes can connect with your audience.

5. Why - Importance and Impact

Ensure your topic is significant. Aim to educate, inform, or inspire your audience, answering why your topic matters.

If you're in need of topic inspiration, explore our informative speech topics blog.

Step 2: Create an Informative Speech Outline

Start by creating a structured informative speech outline , which traditionally consists of an introduction, body, and conclusion. Here's how to structure an informative speech:

With this structure, your informative speech will be well-balanced, engaging, and easy for your audience to follow. It's the blueprint for your speech's success!

Step 3: Write the Introduction

Craft an introduction that hooks your audience from the get-go. Tell them what's in store for the speech, what they'll learn, and why it's important.

Tips for a compelling introduction:

• Begin with a thought-provoking hook statement to grab attention.
• Clearly state your speech's specific purpose, keeping it focused.
• Include a thesis statement that encapsulates the main idea and guides your speech's development.

Step 4: Craft a Strong Body

In the body section, add facts and figures to boost the credibility of your topic. Make sure to develop your main ideas with precision.

Tips for organizing the body:

• Define the key ideas related to your topic that warrant emphasis.
• Arrange your main points in a logical order for easy comprehension.
• Incorporate real-life examples to bolster your claims.
• Ensure seamless transitions to lead to the conclusion.

Step 5: Prepare the Conclusion

The conclusion is the heart of your speech, where you distill the essence of your message.

Tips for preparing the conclusion:

• Restate your thesis statement to remind the audience of your speech's main idea.
• Add anecdotes or quotes to make your speech memorable.
• Reinforce the key ideas you've conveyed.
• Elevate the emotional impact on your audience.

Step 6: Proofread and Edit

Once your writing is complete, the finishing touch is editing and proofreading. Read your speech aloud to assess its flow.

• Ensure you've used precise language and well-structured sentences.
• Correct any grammatical or typographical errors to polish your speech to perfection.

With this guide in hand, you're well on your way to crafting an informative speech that not only informs but also captivates and inspires your audience.

Types of Informative Speech

There are many ways to inform the audience about a particular topic. The informative speech is one of those several ways. This speech can be about an object, an event, a concept, or a process.

The table below has different types of informative speeches with descriptions: 

Informative Speech Examples

Now that you know the process of writing, check out these informative speech examples for students. These sample speeches give you a better understanding of how to organize your content properly.

Let’s take a look at these good informative speech examples:

For more samples visit our informative speech examples blog and explore a range of inspirational examples!

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Informative Speech Topics

Presenting information at a high level, backed by supporting material, is always a good idea for an informative speech. Here's a range of fact-based topics that will captivate your audience members and encourage them to listen attentively:

• The Power of Renewable Energy Sources: A Fact-Based Overview
• Exploring Artificial Intelligence: How It Shapes Our Future
• The Wonders of Space Exploration: Beyond Our World
• Climate Change: Uncovering the Facts and Solutions
• The Influence of Social Media on Society: A Deep Dive
• Mental Health Awareness: Shattering the Stigma
• The History of Cryptocurrency: From Bitcoin to Blockchain
• The Art of Effective Communication: Building Meaningful Connections
• Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace: A Good Idea for Success
• The Impact of Global Warming on Marine Life: An Urgent Call to Action

Looking for more topic suggestions? Check out our blog on demonstration speech ideas to get your inspiration!

Do's and Don'ts of Informative Speech Writing

The dos and don'ts can help you create an informative speech that is engaging, informative, and well-received by your audience. Let’s take a look:

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Frequently Asked Questions

How do i start off an informative speech.

Start an informative speech by grabbing the audience's attention with a surprising fact, quote, or question. Introduce your topic clearly, present a concise thesis statement, and briefly outline the main points you will cover. This approach engages the audience and sets clear expectations for your speech.

What should an informative speech include?

• Introduction: Capture the audience's attention, introduce the topic, and present a clear thesis statement.
• Body: Present well-organized main points with supporting evidence, examples, and data.
• Conclusion: Summarize the main points, restate the importance of the topic, and end with a memorable closing statement.

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333 Informative Speech Topics To Rock Your Presentation

A powerful presentation covers a compelling topic that sparks your interest and hooks the audience. Use this master list to find your next great speech idea.

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You have been assigned a speech, presentation, or essay, but you have no clue what to talk about. A powerful presentation begins with a compelling topic that sparks your interest and hooks the audience. But you also need to discuss something you feel excited to research and discuss. 

This guide contains 333 informative speech topics for your next presentation, plus pro tips for delivering the best presentation possible.

What Is An Informative Speech?

Informative speeches aim to teach or instruct the audience about a topic. They include objective information and fact-based research but can incorporate a unique perspective, compelling storytelling , or a powerful take-home message. Unlike a celebratory wedding toast or an inaugural speech , informative speeches are written specifically to educate.

The six key types of informative speeches are: 

• Definition speeches : This speech aims to explain a concept or theory. For example, a speech topic starting with “What is…?” is usually a definition-type informative speech. 
• Explanatory speeches : These speeches explain how something works. For example, an explanatory speech could explain how your brain processes information or how an electric car works. 
• Demonstrative speeches : These classic “how-to’s” show the audience how to perform a task and often include a visual presentation. For example, students could teach their classmates how to be more productive or cook a healthy meal.  
• Comparative speeches : When a speaker compares or contrasts two alternative things, they help the audience understand the similarities or differences between two topics. For example, a comparative speech may weigh the pros and cons of private versus public schools. 
• Descriptive speeches : This informative speech describes a person, place, or thing and explains why the subject is essential. For example, a student may teach their classmates about a historical figure, or an entrepreneur may give a descriptive speech about the specifics of their product idea.
• Persuasive informative speeches : Although persuasive speeches are often categorized separately, some informative speeches can cross over into persuasion by using evidence to convince the audience why a particular method or perspective is better than its alternatives. For example, a salesperson may give a presentation to convince clients to buy their services, or a mental health advocate may give a speech to persuade people to do yoga more regularly. 

How To Pick An Informative Speech Topic: The Five W’s

Whether you want to give a top-notch school speech assignment or a groundbreaking TED Talk , the best informative speeches have one thing in common: they deliver a purposeful message with a captivating delivery. You must understand the basic who, what, when, where, and why to pick the perfect topic. 

• Who: Before you start looking for topics, you should know who your audience is. A college speech class is a far different audience than a room of conference attendees. Consider what your audience is interested in, why they should care about your speech and their level of knowledge about the topic. If you talk about something too basic, they may be bored, but if you discuss something too technical, they may have difficulty understanding your speech. 
• What: Consider your passions and existing knowledge about a subject. The “what” of your speech is the meat of the presentation. Imagine a three-circle Venn diagram. The three circles are labeled: “things I am interested in,” “things my audience cares about,” and “things I can research.” The center point where these three circles overlap is the sweet spot for your speech topic. 
• When (Length): The length of your speech can drastically impact how in-depth you dive into the topic. A five-minute speech should cover a niche topic or a high-level concept. A thirty-minute to an hour-long presentation can teach about a more detailed topic. 
• Where: If you’re giving a speech in a meeting room at an office, your performance will likely be very different from speaking on stage in a large auditorium. Consider where you will be speaking and what kind of technology (projector, large screen, whiteboard, etc.) you will have available. The geographic location of your speech can also determine your selection of a local or regional topic relevant to the community. 
• Why: Most importantly, you should know the purpose of your speech. If your goal is to get a good grade, it may help you pay more attention to following the teacher’s rubric. If your goal is to convince the audience to make a lifestyle change or donate to an important cause, you should structure your speech with the core “why” in mind. 

The best speeches combine a simple message with charismatic delivery, an easily digestible structure, and something the audience can relate to. The essence of a great speech is that it arouses something in the audience, such as the motivation to take action or to see things in a new way.

List of Informative Speech Topics: 333 Ideas to Spark Your Creativity

In an informative speech, it is essential to have plenty of evidence or data to support your claims. But even the most well-researched presentation can feel hollow without the passion for delivering it authentically. 

As you explore ideas for your speech, you should naturally gravitate toward intriguing and exciting topics. Giving a speech about something you think your teacher or colleagues will like (rather than what you’re truly interested in) could ultimately be inauthentic or boring. Take note of what makes your heart beat a little faster and follow that curiosity . 

Easy Informative Speech Topics

If you’re in a pinch, choose a speech topic that doesn’t require extensive explanations to get the point across. It may be a good idea to avoid anything controversial or technical. Instead, choose a straightforward demonstrative or descriptive topic with a wide range of online information.

• How to improve your communication skills
• The most memorable speeches in history
• Why you should buy an electric car 
• The most popular cars of the year
• How to read body language  
• Top habits of successful people
• The most famous actors in history
• The benefits of time in nature
• Lesser known presidents
• Most popular breeds of dogs
• The worst natural disasters in the world 
• How to eat healthier  
• Harmful impacts of technology
• How to survive without electricity 
• The richest people in the world 
• The top companies in the world
• Child geniuses and prodigies
• How does sugar influence the body?
• The history of Disneyland
• How to break bad habits
• Top beauty products for younger skin
• How to do your homework faster 
• How to be more productive  
• High school students should do these 5 things before graduating
• Why high school students should take a gap year before college
• The best healthy snacks 
• Why you should go vegan
• How to be more confident  
• How to start a business
• Fashion through the decades 

Pro Tip : Start your speech with an attention-grabbing hook that draws the audience in to listen. Try not to start by mentioning a technical difficulty (“Is this microphone working?”) or saying a lackluster nicety (“Thanks for having me.”).

Instead, try starting with:

• A story: “I’m here for a reason. And It’s an interesting story….”
• A big idea: “The single most important thing I want to share with you today is….”
• A quirky one-liner or interesting fact: “You might have always thought….”

Here is a guide on How to Start a Speech: Best and Worst Speech Openers . 

You can also watch our video to learn the best (and worst) speech openers:

Informative Speech Topics for College

If public speaking isn’t scary enough, college speech classes can be brutal. You want to impress your professor without thoroughly embarrassing yourself in front of your peers. These topics are scholarly without being boring. 

• How you can reduce your carbon footprint
• Different forms of learning
• The truth about microplastics and possible alternatives
• How to ace a college test 
• Why schools shouldn’t give homework 
• America’s fastest-growing cities
• The differences between female and male communication
• The best marketing tactics
• The importance of education for a country’s economy 
• Ethical questions of artificial intelligence
• Unique ways to stop global climate change
• How to live to be 100
• Benefits of E-learning
• History of education in America
• How to eradicate poverty
• The real picture of foster care in America
• How to decide on a college major
• Pros and cons of the current education system
• Economics of urban versus rural development
• The history of agriculture 
• How ancient Egyptians built the pyramids
• How to prevent the top 5 leading causes of death in America
• Understanding industrial hemp
• Pros and cons of remote work
• How college students can become millionaires by age 50 with monthly investing
• How to start an organic garden
• Private vs. public school
• The importance of discipline
• The most useful websites for college students
• Where does public university funding come from

Fun Informative Speech Topics

Most people don’t realize that playful topics like video games and reality TV can still be informative. These less serious subjects have the potential to become great speeches that invoke laughter, excitement, or new perspectives. 

• Can procrastination be good for you?
• Myth or reality? We only use 10% of our brains
• The funniest commercials of all time
• Bizzare sports you didn’t know existed 
• How snake venom attacks the body
• What will humans look like in the future? 
• Weirdest medical facts
• The strangest phobias 
• Secrets to a great relationship
• The fastest cars in the world 
• What causes hiccups
• Evidence of life on Mars 
• The world history of tattoos 
• Why college students love fast food 
• The evolution of video games 
• How cryptocurrency can change finance 
• Where do stereotypes come from?
• The most bizarre conspiracy theories 
• The most influential musicians of our time
• Top craziest amusement park rides in the world
• The most fun things to do when you’re bored
• History of tattoo art
• The seven wonders of the world
• How to survive an annoying roommate
• The truth about reality shows
• How to create a bucket list
• The secrets behind the best TV shows 
• Weirdest foods taste surprisingly delicious
• How to talk to people you don’t like 

Interesting Informative Speech Topics

The most viral TED Talks combine a compelling or unique idea with exceptional nonverbal delivery. These interesting topics are sure to get your audience thinking.

• The neuroscience of attraction
• Mind-blowing facts about volcanoes
• The psychology of selling things 
• Why you should turn your lawn into a garden
• Proof that aliens are real/fake 
• How to start a business for under $100
• The history of America from a minority perspective 
• How technology affects our brains
• What would happen to the economy if everyone grew their own food?
• The science and ethics of genetic modification 
• How the electric car originated 
• Elon Musk’s rise to success 
• What is neuro-linguistic programming (NLP)?
• How deaf people talk with emotion 
• Why smiles are contagious 

Informative Speech Topics About Science

From biology to chemistry to genetics, science encompasses many subjects. Where modern technology meets cutting-edge discoveries, these topics are for inquisitive researchers who want to dig into the data. 

• How your brain works
• History of space exploration
• How solar panels work
• The evolution of plants
• Fascinating origins of plant medicines
• How DNA evidence is used
• How galaxies are formed 
• How science is influenced by corporations 
• Why dinosaurs really went extinct
• The oldest fossils ever found 
• How does the human brain work?
• The effects of music on the brain  
• The life of Albert Einstein
• How earthquakes can be predicted
• The craziest scientists in history
• What is CRISPR?
• Potential cures for cancer 
• What is epigenetics?

Pro Tip : Google Scholar and PubMed are two excellent resources for peer-reviewed scientific literature. Accredited institutions conduct these studies and have undergone the rigor of the scientific method. They even include easy copy-and-paste citations if you need to turn in a bibliography with your speech.

Informative Speech Topics about Animals 

From cuddly pets to the alien-like mystery creatures of the deep ocean, animals are universally fascinating. 

• How to train a dog
• The most dangerous animals in the ocean
• How elephants use plants to medicate themselves 
• The science behind the fastest animals in the world
• Can depression be treated with emotional support animals?
• Comparing reptiles versus mammals
• The strongest animal in the world
• Top 10 strangest animals on Earth
• Comparing human and primate brains
• Animals that have their own languages
• Ethical questions with animal testing
• What causes animals to become extinct? 
• How to adopt a cat
• Pros and cons of the pet adoption system
• Is it kind to keep a monkey as a pet?

Informative Speech Topics Sports

Fitness, sports medicine, and professional sports teams are just scraping the surface regarding this subject. You can talk about the inspiring life of your favorite player or game history. The speech topics are perfect for anyone who loves to sweat and cheer.

• How sports teach kids discipline 
• The importance of physical activity for stress relief
• Why companies should promote workplace fitness programs  
• Top-paying careers in sports 
• How people with disabilities can still play sports
• Football culture in the American south 
• The importance of sports for children’s socialization
• The role of sports and masculinity in young boys 
• Gambling problems in sports
• What makes a great sports coach? 
• The best football players of all time 
• How yoga can complement workouts
• How to prevent sports injuries 
• The best physical therapy for college athletes
• The life of Michael Jordan
• Game-changing athletes in history 
• Lebron James’ secret to success  
• How Jackie Robinson transformed baseball 
• The best nutrition for athletes, based on science
• Top vegan athletes in the world 
• Why cheerleading is/isn’t a real sport
• Controversial moments in the Olympics 
• Modern controversies about transgender athletes 
• The most extreme sports in the world
• How hockey changed my life
• Pros and cons of CrossFit
• Why swimming is one of the healthiest workouts
• How adult hobby sports can improve socialization
• Daily exercise improves mental health 
• The best at-home workouts
• Top marketing strategies used by the Super Bowl
• How the Olympics promotes international peace 
• Should pro athletes have salary caps?
• How college athletes go pro
• Top female athletes in the world
• Interesting sports from around the world
• Why height is not the most important factor in basketball
• Why soccer is the most popular international sport
• Why women’s soccer gets less media coverage than men’s
• The best solo sports for introverts 
• How handicapped people can still play sports 
• The most inspirational handicapped athletes 

Bonus Tip: Level Up Your Speech With Stage Presence

Did you know that public speaking is actually a skill? Many people struggle with stage anxiety because they feel they ‘missed the memo’ on public speaking or they are lacking because they do not have a natural stage presence. Not true!

Stage presence and public speaking are skills you need to be taught—very few people have them naturally. 

Watch our video to learn 7 steps to overcome stage fright and beat performance anxiety:

Here are all the aspects of public speaking you can master.

• How to make a first impression with an audience
• How to have stage presence
• Powerful body language
• How to speak with a commanding voice
• What to do with your hands while speaking

For every speaking skill you add to your toolbox, the less speaking anxiety you will feel.

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• Create a Memorable Presence
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Have a question about the presentation or People School? Email Science of People support .

Cultural Informative Speech Topics

Learning about different cultures can drastically expand your viewpoint of the world. These speech ideas cover everything from language to ancient history to pop culture. 

• How to learn about local culture while traveling
• The importance of workplace culture
• How to build a positive corporate culture 
• How social media connects and promotes culture 
• The oldest cultures in the world 
• Modern versus traditional gender roles 
• How women have transformed corporate leadership 
• The dangers of hustle culture
• How social media culture impacts self-esteem
• How to learn from watching movies
• The rise of podcasts and their role in modern culture 
• The role of social media in business 
• How immigrants maintain cultural traditions in their new countries
• Ancient archeological artifacts you’ve never heard of
• Native American spiritual traditions
• Holy herbs and plants across global cultures
• How to make an African tribal basket
• The portrayal of black culture in the media
• Culture of Scandinavia
• Burial rituals in ancient Mesopotamia 
• History and meaning of the Om symbol
• The history of Buddhism
• How to show respect in Japanese culture
• The cultural history of African Americans 
• Chinese traditional foods 
• Top 10 foreign dishes you have to try before you die
• The most important spiritual symbols in the world
• Generational differences in Mexican culture
• The symbolism of marigolds in Mexican traditions
• What is Dia De Los Muertos?  

Want to radically improve your presentation skills? Watch our video for 10 presentation ideas:

Informative Speech Topics About History

They say, “history repeats itself.” Consider giving a unique or lesser-known perspective about historical events for a thought-provoking speech. Use museum artifacts and first-hand accounts to guide your points. 

• The Civil Rights Movement
• The oldest civilizations in the world
• Nelson Mandela’s historical impact
• The truth about colonization and Thanksgiving 
• How the Industrial Revolution impacted the environment 
• The real story of the Titanic 
• The craziest criminals in history  
• What caused the Great Depression? 
• What schools get wrong about black history 
• Religion during the age of the Aztecs
• Archeological evidence of aliens
• Ancient history of dogs and wolves 
• What caused the Salem witch trials?
• The American Revolution
• The role of Christianity in slavery
• Human rights violations throughout history
• How life changed for Native Americans after colonization 
• The role of urbanization on the changing American landscape
• The cowboy era: myths and truths 
• The American Constitution
• The most influential people in world history
• Forming of the United Nations
• What caused World War I?
• Financial panics and recessions throughout history
• The Prohibition era 
• What led to consumerism in society? 
• The Vietnam War
• The California Gold Rush
• The true story of Pocahontas
• Little-known facts about Mexican history

Informative Speech Topics About Music

Music is the soundtrack to our lives. Beyond mere entertainment, its impact dives into the roots of culture, identity, and brain function. Here are some exciting ways to incorporate your love of music into an informative speech. 

• How music can help mental health 
• Why you should learn an instrument
• How listening to music improves your productivity
• Genres of music 
• Links between classical music and IQ
• Why do people bond over music 
• Rarest instruments in the world
• The easiest instruments to play
• Best country musicians of all time
• How hip hop music has shaped culture in America
• Evolution of rap and hip hop 
• The origins of rock n’ roll in southern blues music
• The history of opera
• The best electronic dance music
• The impact of reggae music
• How punk rock got its start 
• How folk music shaped Appalachia 
• Country music hall of fame
• Must-see musical landmarks around the world
• Importance of gospel music
• The ethics of sampling other artist’s music
• How music shapes subculture 
• Has social media made record companies obsolete?
• The importance of musical education in public schools
• Music as a form of protest
• How sad music helps you overcome heartbreaks
• Why music shapes generations
• How dancing can change your mindset
• From the phonograph to iPhone: History of music machines

Health Informative Speech Topics

The ever-changing landscape of health offers a wealth of resources. Leave an impact on your audience by inspiring them to improve their eating habits or approach healthy living in a new way. Be sure to find the right sources for these speeches to make sure you are citing correct health science.

• How to extend your lifespan 
• Links between diet and mental illnesses 
• How to cook healthy food on a budget 
• Why a daily walk outside can transform your health
• History of herbal medicine 
• Let food be thy medicine: From Hippocrates to modern day food pyramid
• Why you should do yoga for 15 minutes a day
• Benefits and drawbacks of a vegetarian diet
• The healthiest fruits in the world 
• What is really in processed food?
• Is weight lifting or cardio better for burning fat?
• How agriculture affects our health
• The gut microbiome
• The dangers of pesticides in our food system
• How soil health impacts human health 
• Who controls the food system? 
• The science behind keto diets
• The dangers of low-fat diets
• Top 5 best foods for brain function
• The daily habits of the healthiest people in the world
• Differences in definitions of health
• European versus American food ingredients 
• The role of fats in brain function 
• How to fix a headache
• The benefits of magnesium
• The best supplements, according to science 
• The main signs of a stroke
• The chronic disease epidemic in America 
• How to lose weight the healthy way
• Why you should avoid eating seed oils
• Why you should stop eating gluten 
• How to prevent arthritis
• The real causes of diabetes
• Is meat actually bad for you? Pros and cons
• How to stop the mental health epidemic 
• How dental health impacts your digestion
• Amazing benefits of black seed oil
• The Harvard Longevity Project: Why happy people live longer
• Ancient health remedies from around the world
• Why you should eat fermented foods
• Causes of cancer and how to prevent it
• Why people should donate their organs
• Effects of radiation
• The healthiest cultures in the world 
• Why obesity is a modern problem
• How to have stronger bones
• Healthcare access for minorities
• Why fast food restaurants are addictive
• Pros and cons of salt
• How to overcome stress
• The dangers of e-cigarettes
• People need to drink more water
• The insurance and healthcare system in America
• How friendships improve your health
• Why couples should exercise together
• Benefits of dark chocolate
• Dangerous food additives you’ve never heard of
• Easy ways to improve your nutrition
• How to reverse hair loss
• Secrets to have healthy hair
• Benefits and drawbacks of stem cell research 
• Why you should stop drinking soda
• How to reduce asthma attacks
• Health benefits of ginger
• Why you should drink tea

Key Takeaways: Find Inspiration for a Speech

Any informative topic can be used to craft a speech, but a showstopping presentation requires thinking outside the box and approaching your speech from a unique point of view. Before you settle on a topic for your next speech, be sure that your speech idea is:

• Authentically interesting : Discussing something that doesn’t spark your interest is no use. Choose a topic or idea that you actually care about for an authentic and passionate delivery. 
• Relevant to your audience : If you don’t know your audience, you might as well be speaking to a wall. Professional presenters understand the general knowledge level of their audience and what information will be valuable or interesting to them. 
• Easy to research : Obscure topics can be alluring and challenging to research. Choose a topic that has plenty of information available in books or online. Be sure to use reputable sources and cite them when necessary.
• The proper length : The depth and detail of your speech ultimately depend on the length of time you have to talk. Pick a subject that you can thoroughly describe in the allotted time frame.  

Once you narrow down a few of your favorite topic ideas, start brainstorming how you want your speech to impact the audience. Use these 10 Presentation Ideas That Will Radically Improve Your Presentation Skills , such as:

• Why you should save the best for first and last
• How to design epic presentation slides
• Why you shouldn’t over-rehearse
• How to own the stage 

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• Open access
• Published: 29 August 2024

Underlying dimensions of real-time word recognition in cochlear implant users

• Bob McMurray   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6532-284X 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ,
• Francis X. Smith   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4628-0154 1 , 2 ,
• Marissa Huffman 3 ,
• Kristin Rooff 3 ,
• John B. Muegge 1 ,
• Charlotte Jeppsen   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2796-5414 1 ,
• Ethan Kutlu 1 , 4 &
• Sarah Colby   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2956-3072 1 , 3  

Nature Communications volume  15 , Article number:  7382 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

Metrics details

• Auditory system
• Human behaviour
• Sensory processing

Word recognition is a gateway to language, linking sound to meaning. Prior work has characterized its cognitive mechanisms as a form of competition between similar-sounding words. However, it has not identified dimensions along which this competition varies across people. We sought to identify these dimensions in a population of cochlear implant users with heterogenous backgrounds and audiological profiles, and in a lifespan sample of people without hearing loss. Our study characterizes the process of lexical competition using the Visual World Paradigm. A principal component analysis reveals that people’s ability to resolve lexical competition varies along three dimensions that mirror prior small-scale studies. These dimensions capture the degree to which lexical access is delayed (“Wait-and-See”), the degree to which competition fully resolves (“Sustained-Activation”), and the overall rate of activation. Each dimension is predicted by a different auditory skills and demographic factors (onset of deafness, age, cochlear implant experience). Moreover, each dimension predicts outcomes (speech perception in quiet and noise, subjective listening success) over and above auditory fidelity. Higher degrees of Wait-and-See and Sustained-Activation predict poorer outcomes. These results suggest the mechanisms of word recognition vary along a few underlying dimensions which help explain variable performance among listeners encountering auditory challenge.

Introduction

As the world’s population ages, hearing loss and cognitive decline are becoming issues of major importance. These issues are intertwined: mounting evidence suggests that hearing loss – and the consequent loss of speech understanding – is a crucial (but remediable) factor in cognitive decline 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 . Despite the importance of speech comprehension as a product of hearing, our understanding of the cognitive mechanisms of speech understanding has not yielded theories that generalize across variation in hearing loss, age, or other demographic factors. Nowhere is this variation more apparent than in people who are profoundly deaf and use cochlear implants (CIs). These devices convert the natural acoustic input to a pattern of electrical activity across a small number of stimulating sites on the cochlea. This is a profoundly different input than the auditory system typically receives, requiring some adaptation at central levels 7 , 8 . The present study thus leverages a highly variable sample of CI users, using new approaches to uncover the fundamental dimensions of a critical aspect of language processing.

We focus on the recognition of isolated words. Words lie at the core of language, and recognizing a word allows access to its pronunciation, syntax, and meaning. Thus, it is not surprising that deficits in word recognition are observed in language disorders like dyslexia, developmental language disorder, and autism 9 , 10 . Isolated word recognition is a common basis of clinical tests of hearing 11 and vocabulary 12 , and presenting words without context allows us to isolate true lexical processing (a potential bottleneck in language) from broader sentence or discourse processes that may compensate.

Moreover, isolated word recognition offers a clear theoretical platform for this investigation. While word recognition is a product of many processes (e.g., auditory and semantic), and is affected by many factors (properties of the words, and properties of the listener), decades of work in cognitive science has focused on a key aspect of the problem: the problem of of hearing a word as it unfolds over time and selecting the target word from an array of similar sounding competitors. This work has established mechanisms by which modal listeners (neurotypical, monolingual, normal hearing adults) map auditory input to stored representations of the sound pattern of a word (a wordform) in the mental lexicon 13 , 14 , 15 . Research on small samples of various specialized populations has observed that this process differs across a variety of populations (e.g., language disorders, development 16 ), and listening contexts (e.g., noise or quiet speech 17 , 18 , 19 ). However, at a theoretical level we have not yet identified the underlying dimensions along which these mechanisms vary; that is, we do not yet know what aspects of the mechanisms identified for modal listeners vary systematically across listeners, or even how many dimensions there may be.

Understanding these dimensions is necessary for more universal, inclusive, and generalizable theories that describe how basic cognitive mechanisms vary across people 16 . That is, if the mechanisms of word recognition vary along a small number of dimensions, these are the necessary degrees of freedom in cognitive models. Moreover, the mechanisms that CI users employ to adapt to degraded input may be similar to those used by normal hearing (NH) listeners in challenging listening situations like noise 18 , 19 , 20 . This creates further opportunities to generalize theories of language processing. Understanding these dimensions may also help clinical care of people with speech and language disorders; it can inform novel assessments of language and hearing as well as inform treatment. Finally, identifying these dimensions is relevant to understanding the relationship between hearing loss and dementia 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 . One prominent account suggests that social engagement plays a crucial role in maintaining cognitive function 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 . However, difficulties in language processing, which declines with age 30 , could compound the impact of hearing loss on social disengagement; alternatively, strong language skills could buffer the functional consequences of hearing loss.

The present study thus sought to uncover the dimensions by which the basic processes of wordform recognition vary in a population that is (1) highly relevant to ongoing concerns about aging; (2) is characterized by high heterogeneity in outcomes; and (3) which faces significant barriers to language comprehension: profoundly deaf individuals who use cochlear implants.

About 15% of U.S. adults are affected by hearing loss 31 , which impedes social functioning and can lead to cognitive decline 32 . CIs restore access to sound and improve social function for most profoundly deaf listeners 33 , 34 , 35 . However, not all CI users perform well in the real world and there is substantial unexplained variability in outcomes 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 . A key predictor is peripheral auditory factors. The health of the auditory nerve, the nature of implantation, and access to residual acoustic hearing all affect how well sound is transmitted via the CI to the auditory system. However, the peripheral auditory system alone cannot fully explain differences in outcomes. CIs provide a profoundly different input than a Normal Hearing (NH) ear. The CI collapses thousands of frequencies into a small number of electrodes; it also eliminates temporal fine structure and even some entire frequency ranges. Consequently, successful speech perception requires CI users to learn to cope with this new form of degraded input and the fundamental uncertainty it imposes at more central or cognitive levels over the first year of CI experience 7 , 8 , 44 .

Several studies link variation in general cognitive abilities (e.g., working memory) to speech perception 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 and self-report measures of real world success 49 (though see ref. 50 ). There is also mounting evidence that people with hearing impairment engage more “cognitive effort” to perceive speech 51 , 52 , 53 . This work emphasizes the importance of cognition but does not provide a clear explanation for how fundamental language comprehension processes differ for people confronting the challenge of listening with a CI.

Cognitive science frames the mechanisms of isolated wordform recognition in terms of temporary ambiguity. Because words unfold over time, all listeners face a brief period of ambiguity. For instance, at the onset of basket , the input ( ba- ) is consistent with hundreds of words ( batter, back, bathtub , and so forth). In NH adults, ambiguity is resolved via a process of immediate competition. At the beginning of the word, listeners activate a set of candidates that match the partial input. This set is continuously winnowed until only one remains Fig.  1A 13 ;. This competition does not derive solely from the accruing input. Words are considered that do not entirely match the input or should have been ruled out by earlier information 54 , 55 , 56 and are further affected by inhibition from neighboring words 57 , 58 , 59 . Thus, lexical competition is a cognitive mechanism that balances demands of accuracy, efficiency, and flexibility 10 .

A Fixations to targets and competitors as a function of time for modal adult listeners. At each moment, the amount of fixations reflects the degree to which the listener is considering (activating) that class of word as they settle on the correct item 19 . B Fixations to targets and cohort competitors in NH adults and in post-lingually deaf adult CI users 19 . CI users are slower to fully commit to the target and rule out competitors, and they continue fixating competitors even when they’ve selected the target, a Sustained Activation profile. C , D Pre-lingually deaf adolescent CI users show a Wait and See profile 20 , with much larger delays in target fixations ( C ). Because lexical access is delayed, cohorts show less competition ( D ) – by the time they begin lexical access for wizard they have heard some information to rule out window .

The real-time dynamics of competition are commonly studied using eye-tracking in the Visual World Paradigm (VWP) 60 . In the VWP, listeners hear a spoken word (e.g., basket ) and select its referent from an array of pictures including the target ( basket ), potential competitors (e.g., onset competitors [cohorts] like batter , or rhymes like casket ), and an unrelated word. To perform this task, listeners must find the target. Listeners typically make 3-5 eye-movements before responding. As eye-movements unfold, fixations to different competitors reveal the likelihood of considering various classes of words over time (Fig.  1A ). These patterns of fixations align closely with computational models of word recognition 60 , 61 .

While the VWP can characterize many aspects of word recognition 62 , 63 , this variant—which focuses on competition among candidates—has been influential because of its ability to capture the most important mechanism that undergird most theories of word recognition: competition 15 , 64 , 65 . It has been in wide use across populations including children 66 , 67 , older adults 30 , people with developmental language disorder 61 , and multilinguals 68 , as well as NH listeners in challenging conditions 17 , 18 . Thus, it offers a consensus diagnostic of how the competition process that underlies word recognition varies across listeners.

Several small-scale studies 19 , 20 , 69 have used the VWP to characterize the dynamics of lexical competition in CI users. These illustrate two processing profiles, termed Sustained Activation and Wait-and-See , which offer initial hypotheses. Both profiles are also observed in other hearing impaired populations 70 and NH listeners in challenging conditions 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 . Thus, they may offer a generalized description of how word recognition adapts to challenge.

Post-lingually deaf CI users often exhibit a profile—now termed Sustained Activation —in which word recognition is slowed and competition never fully resolves (Fig.  1B ). Even late in processing, these listeners do not fully commit to the target, and continue to fixate competitors 19 , 71 . Similar profiles are observed in NH listeners in moderate levels of noise 17 , distortion 19 , or with unfamiliar dialects 72 . This profile does not entirely derive from poor encoding. CI users can accurately encode fine-grained speech cues, and still show Sustained-Activation 69 .

It is unclear if this is functional. One possibility is that Sustained-Activation is an automatic consequence of poor input: the degraded input from the CI does not afford enough information to fully discriminate words, so competitors cannot be fully ruled out. Alternatively, Sustained-Activation may support more flexible listening. Listeners may keep candidates available, in case they need to revise an earlier choice and reactivate a competitor c.f. 73 , 74 ,. Supporting this, post-lingually deaf CI users show less disruption than NH listeners when recognizing speech that mismatches its expected form (e.g., hearing tog instead of dog ). It is not yet clear if Sustained-Activation is helpful for more general outcomes.

This profile known as Wait-and-See was first observed in pre-lingually deaf CI users 20 , 70 . Listeners delay lexical access by nearly the length of a word (Fig.  1C ). By the time lexical access begins, they have thus heard most of the word, and consequently show less onset competition (Fig.  1D ). Wait-and-See has also been seen in children with moderate hearing loss who use hearing aids 70 , and in NH adults hearing severely distorted 20 or quiet 18 speech. It is unclear why listeners wait and see. One possibility is that the input is so degraded, there is not enough information to begin lexical access. However, children with mild-to-moderate hearing loss also show Wait-and-See , despite nearly perfect accuracy 70 . Alternatively, Wait-and-See may support more accurate listening. By delaying lexical access, listeners accrue more input before committing to a word, minimizing competition and the chance of an error.

The previously discussed studies generate hypotheses for how the mechanisms of word recognition differ in CI users. However, their small samples precluded any analysis of individual differences that could link these profiles to outcomes (e.g., to determine if it is beneficial to wait-and-see) or identify factors that lead listeners to sustain activation or wait and see. The present study thus incorporated a larger and thoroughly characterized sample of CI users ( N  = 101), alongside new analyses of a previously reported lifespan sample of listeners without major hearing loss ( N  = 107) 30 , to address three questions.

First, we sought to characterize the dimensionality of these differences. One hypothesis is that listeners show Sustained-Activation in response to moderate challenge and Wait-and-See for more severe challenge. For example, prior work has shown Sustained-Activation  with 8-channel vocoding but Wait-and-See with 4-channel 19 , 20 . Under this view, these profiles are two points along one dimension of difficulty. Alternatively, these profiles may represent independent dimensions derived from different sources and serving different functional goals 71 , or these profiles may not characterize the underlying dimensions at all—word recognition may vary in ways not previously detected.

Second, we asked if listeners without major hearing loss can be described along the same dimensions by leveraging a sample tested with identical tasks as part of an independent study on lifespan aging 30 . This sample was not intended as a direct comparison to the sample of CI users (participants were not purposely matched to the CI users on factors like age), but rather an opportunity to extend the analysis to a new group (see Supplementary Note  5 ).

Third, it is unclear what leads listeners to exhibit variation along these dimensions or to exhibit each profile. Likely factors include deafness onset (pre- vs. post-lingual) 70 , development and aging 30 , 66 , as well as auditory factors (e.g., how well the CI encodes spectral or temporal differences). Critically, we must also rule out non-linguistic differences in factors like oculomotor control to document that these reflect dimensions of word recognition.

Fourth, it is unclear whether these profiles are functional or reflect a bottom-up response to poor input. To address this requires an analysis that accounts for the quality of the auditory periphery, which likely impacts both real-time word recognition and outcomes (e.g., people with poor spectral resolution may be more likely to wait and see and be more likely to show poor outcomes). Specifically, we ask if the degree to which a CI user exhibits Wait-and-See or Sustained-Activation predicts their overall ability to perceive speech (outcomes) over and above auditory fidelity. If these profiles are functionally adaptive, a stronger profile (e.g., more wait-and-see ) should predict better outcomes. In contrast, these profiles could negatively predict outcomes. This could occur if these profiles are not causally related to outcomes, but instead are a marker that listening is challenging in general. A negative relationship could also be observed if these profiles do relate to outcomes, but listeners adopt them when they should not.

We examined 101 CI users (Table  1 , Supplementary Table  S1 ) including both pre-lingually and post-lingually deaf individuals who used a variety of device configurations, including 57 with Functional Acoustic Hearing (FAH) in at least one ear (which benefits speech perception 75 , 76 ). Participants were tested in a standard version of the VWP that captured the dynamics of competition that underlie the recognition of isolated wordforms. This was modeled after our prior work 19 , 20 and extensive work by others 60 , and a broadly similar approach has been applied to other groups 67 , 68 , 77 and listening conditions 17 , 78 . Our specific paradigm underwent extensive psychometric validation (see Methods). We characterized the fidelity of peripheral encoding along several dimensions: pure-tone audiometry to assess functional acoustic hearing, a spectral ripple task to assess spectral fidelity 79 , 80 , an envelope task to assess temporal fidelity 81 , and common device factors (e.g., the use of one vs. two CIs). We assessed outcomes with standard clinical measures: CNC words in quiet 11 and AzBio sentences in noise 82 , and with self-report measures of listening success 83 .

Using this dataset, the present study identified three underlying dimensions that account for the majority of the variance in real-time lexical competition in cochlear implant users and in listeners without hearing loss. The first two dimensions showed a close correspondence to the Wait-and-See and Sustained-Activation profiles identified by prior work 19 , 20 and the third ( Slow-Activation-Rate) corresponded to previously observed changes due to aging 30 . The degree to which an individual listener shows each dimension was predicted by distinct combinations of demographic and audiological factors. Moreover, each dimension predicted outcomes, even after accounting for the auditory periphery. This suggests that real-time lexical processing may be a unique locus for explaining clinical outcomes, whose cognitive mechanisms may vary in a small number of ways.

Figure  2A shows fixations to each of the four types of competitors over time in the VWP task. Early fixations were directed to the target (e.g., basket ) and cohort ( batter ), before separating around 600 msec. Given that it takes 200 ms to plan and launch and eye-movement, and there was 100 ms between trial onset and the stimulus, this means that these curves functionally separate at around 300 ms after word onset. Fixations to the rhyme ( casket ) did not reach the same peak and were generally slower to rise and fall. As a whole, CI users showed a pattern of lexical competition qualitatively similar to the incremental processing of NH listeners 60 . However, there were large differences across listeners (Fig.  2 , bottom row). For example, 699 showed robust cohort fixations and early target fixations, implying more immediate (NH-like) competition. In contrast, 592 showed delayed target fixations, and practically no competition (a hallmark of Wait-and-See ), and Participant 1517 showed differences at the end of processing with reduced target fixations and increased competitor fixations (a hallmark of Sustained-Activation ).

A Fixations to the target word ( basket) , an onset competitor ( batter) , a rhyme ( casket ) and an unrelated item as a function of time averaged across all the CI users. B Target fixations take the form of a sigmoid that can vary in three dimensions: the slope of the transition, the crossover (the time at which the function its midpoint) and the maximum at asymptote; C Fixations to competitors can vary in five parameters including the onset and offset slopes, the height and time of the peak and the baseline at asymptote. Bottom row) Results from six representative CI users. D – I Individual listeners (participant # is noted for reference to the shared datasets); D Bilateral CI – Post-lingually deaf (#699); E Unilateral CI with bilateral FAH – Post-lingually deaf (#1517); F Bimodal listener – Post-lingually deaf (#1486); G Unilateral CI with bilateral FAH – Post-lingually deaf (#673); H Bilateral – Prelingually deaf (#592); I Unilateral – Prelingually deaf (#1308).

Dimensions of individual differences

To identify the underlying dimensions of processing, non-linear functions were fit to the time course of fixations to each candidate (e.g., target, cohort) for each participant. These functions were based on prior work 19 , 61 , and captured factors like the slope, crossover, and asymptote of target fixations (Fig.  2B ), the height and timing of the peak, the slope to and from the peak, and the asymptotes for competitor fixations (Fig.  2C ). Collectively, these curves accounted for 99.4% of the variance in target fixations (SD = .43%), and over 94% of the variance in competitor fixations (Cohort: M = 96.2%, SD = 2.2%; Rhyme: 93.9%, SD = 3.9%; unrelated: M = 94.4%, SD = 3.6%).

We then submitted the 13 parameters describing target, cohort, and unrelated fixations to a principal component analysis (PCA). This identified five Principal Components (PCs; Eigenvalues: 1.93, 1.67, 1.25, 1.14, 1.06) that collectively accounted for 80.6% of the variance (Supplementary Note  1 ). Monte Carlo analyses using a parallel PCA approach (Supplementary Note  2 ) validated that these specific results (both in terms of the amount of variance and the specific components that were identified) were highly unlikely to be achieved by chance.

Our subsequent analyses focused on the first three components (62.1% of the variance) for three reasons. First, as we describe next, these three clearly mapped onto pre-existing theoretical constructs (e.g., Fig.  1 ), while the remaining two did not reflect any pattern in the literature (Supplementary Note  3 , Section 3.1). Second, the fourth component had only a small relationship with audiological and demographic factors, and the fifth component was not related to them at all. Third, neither factor predicted outcomes (Supplementary Note  3 , Section 3.2). Finally, as described shortly, these components were clearly related to visual and oculomotor processes involved in the VWP, and likely did not reflect language (Supplementary Note  4 ).

Figure  3 shows reconstructed fixation curves for a hypothetical listener with lower or higher than average values (±1.5 SD) for the first three PCs (Supplementary Note  3 for the others). Each is scaled such that a low value on a given PC represents typical NH processing in ideal conditions and a higher value represents a CI user or a NH listener in challenging conditions.

Shown are the predicted fixations for a listener that is high (+1.5 SD) or low (−1.5 SD) along each discovered dimension of processing. A The first principal component described a Wait&See profile with delayed fixations to both targets and competitors and a reduced cohort peak. B The second component reflect Sustained-Activation with slower growth of the function and reduced separation of the target and cohort asymptotes. C The final component reflected a slower growth of activation.

These PCs (which we term lexical competition dimensions/indices) were clearly interpretable in terms of our hypotheses (see Supplementary Note  1 for a discussion). The first (28.6% of variance) reflected Wait&See (compare Figs.  3 A to 1C /D). At high values of Wait&See , both the rise in target fixations and the cohort peak showed a fixed delay, and there was a reduced cohort peak. The second (21.5% of variance) reflected Sustained-Activation (Figs.  3B vs. 1B ). At high values of Sustained-Activation , the overall rate of activation (target slope) was slower, and at asymptote there were more competitor fixations and fewer target fixations. The third (11.9% of variance), reflecting a Slow-Activation-Rate , showed a pattern we have observed in NH listeners over development 66 , 84 and aging 30 16, for a review . At high values, targets and onset competitors were activated and cohorts were suppressed more slowly.

The concordance between these PCs and existing theoretical proposals, as well as the fact that the PCs are orthogonal, supports three dimensions of lexical competition. These dimensions are continuous: people show differing degrees of Wait&See (etc).

Figure  4A illustrates this with the distribution of listeners across the first two PCs as a function of language status at the onset of deafness ( deafness onset ). While prelingually deaf CI users (red) show more Wait&See (they are right-shifted), some post-lingually deaf CI users (blue) appear in a similar region. Figure  4B shows the same participants grouped by functional acoustic hearing (FAH; Fig.  4B ). The availability of FAH in both ears (green) reduces the variability along both dimensions, and these listeners are least likely to show high Wait&See or Sustained-Activation . Thus, a listener’s unique profile in this multi-dimensional space of lexical competition may span both Wait&See and Sustained-Activation and be driven by many factors.

A Distribution of participants as a function of language ability. B As a function of Functional Acoustic Hearing (FAH). Each point is one participant. Shaded ellipses represent the 95% confidence interval around the mean of each group.

Are the same dimensions relevant for people without major hearing loss?

We next asked whether this processing space differs in listeners without major hearing loss. We examined a sample of age-typical hearing (ATH) listeners ( N  = 107, ages 11–78 years), tested with identical tasks as part of an independent study on lifespan aging 30 . We projected their VWP results onto the PCA defined for the CI users. Figure  5A suggests that ATH listeners show overall lower values on both Wait&See (t(177.5) = 6.30, p  < 0.0001, g = 0.88, CI 95%  = [1.01, 1.93]) and Sustained-Activation (t(177.0) = 8.7, p  < 0.0001, g  = 1.22, CI 95%  = [1.36, 2.16]), and substantially less variance along both ( Wait&See: F Levene (1200) = 10.6, p  = .001; Sustained-Activation: F Levene (1200) = 6.2, p  = 0.013).

ATH listeners ranged in age from 11–80 and were run on the same experiment under identical conditions as part of a study on aging. A A space defined by the Wait&See and Sustained-Activation dimensions ; B A space defined by Slow -Activation-Rate and Sustained-Activation . Ellipses represent 95% confidence intervals centered at a point defined by the mean on each dimension of the corresponding group.

In contrast, Fig.  5B suggests that ATH listeners and CI users do not show significantly different variation along the Slow-Activation-Rate dimension (F Levene  < 1), even as their mean is lower (t(196.6) = 4.42, p  < 0.001, g  = 0.62, CI 95%  = [0.46 1.20]). Variation on this dimension was significantly related to age and a quadratic effect of age: (R 2  = 0.162; Age: B = 0.0232, t(196) = 3.57, p  < 0.001, β  = 0.302, CI 95%  = [0.010, 0.036]; Age 2 : B = 0.0011, t(196) = 3.37, p  = 0.001, β  = 0.307, CI 95%  = [0.00046, 0.0018]), and there was not a significant interaction with listener group (CI vs. NH) (Age × Group: B = −0.0080, t(196) = 0.61, p  = 0.543, β = −0.052, CI 95%  = [−0.033, 0.018]; Age 2 × Group: B = 0.00058, t(196) = 0.88, p  = 0.380, β = 0.080, CI 95%  = [−0.0007, 0.0019]). This pattern of results supports the idea that Slow-Activation-Rate largely reflects a more general age-related processing dimension, not hearing loss (though one that may be relevant for outcomes). Thus, CI users show substantially more variation in two dimensions of lexical competition, while the third may reflect natural age-related variation. We also conducted an independent PCA on the ATH listeners alone (Supplementary Note  5 ). Despite reduced variation, this again found three PCs that reflected Wait&See, Sustained-Activation and Slow-Activation Rate .

Predictors of lexical competition indices

We next asked what factors drive variability in these dimensions of lexical competition by using regressions to predict each listener’s location along a lexical competition dimension as a function of demographic and peripheral auditory factors. Demographic factors included age and a quadratic effect of age (motivated by ref. 30 ), length of experience with a CI, biological sex, and deafness onset (pre- vs. post-lingually deaf). Peripheral auditory variables included the use of one or two CIs, the availability of Functional Acoustic Hearing [FAH] in one or both ears, pure tone average (PTA) in the lower frequencies (to capture FAH), and measures of spectral and temporal fidelity. We followed a model selection approach, so not all factors appear in every regression. Figure  6 summarizes the results (Supplementary Note  6 , Table  S7 for complete results). It reveals markedly different set of predictive factors for each dimension. Similar analyses on the 4th and 5th PCs in Supplementary Note  3 , Section 3.1 do not show strong effects, suggesting these PCs reflect task-specific or visual-cognitive factors involved in the VWP, not lexical competition.

The height of the bar represents the absolute size of the effect (the absolute value of the standardized regression coefficients); error bars represent standard error of the estimate or the uncertainty in estimating the effect size. N provided in each panel indicates the number of individual participants contributing to that regression. Lighter bars represent those same estimates in a separate model that did not include demographic factors. FAH Functional Acoustic Hearing, PTA Pure Tone Average. Significance is the statistical significance of each term in the regression (two-tailed, not corrected for multiple comparisons; full results in Supplementary Note  6 , Table  S8 ). * p  < 0.05, + p  < 0.1; ~: Effect did not survive model selection. A Effects on Wait&See . Exact p -values are CI Experience: p  = 0.39; Deafness Onset: p  < 0.001; CI Experience x Deafness Onset: p  = 0.016; Bilateral FAH: p  = 0.017; Spectral Fidelity: p  = 0.108. B Effects on Sustained-Activation . Exact p -values are Age: p  < 0.001; Deafness Onset: p  = 0.033; Spectral Fidelity: p  = 0.241. C Effects on Slow-Activation-Rate . Exact p -values are: Age: p  = 0.013; Age 2 : p  = 0.002; CI Experience: p  = 0.134; Deafness Onset: p  = 0.100; CI Experience x Deafness Onset: p  = 0.012; Bilateral FAH: p  = 0.102; Spectral Fidelity: p  = 0.024; Temporal Fidelity: p  = 0.142.

Wait&See was strongly linked to deafness onset (B = −2.380, t(95) = 4.30, p  < 0.001, β = −0.479, CI 95%  = [−3.466, −1.294]), which interacted with CI experience (B = 0.139, t(95) = 2.45, p  = 0.016, β = 0.220, CI 95%  = [0.027, 0.251]; Fig.  7A ). Pre-lingually deaf CI users with more experience exhibited less Wait&See , converging with post-lingually deaf CI users as they aged. Additionally, people with bilateral FAH exhibited less Wait&See (B = −1.346, t(95) = 2.44, p  = 0.017, β = −0.232, CI 95%  = [−2.446, −0.266]; Fig.  4B ).

A Effect of Device experience and language status on the Wait&See dimension of lexical processing. Ellipses represent 1 SD from mean of each group. B Effect of Age on Sustained-Activation dimension. C Effect of device experience and language status on Slow-Activation-Rate . D Effect of age on Slow-Activation-Rate . Y axis in panels B – C is reversed so better performance is higher.

In contrast, Sustained-Activation was almost entirely driven by a linear effect of age (B = 0.052, t(95) = 4.11, p  < 0.001, β = 0.473, CI 95%  = [0.027, 0.077]; Fig.  7B ), with a smaller influence of deafness onset (B = −1.09, t(95) = 2.16, p  = 0.033, β = −0.253, CI 95%  = [−2.080, −0.100]). None of the other demographic or peripheral auditory variables significantly predicted Sustained-Activation .

Finally, for Slow-Activation-Rate , there was a significant interaction of device experience and deafness onset (B = −0.242, t(95) = 2.55, p  = 0.012, β = −0.242, CI 95%  = [−0.175, −0.023]): Pre-lingually deaf CI users tended to speed up with device experience (overcoming their propensity to Wait-and-See ; Fig.  7C ); whereas, post-lingual CI users showed a small slowing. There was a large quadratic effect of age (Fig.  7C , Age: B = 0.028, t(95) = 2.52, p  = 0.013, β = 0.343, CI 95%  = [0.006, 0.050]; Age 2 : B = 0.002, t(95) = 3.12, p  = 0.002, β = 0.429, CI 95%  = [0.000, 0.004]). This effect and the effect of age on Sustained-Activation (Fig.  7B ) matches the results in Colby and McMurray 30 for ATH listeners. Specifically, Sustained-Activation matches what they termed “competitor resolution” 10 , which declines with age. Slow-Activation-Rate matches their “timing” index, exhibiting a developmental profile with gains up to 30 years of age followed by a decline.

In only two cases did peripheral auditory factors predict any of the real-time lexical competition indices. First, spectral fidelity predicted Slow-Activation-Rate (B = 0.016, t(95) = 2.29, p  = 0.024, β = 0.247, CI 95%  = [0.002, 0.030])—less spectral fidelity predicted slower activation rate. Second, bilateral FAH predicted Wait&See (B = −1.356, t(95) = 2.44, p  = 0.017, β = −0.232, CI 95%  = [−2.446, −0.266])—people with bilateral FAH show less Wait&See . The smaller effects for peripheral auditory factors (as a whole) relative to other factors was surprising. One explanation was that effects of auditory function may have been masked by correlated demographic variables (e.g., poorer hearing with age). Indeed, comprehensive analyses in Supplementary Note  7 show moderate relationships among these variables. However, separate regressions containing only the auditory measures (the pale bars in the background in Fig.  6 ) showed only moderate effects. In these, spectral fidelity predicted Wait&See (B = 0.02, t(95) = 2.05, p  = 0.043, β = 0.225, CI 95%  = [0.001, 0.043]), and was correlated with Sustained-Activation in a similar direction but was not significant (B = 0.017, t(95) = 1.77, p  = 0.080, β = 0.198, CI 95%  = [−0.002, 0.035]). The specific profile of lexical competition shown by any listener is not robustly related to their auditory periphery.

Finally, we asked whether any of the five PCs may reflect more general processes (e.g., speed of processing) or factors like visual search or oculomotor performance that are relevant for the VWP (but not language). These skills were indexed with a non-linguistic analog of the VWP (nlVWP) in which participants matched a centrally presented shape to one of four competitors while eye-movements were monitored 85 . Supplementary Note  4 presents regressions relating indices from this task to each of the five PCs. These found no significant effects for the first three PCs, but significant effects for the fourth and fifth. This pattern of results provides a form of discriminant validity: there is clear statistical support that the first three reflect mechanisms relevant to lexical processing whereas there is little statistical support for the hypothesis that fourth and fifth are relevant for language and hearing.

The relationship of lexical competition to speech perception outcomes

Next, we asked if the dimensions of lexical competition predicted speech perception outcomes. Here, we considered three standard audiological measures: word recognition in quiet the Consonant Nucleus Coda [CNC] words 11 , sentence recognition in +10 dB SNR AzBio Sentences 82 , and a retrospective evaluation of listeners’ real-world speech perception the Speech subscale of the Speech-Spatial-Qualities [SSQ] questionnaire 83 .

Our prior analyses showed that the real-time lexical competition indices were moderately affected by demographic and auditory factors. This was also true for speech perception outcomes (Supplementary Note  7 ). Thus, we evaluated the relationship between real-time lexical competition and outcomes while controlling for these factors. We conducted the analysis in two stages: first identifying the optimal model for each outcome based solely on demographic and auditory variables, and then adding all three VWP indices.

Figure  8 shows effect sizes for each variable (Table  S8 for numerical results). As in prior work 79 , 80 , CNC word recognition was strongly related to spectral resolution (B = −0.207, t(93) = 2.40, p  = 0.002, β = −0.227, CI 95%  = [−0.376, −0.038]) but not significantly related to temporal fidelity (B = −0.942, t(93) = 1.79, p  = 0.076, β = −0.166, CI 95%  = [−1.971, 0.087]) with better fidelity predicting more accurate performance. Critically, word recognition was significantly related to Wait&See (B = −2.133, t(93) = 2.41, p  = 0.018, β = −0.223, CI 95%  = [−3.832, −0.394]), and Sustained-Activation (B = −2.162, t(93) = 2.17, p  = 0.033, β = −0.198, CI 95%  = [−4.120, −0.204]), even after accounting for these factors. Sentence recognition in noise was not strongly related to spectral fidelity (B = -0.239,t(55) = 2.00, p  = 0.051, β = −0.233, CI 95%  = [−0.474, −0.004]). However, it was significantly related to Wait&See (B = −3.152, t(53) = 2.55, p  = 0.014, β = −0.290, CI 95%  = [−5.575, −0.729]) and Sustained-Activation (B = −3.115, t(53) = 2.08, p  = 0.042, β = −0.231, CI 95%  = [−6.047, −0.183]). Finally, real world performance was predicted both by acoustic hearing (PTA: B = 0.021, t(60) = 2.21, p  = 0.031, β = 0.325, CI 95%  = [0.001, 0.041]) and Sustained-Activation (B = −0.284, t(60) = 2.25, p  = 0.028, β = −0.271, CI 95%  = [−0.531, −0.037]). Neither the fourth nor fifth PC predicted outcomes (Supplementary Note  3 , Section 3.2).

The height of the bar represents the absolute size of the effect (the absolute value of the standardized regression coefficients); error bars represent standard error of the estimate or the uncertainty in estimating the effect size. Lighter bars represent those same estimates in a separate model that did not include demographic and auditory factors. PTA Pure Tone Average. FAH Functional Acoustic Hearing. N provided in each panel indicates the number of individual participants contributing to that regression. Significance is the statistical significance of each term in the regression (two-tailed, not corrected for multiple comparisons; full results in Supplementary Note  6 , Table  S9 ). * p  < 0.05, + p  < 0.1; ~: Effect did not survive model selection. A Effect of demographic factors, auditory function and lexical processing indices on CNC word recognition. Exact p -values are Spectral Fidelity: p  = 0.018; Temporal Fidelity: p  = 0.077; Wait&See: p  = 0.018; Sustained-Activation: p  = 0.033; Slow-Activation-Rate: p  = 0.193. B Same effects on Az-Bio Sentence Recognition. Exact p values are Sex: p  = 0.082; Bilateral CI: p  = 0.400; Spectral Fidelity: p  = 0.051; Wait&See : p  = 0.014; Sustained-Activation: p  = 0.042; Slow-Activation-Rate: p  = 0.105. C Same effects on real-world speech perception (SSQ). Exact p -values are Deafness Onset: p  = 0.220; PTA: p  = 0.031; Spectral Fidelity: p  = 0.487, Wait&See : p  = 0.336; Sustained-Activation: p  = 0.028; Slow-Activation-Rate: p  = 0.372.

We were concerned that controlling for so many factors in these analyses may underestimate the degree to which lexical competition predicted outcomes. Thus, we repeated the regressions with only the real-time lexical competition indices (Fig.  8 , pale bars). These showed more widespread and robust effects. Word recognition accuracy was significantly predicted by Wait&See (B = −2.68, t(95) = −3.06, p  = 0.003, β = −0.28, CI 95%  = [−4.40, −0.97]), Sustained-Activation (B = −2.77, t(95) = −2.75, p  = 0.007, β = −0.25, CI 95%  = [−4.74, −0.81]) and Slow-Activation-Rate (B = −2.74, t(95) = −2.02, p  = 0.046, β = −0.19, CI 95%  = [−5.39, −0.10]).

Sentence recognition was also negatively related to all three ( Wait&See : B = −4.07 t(57) = −3.38, p  = 0.001, β = −0.37, CI 95%  = [−6.42, −1.72]; Sustained-Activation : B = −4.19, t(57) = −2.80, p  = 0.007, β = −0.31, CI 95%  = [−7.12, −1.27]; Slow-Activation-Rate : B = −4.94, t(57) = −2.23, p  = 0.029, β = −0.25, CI 95%  = [−9.25, −0.63]).

Real-world outcomes continued to be predicted only by Sustained-Activation (B = −0.30, t(63) = −2.43, p  = 0.018, β = −0.28, CI 95%  = [−0.54, −0.06]), but they did not have a significant relationship to Wait&See (B = −0.11, t(63) = 1.14, p  = 0.257, β = −0.13, CI 95%  = [−0.30, 0.08]) or Slow-Activation-Rate (B = −0.18, t(63) = 1.17, p  = 0.245, β = −0.14, CI 95%  = [−0.47, 0.12]). As a whole, these results suggest a robust relationship between indices of real-time lexical competition and multiple outcomes. Crucially, these effects are seen even when controlling for peripheral auditory and demographic factors.

Do Wait&See, Sustained-Activation and Slow-Activation-Rate benefit listeners?

Finally, we asked whether these differences in lexical competition are adaptive. When listeners wait and see, they accumulate more information before beginning lexical access. This could improve accuracy. Similarly, Sustained-Activation may help listeners maintain flexibility, keeping options open in case later information requires them to update a decision. These hypotheses predict that these indices will be positively correlated to outcomes: more waiting or sustaining leads to better speech perception.

This is not what was found. The regression coefficients (Supplementary Note  6 , Table  S9 ) suggest that in every case, less NH-like processing (higher values on the lexical competition indices) reflected poorer outcomes. One possibility is that the lexical competition indices reflect poorer auditory fidelity in addition to any functional benefits. That is, poor auditory fidelity leads to more Waiting-and-Seeing , but the benefits of the lexical competition profile do not outweigh the costs of the poor fidelity. To address, we estimated the degree of Wait&See (or the other real-time lexical competition indices) relative to the quality of each listener’s auditory periphery (the residuals of the lexical processing after regressing out the periphery). This analysis indexes whether each listener was more or less Wait&See (or Sustained-Activation ) than expected given their hearing ability. People who exhibit more of a profile may exhibit better than expected speech perception. Even with this additional control, we still found robust negative relationships between lexical processing indices and outcomes (Fig.  9 , Supplementary Note  6 , Table  S10 ). Thus, there is little evidence that these profiles are adaptive. They may instead represent three dimensions of challenged processing.

A Word recognition in quiet (CNC accuracy) as a function of Wait&See ; B Sentence recognition in noise (AzBio) as a function of Wait&See; C Sentence recognition in noise (AzBio) as a function of Sustained-Activation ; D Subjective real world speech perception (SSQ) as a function of Sustained-Activation .

This study identified three basic dimensions that underlie individual differences in real-time lexical competition. Each was related to distinct constellations of predictive factors, and each was predicted outcomes in CI users, even controlling for the nature and quality of the auditory periphery. The same dimensions—though with a reduced range—were also found in a separate sample of people without significant hearing loss. To see this, we related VWP indices of real-time lexical competition to traditional audiological measures of hearing and outcomes.

We note that these latter measures (e.g., CNC word recognition, Spectral Ripple, etc.) represent important variables in their own right, particularly given our large and diverse sample. Thus, Supplementary Note  7 describes a series of analyses on these factors alone. These analyses (briefly) showed that bilateral CI user appears to improve spectral fidelity as a form of redundancy gain; acoustic hearing can contribute to frequency separation but may make it more difficult to track temporal changes in the envelope; and that pre- and post-lingually deaf listeners have similar degrees of spectral resolution, but pre-lingually deaf individuals in this sample may have reduced temporal fidelity.

Before discussing the theoretical and clinical implications of the present study, we start by noting its limitations and scope. Word recognition encompasses many sub-systems such as speech perception and semantic processing; it typically occurs in sentence contexts which can further constrain it; and it may be affected by a variety of properties of the input and of the words (e.g., frequency, length). Nonetheless, our single-word indices were still related to outcomes in sentences and the real-world, validating the importance of this level of analysis. Additionally, while wordform recognition is multifaceted, our study focused only on one aspect of the process. This aspect was selected as it is the aspect that most mechanistic theories 14 , 86 have emphasized—competition among similar sounding words. In doing so, it illustrates the ways in which this slice of the problem can vary systematically and how this may relate to outcomes. Our conclusions should be narrowly construed in terms of variation in the way lexical competition is resolved, and we are not presuming that there is not any meaningful variation at other levels of the system, or in listeners’ responses to other variables. Indeed, a clear extension of this work would be to conduct a similar individual differences approach but using new paradigms based on the VWP that tap other aspects of word recognition (e.g., refs. 63 , 87 ), or using other paradigms entirely 88 , 89 . In that way, our work has offers clear conceptual and statistical tools that may help identify the relevant dimensions of these other aspects of word recognition.

Turning to the most important VWP results, our PCA identified three key dimensions (Fig.  3 ), all of which were predicted by prior theoretical and empirical work 19 , 20 , 71 . The first was Wait&See , in which lexical access undergoes a fixed (and somewhat large) delay, which reduces cohort competition. The second showed a Sustained-Activation profile in which lexical activation builds slowly and competitors are not fully ruled out at asymptote. These two profiles have been observed in smaller-scale studies of CI users 19 , 20 , 71 , in children with hearing aids 70 , and in NH listeners experiencing challenging listening conditions 17 , 18 , 72 . The third reflected the overall rate of activation build-up and decay ( Slow-Activation-Rate )/ This has been linked to both development 66 , 84 and aging 30 . These three dimensions were not strongly related to general visual/cognitive processing (Supplementary Note  4 ), suggesting they uniquely reflect word recognition, not ancillary processes that are engaged in the VWP (e.g., visual search, oculomotor planning).

Our large sample and individual differences approach allowed us to extend our understanding of these profiles beyond prior work. Considering lexical competition dimensions as outcomes, our study revealed three important findings. First, we demonstrated that Wait&See and Sustained-Activation are not two ends of a single dimension; they are independent of each other. Individual CI users (and listeners without major hearing loss) adopt a unique combination of these continuous dimensions (Fig.  4 ). Second, while Wait&See was strongly associated with early deafness, it was also observed in a sizable number of post-lingually deaf individuals. It also accounted for the bulk of the variance in word recognition across the sample, even though our sample was heavily weighted toward post-lingually deaf CI users ( N  = 75/101). Thus, Wait&See was a substantial component underlying most CI users’ performance. Third, a fair number of CI users appeared in the ATH portions of the space (Fig.  5A ). This was not strongly predicted by peripheral auditory function or demographics, raising the possibility of factors that insulate listeners from adopting maladaptive processing profiles. One likely candidate is language skill prior to hearing loss 90 , 91 . Future work should identify these factors, particularly those that can be assessed prior to implantation to shape outcomes.

It was surprising that the auditory periphery was not a particularly strong predictor of the lexical competition indices relative to other factors (Fig.  6 ). Bilateral FAH was associated with Wait&See and spectral fidelity with Slow-Activation-Rate . However, non-auditory factors, like deafness onset ( Wait&See , Slow-Activation Rate) , age ( Sustained-Activation, Slow-Activation Rate) , and their interaction ( Wait&See ) had larger and more robust effects. One possibility is that our peripheral measures were not sufficiently sensitive. However, these same measures significantly related to outcomes (particularly when the VWP was not in the analysis) in the predicted ways (Supplementary Note  7 ). This supports the hypothesis that the dimensions of processing found by the PCA are unique cognitive differences that do not passively reflect the quality of the input. Ongoing work by our team is asking whether these differences derive from language abilities and cortical structure prior to hearing loss (and intervention), and/or from the distribution of listening experiences that people have (e.g., the diversity of talker voices they face every day, the amount of listening practice [device utilization] that they engage in).

Notably, Wait&See was much more strongly tied to deafness onset than hearing factors. This is not likely mediated by auditory fidelity: Supplementary Note  7 shows that pre- and post-lingually deaf listeners do not differ in spectral fidelity. This conclusion is further supported by Klein et al. 70 who showed that children with mild-to-moderate hearing loss (who have good auditory fidelity with their hearing aids) still showed Wait&See . Thus, hearing loss during early development is likely an important factor leading to Wait&See . However, Wait&See is not limited to pre-lingually deaf individuals: 29 of the 75 post-lingually deaf CI users showed a Wait&See index greater than 0 (and 5 of the 17 pre-linguals showed a value less than 0), as did 12 people without hearing loss. This implies additional unknown factors may lead listeners to wait and see.

We also found that both Sustained-Activation and Slow-Activation-Rate were strongly tied to aging. This was particularly apparent for Slow-Activation-Rate , where listeners without major hearing loss showed almost as much variation as CI users (Fig.  5B ). This mirrors findings with ATH listeners across the lifespan 30 , and makes an important point that the natural aging of lexical competition skills impacts CI users. However, in CI users, the normal slowdown in language skills with age could compound with Wait&See -induced delays or poorer resolution to make everyday language processing quite challenging. This raises the need for assessments of the efficiency of language processing as part of both standard neuropsychiatric and audiological care, even for normal hearing neurotypical adults c.f. 92 .

A critical goal in this study was to determine if these dimensions of lexical competition related to outcomes, and if so, whether profiles like Wait&See are functional. The latter hypothesis was supported: both Wait&See and Sustained-Activation-Rate predicted outcomes even after accounting for the periphery and demographic differences, and this is underscored by their relative insensitivity to oculomotor or general cognitive differences. However, different factors appeared to be related to different outcomes. All three dimensions were important for the most complex measure (sentences in noise) (Fig.  8 ). This may reflect that perceiving sentences in noise demands both efficient processing ( Wait&See and Slow-Activation-Rate ) and the ability to fully suppress competitors ( Sustained-Activation ). In contrast, for real-world outcomes, individuals may be able to ask others to slow down or use context to fill in missing words. Consequently, efficiency is less important, but the ability to fully suppress competitors may be more important ( Sustained-Activation ).

However, in all cases, there was not strong evidence that these profiles were adaptive (Fig.  9 ). Listeners who showed more Wait&See or more Sustained-Activation generally had poorer outcomes—even accounting for their auditory fidelity. It appears that the people who do not need to adapt for accuracy do better at word recognition, and people who do not need to adapt for flexibility do better in sentences. One concern might be that our outcome measures do not require complex integration across sentences or a discourse. Thus, it is possible that these effects will change when related to more demanding outcomes.

Nevertheless, if we take these effects at face value, there remains an open question. If these profiles are not a simple product of auditory fidelity and they are not adaptive, then what drives listeners to these differences in the basic process of lexical access? First, we note that listeners without hearing loss also show considerable variation in this space (Fig.  5A ). Perhaps hearing loss simply expands on whatever natural proclivity a listener has toward Wait&See or Sustained-Activation . One possibility in this regard, is that these profiles are akin to an allergy—an overreaction to a mild insult. That is, perhaps these profiles are “intended” to be adaptive (much like the immune response) but are too extreme to be beneficial. If so, this kind of over-compensation may relate to listeners’ anxiety or meta-cognition about their language comprehension skills (e.g., about their ability to keep up or hear everything correctly), or to the diversity of talkers and language tasks they do every day (which may make them better “prepared” for the laboratory tasks).

Of note is that Slow-Activation-Rate did not predict outcomes. However, Slow-Activation-Rate was primarily associated with age, to which none of the outcome measures were strongly related (Fig.  8 ). Moreover, none of our outcome measures were timed. Therefore, Slow-Activation-Rate may be more relevant for more specific challenges like dealing with fast speech.

At the broadest level, this study illustrates the importance of real-time language processing for understanding the success and challenges in language comprehension amongst people with hearing impairment (as well as people undergoing typical aging). This is clear if we compare the amount of variance accounted for by models predicting outcomes from the auditory and demographic factors (Supplementary Note  7 ) to those models when we add the indices of lexical competition from the VWP (Fig.  8 , Supplementary Note  6 , Table  S8 ). For all three outcomes, the models examining demographic and auditory factors alone showed small to moderate effect sizes. This reflects the persistent and difficult-to-explain variability in performance among CI users in both lab-based and real-world measures. However, the addition of the lexical competition indices led to large gains in the amount of variance that was accounted for (see Supplementary Note  6 , Table  S10 for numerical results, and Fig.  S4 for a visualization). For example, regressions predicting CNC accounted for 16% of the variance using only the typical variables, but 25% when lexical competition indices were added. Similarly, 21% of the variance in sentence in noise recognition was due to demographic and audiological variables alone, but the regression accounted for 41% when the lexical indices were added. Finally, for the more difficult to predict SSQ (subjective real world speech perception), regressions accounted for 11% of the variance with only auditory and demographic variables, but 19% with the lexical competition indices. In each case, predictive power almost doubled by adding indices of lexical competition (with substantial shared variance). Therefore, real-time processing measures capture unique variance that cannot be attributed to the auditory periphery and may be uniquely important for outcomes.

For a listener to achieve successful speech perception with a CI, or in other challenging conditions, it is not sufficient to accurately encode the signal. People must be able to efficiently use whatever input they have to access meaning. This efficiency may be particularly important in situations where speech is fast, or when it is not part of an interactive conversation in which the partner can pace themselves to the needs of the listener (e.g., in a radio broadcast). Moreover, a lack of efficiency may require listeners to exert more effort, an important real-word issue as many people with hearing impairment report that language comprehension is fatiguing 93 , 94 . There has been considerable recent emphasis in audiology on more naturalistic texts such as sentence processing in noise. However, our results raise the need to consider other challenging listening conditions, particularly, the need to “keep up” with rapid speech in context. Similarly, this raises a need for assessments that stress efficient processing, not just accuracy.

There has been considerable emphasis in the recent literature on the link between hearing and cognitive decline 1 , 6 , 22 , 27 , 95 , 96 . Here, we see substantial variance in traditional hearing outcomes (e.g., CNC word recognition accuracy) that are uniquely linked to cognitive processes that are specific to language (and not to domain general visual or decision-making processes: Supplementary Note  4 ), but which are also not strongly related to auditory fidelity. That is, variation in language plays an independent role in speech perception outcomes that is at least as big as the auditory periphery. Notably, we only examined one aspect of word recognition – it is likely that we would see even more gains by considering additional aspects of word recognition, or by expanding this approach to sentence processing. Such work blurs the line between hearing and cognition: to the degree that social isolation and deprivation are critical factors in hastening decline, it may not be pure hearing ability that matters, as much as functional hearing—the combination of hearing and language. People may struggle to access language efficiently for either peripheral auditory reasons or due to difficulties in the cognitive processes of language. However, it is the fact that they are struggling to access language (and the resulting difficulty in social engagement) that matters more than whether this is specifically due to hearing loss. Neuropsychological approaches should consider language (particularly processes related to efficiency) as a key factor in social engagement for both cognitive decline and hearing loss. However, efficiency is not just another factor that can be retained or lost with age. Rather it is a potential mediator of the link between hearing loss and cognitive decline.

Theoretically, the present study demonstrates that the cognitive mechanisms underlying a key component of real-time lexical processing—dynamically unfolding competition—have lawful individual differences across listeners with, and without, hearing loss that can be characterized in a small number of meaningful dimensions. These dimensions were detected by combining the tools of individual differences (PCA) with the tools of cognitive science (e.g., the VWP). They are not just abstractions—they are theoretically meaningful and predicted by prior work, and they matter for real-world success. Moreover, these mechanistic differences may be amenable to training 97 , raising the possibility of moving people to new regions of the processing space.

Cognitive science has traditionally sought to unpack basic mechanisms in modal listeners (normal hearing, monolingual, neurotypical adults), in part because we did not have the tools to characterize lawful differences in processing. This difficulty has only scaled with the advent of both models 64 and measures like the VWP that make precise predictions at a millisecond timescale. In the face of such complexity, it can be difficult to identify a few degrees of freedom to characterize variation beyond the modal listener. However, modal listeners are rare. Many people struggle with hearing loss, most people undergo development and aging, and multilingualism is the norm worldwide. Thus, theories of language processing must encompass not only the ‘ideal’ case, but also the underlying dimensions of variation in processing mechanisms. The critical issue facing the next generation of cognitive models is to identify lawful degrees of freedom by which basic mechanisms can vary to describe variation across people. This study pushes the field toward the use of tools like the VWP that are well-established and linked to basic mechanisms, but to use them in a way that characterizes the diversity of mechanisms, rather than assuming that any differences from the modal listener represent a deficit. Such an investigation points to a cognitive science that can be equitable for all people and not only the “modal listener”, and one that captures variation in basic mechanisms across individuals and within individuals across contexts to facilitate more flexible language processing.

Participants

This study tested 114 CI users. All participants were monolingual English speakers with at least one year of CI experience, normal speech motor control, normal or corrected-to-normal vision, no history of developmental or neurological disorder, and at least some hearing loss in both ears (CI users with single side of deafness were excluded). Participants were categorized by self-reported biological sex, and our study design attempted to sample sufficient people from both sexes to permit it to be used as a factor in analysis. Thirteen people were tested but excluded from analysis for not meeting eligibility criteria ( N  = 9) or for not completing the VWP task ( N  = 4). This left 101 in the final analysis (45 male, Age: M = 57.4, SD = 15.26 years, range 80.8–19.4).

Participants were recruited from a large registry of CI users through the Iowa Cochlear Implant Clinical Research Center at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics. This was not part of a clinical trial, but rather was part of an ongoing clinical research project examining outcomes in a sample that was being treated for hearing loss. Participants ran this study on the same or following day as their routine audiological checkup and programming. Most patients had their devices tuned prior to testing. Participants with any acoustic hearing received a full audiogram in the clinic using a Grayson Stadler GSI Audiostar Pro audiometer with sounds presented over the included headphones.

The sample was highly variable across a number of factors (Table  1 main text; complete details in Supplementary Table  S1 ). There was large variability in device configurations. There were unilateral and bilateral CI users, many of the CI users were implanted with hybrid CIs 76 that preserved acoustic hearing in the implanted ear(s) and some had usable acoustic hearing on a non-implanted ear (bimodal). We thus characterized listeners along three dimensions.

First, we documented whether the listener used one CI or two (Unilateral: N  = 79, Bilateral: N  = 22). Second, we assessed whether the listener had functional acoustic hearing (FAH). This was based on pure tone audiometry on the day of test, using the average of the low frequencies (250, 500, 1000, 1500 Hz) in the better ear as a continuous index of acoustic hearing. Listeners were classified as having FAH if they had better than 85 dB on a non-implanted ear, or better than 65 dB in the implanted ear.

The particular selection of frequencies does not represent the full range of useful acoustic hearing. It was motivated by the large number CI users who were implanted with hearing preservation (Hybrid) CIs that retain acoustic hearing in the implanted ear. For many of these listeners, cochlear implantation results in the loss of acoustic hearing above 1000 Hz; we included 1500 to catch the few who may have a little more hearing. Work with hybrid listeners shows that even at these low frequencies this acoustic hearing is helpful 98 , 99 . We retained this same threshold for the large number of bimodal listeners to ensure a common metric for evaluating functional acoustic hearing. Since most of these listeners have typical profiles of age-related high frequency hearing loss, this also captures the frequency range they are most likely to have access to via acoustic hearing.

By this standard, 57 listeners had FAH in one ear and 44 did not. Finally, we classified each listener as having functional acoustic hearing (FAH) in one or both ears: 10 CI users had FAH in both ears, 47 in one, and 44 had none.

Seventeen CI users were classified as having pre-lingual onset of deafness (profound deafness before age 5); 75 had clear post-lingual onset of deafness (after age 18); and nine were labeled as intermediate with deafness occurring in childhood (often progressive). With respect to audiological factors, age and gender this sample is representative of CI users. With respect to race, we had only a single non-white listener. Though this is not representative of the population as a whole, epidemiological work on CI users suggests that the population of CI users is heavily skewed toward white individuals 100 , 101 .

All recruitment and experimental procedures were approved by the University of Iowa Institutional Review Board (IRB# 202210440), with separate protocols for the CI users tested here and the listeners without major hearing loss. Prior to implantation, CI users provided written informed consent, with the opportunity to ask questions and view the laboratory. CI users were compensated $50 for a half day of testing and $75 for a full day.

We also describe results from listeners without major hearing loss, with age typical hearing (ATH). This data came from a separate study 30 . This sample included 107 participants (39 male, 68 female) between the ages of 11–78 (Age: M = 47.8 years, SD = 19.5 years, range = 11.2–78.1 years). ATH listeners met the same criteria as CI users with the exception that they had normal hearing. All ATH participants received a full audiogram with a calibrated Grayson Stadler GS-61 audiometer, with sounds presented over Grayson Stadler DD-45 headphones. Participants were required to have a pure tone average of less than 30 dB in at least one ear (average calculated at 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, and 6 kHz). We relaxed the typical criteria for ATH because (1) it was necessary to obtain sufficient older adults; (2) if requested, participants were allowed to slightly adjust the volume for comfort; and (3) in the original report of that study 30 , we found no relationship between minor between-subject variation in hearing and VWP performance. ATH listeners were tested under a separate IRB protocol which covered both minors and adults (IRB# 200902782). They provided written informed consent on the day of testing with an opportunity for questions if they had any. For minors, their parent or guardian signed a written informed consent document, and the participant underwent an additional verbal assent procedure with the experimenter.

The size of the sample of CI users was determined by participant availability, not by an a priori prior analysis. Our plan was to test all CI users that were available for testing during a 3.5-year period (timed to the end of the grant). To understand power, we conducted sensitivity analyses based on this sample which computed the Minimum Detectable Effect (MDE) for variants of a linear regression. These assumed α = 0.05, 1-β = 0.8, and a two-tailed test. The MDE for a simple correlation given these assumptions was |r | ≥ 0.271. The MDE for detecting a single significant effect in a regression with 5 parameters was r 2  ≥ 0.073. Finally, the MDE for detecting a change in variance for a regression that started with 4 parameters (e.g., auditory fidelity and demographic factors) and added three more (the VWP indices) was r 2  ≥ 0.101. Thus, this sample was sufficient for detecting small-to-medium effects.

General procedures

This study was conducted as part of a large clinical research project that included a large battery of experiments and standardized measures lasting about two hours. Only a subset of these tests is reported here (though this study reports all auditory fidelity measures and all speech perception outcomes that were available). For all participants, eye-tracking in the Visual World Paradigm (VWP) was conducted in a soundproof booth by the McMurray lab team. Other measures were collected by audiologists that were members of the Iowa Cochlear Implant Clinical Research Center (ICICRC). This was done in a separate soundproof booth in the Department of Otolaryngology. For the CI sample, audiometry was always conducted by the ICICRC, and spectral and temporal fidelity tests were also generally conducted by that group. For some CI users, scheduling constraints meant that auditory fidelity measures were collected in the McMurray Lab. For ATH listeners, audiometry and fidelity measures were all tested by the McMurray lab. The order of procedures was the same for each participant.

Auditory fidelity tasks

We assessed the fidelity of auditory encoding along both spectral and temporal dimensions. Note that these tests are usually conducted using restricted listening conditions. For example, spectral fidelity may be tested using a single CI and without any acoustic hearing to determine how well the CI separates frequencies. However, in this study, listeners were tested in their full everyday listening configuration (e.g., if they used two CIs and a HA in their day-to-day life, they were tested with these devices here). Thus, these measures reflect functional auditory fidelity, not the performance of a single listening device. Tests were designed to be conducted in the audiology clinic by the audiologists to support our multiple-lab center. Thus, they used presentation settings that were common to multiple labs, and thus may not match settings used for the VWP paradigms that were conducted by our team. Testing was conducted in a double-walled sound booth using a single loudspeaker located 1.5 m in front of the participant. Stimuli were played at 60 dB SPL intensity (measured with a handheld sound level meter in dBA weighting), which was fixed for all participants.

Participants performed a 3-alternative forced choice oddball task in which they heard three stimuli and selected which differed. Sounds were 500 ms long with a 50 ms ramp at onset and offset and were generated uniquely for each trial by the control software. To deter listeners from using loudness as a cue to detect the oddball stimulus, root mean square values were first equalized among the three stimuli, and the presentation level was then roved randomly between −3 and +3 dB within the three sounds on a trial, and across all the stimuli. Stimuli were played with a 750 ms inter-stimulus interval. As each sound played, a numbered box appeared (1-3) on the screen. After hearing all three, the listener chose the oddball by clicking on a numbered box or typing the number.

This task was embedded in a Bayesian adaptive procedure using the Updated Maximum Likelihood (UML) algorithm 102 . In this procedure, the algorithm estimated a psychophysical function on each trial. It was updated after each response, and then used to select a stimulus for the next trial that will be most informative (given the current estimated function). The algorithm ran for a fixed number of 70 trials, and typically yields convergence faster and more reliably than traditional staircase procedures. The task was constrained by priors estimated from previous CI users’ performance. We used this procedure to estimate a 3-parameter logistic function with a slope, threshold and guess-rate parameters. The threshold parameter was used as the estimate of performance for that dimension.

Each task started with four practice trials. These included feedback as to the accuracy of the response and did not contribute to the estimates. Testing trials did not include feedback. The entire procedure took approximately 7 min for each dimension. This was implemented with custom experimental control software developed in the MATLAB Psychophysics 3 Toolbox.

Spectral fidelity

Spectral fidelity has been strongly linked to speech perception accuracy in CI users 79 , 80 as it reflects the degree of separation between frequency bands. We assessed this with spectral ripples 79 . These were full-frequency stimuli that consisted of broad band noise whose spectrum contained peaks at specific frequencies (analogous to a vowel), evenly spaced on a log-frequency scale. We used a low ripple density (1.25 ripples / octave), which is more characteristic of human speech and does not lead to artifacts from the CI processor 103 . The UML procedure held the density of the ripples (ripples / octave) constant and manipulated the depth on each trial to determine the minimum depth at which frequencies could be separated. For each trial, the standard sounds were created with a random starting location for the spectral peak, and the oddball was created with an inverted phase.

Temporal modulation

While CI processing often loses spectral fine detail, it is thought to preserve differences in the amplitude envelope; thus CI users may have more access to temporal cues 103 . Stimuli for this task consisted of a 500 ms tone with five-component frequencies (at 1515, 2350, 3485, 5045, and 6990 Hz) whose amplitude was modulated at 20 Hz 104 . Stimuli to be discriminated differed by the presence of an amplitude modulation (either two modulated and one unmodulated sound, or one modulated and two unmodulated). The UML procedure manipulated the depth of the amplitude modulation.

Speech perception and outcomes

Speech perception outcomes were assessed by the audiological team in three ways. Testing was conducted in a double-walled sound booth using a sound field presentation. The loudspeaker was located 1.5 m in front of the participant.

Word recognition in quiet

Word recognition in quiet was assessed with the Consonant Nucleus Coda (CNC) words 11 . Participants heard mono-syllabic words from the loudspeaker at 60 dB SPL and repeated the word. A response was correct if it was repeated correctly in its entirety. Participants were tested on two lists, each with fifty words in a fixed order, and the average was recorded.

Sentence recognition in noise

For a more ecological outcome, we used AzBio sentences in noise 82 . Participants heard a semantically unpredictable sentence in multi-talker babble and repeated the entire sentence. Accuracy was based on the number of correctly repeated words and scored in real-time by the audiologist. Sentences were presented at 60 dB SPL and noise consisted of multi-talker babble at 50 dB SPL (for a + 10 dB SNR), presented through the same speaker as the target speech. Participants were tested on two lists out of the thirty-three available, each list containing twenty sentences in a fixed order.

Retrospective real-world speech perception

We also evaluated how listeners felt they were performing in the real world with a retrospective survey, the Speech-Spatial-Quality Scale (SSQ) 83 . The SSQ is a 49-item survey with items assessing speech perception, auditory localization and spatial processing, and overall sound quality. As our emphasis was on speech perception, we examined only the speech subscale.

Visual world paradigm

The VWP task was modeled after prior work 60 , including work with CI users 19 , 20 . Participants heard a spoken word (e.g., rocket ) accompanied by pictures on a computer of the target, a cohort or onset competitor (rocker ), a rhyme competitor ( pocket ) and a phonologically unrelated word ( bubble ). Items consisted of 60 sets of four words, each set containing a target, cohort (onset competitor), rhyme, and an unrelated competitor. Each word was easily picturable and piloted beforehand to ensure that they were readily understood. There were 30 monosyllabic sets and 30 bisyllabic sets (Supplementary Table  S2 ).

Sets were developed over a series of pilot studies intended to build a canonical VWP task. We started with 120 sets which were developed and piloted with 68 NH young adults. We then selected the 60 item-sets with the most prototypical pattern of competition. The final 60 item-sets were then tested for test-retest reliability in 29 young adults who completed the spoken word VWP task twice with a week delay. Test-retest correlations between our indices of interest were moderate to strong (Target activation rate: r  = 0.75; Competitor resolution: r  = 0.62; Peak Cohort Activation: r  = 0.54).

Each item in a set was used as the auditory target once. To discourage participants from adopting a process of elimination strategy (e.g., “I heard rocker on the last trial, so this word must be rocket ”), one item from each set was randomly selected to serve as the target word on an additional trial. This led to a total of 300 trials (60 sets x 4 targets/set x 1.25 repetitions/set). Image placement was pseudo-randomized across trials and participants, such that each image type was equally likely to appear in any quadrant of the computer screen.

Given the structure of these item sets, not all types of competitors were present on any trial. For example, when rocket was the target there would be a cohort (rocker ) and rhyme ( pocket ), what was termed a TCR trial. However, when rocker was the target there was only a cohort ( rocket ), as pocket was now mostly unrelated (a TC trial); and when pocket was the target there was a rhyme ( rocket ) but no cohort (a TR trial). When computing fixations to the cohort or rhyme only the relevant trial types were included. This effectively counterbalances any frequency difference between items ( rocket serves as both a target and cohort). Looks to the target were averaged across all three types of trials which had competitors.

The experiment was presented on a computer with a 17″ (5:4) monitor operating at 1280 × 1024 resolution and a standard keyboard and mouse. Audio signals were played on a SoundBlaster soundcard on the PC at a sample rate of 44,100 Hz, low-pass filtered at 6.5 kHz, and subsequently fed to a Samson C-que8 headphone amplifier and then two Boston Acoustics speakers in the soundproof booth. The loudspeakers were approximately one meter from the participant. Their volume was set to achieve 60 dB SPL for the recordings being tested, calibrated with a handheld sound level meter (dBA weighting) held at approximately the location of the participant’s head. Participants were tested with whatever hearing devices they normally used (their CI(s) plus any hearing aids).

The experiment was run using Experiment Builder (Version 2.4.193, SR Research, Oakville, ON, Canada). Participants first placed their chin on a padded chinrest at the end of the testing table ( 55  cm from the monitor) and the experimenter adjusted its height to a comfortable position. The eye-tracker was then calibrated using a standard nine-point calibration.

Next, participants began the experimental phase. On every trial, participants saw a blue circle in the middle of the computer screen with the four images corresponding to an item set in each of the corners. This pre-scan period was intended to familiarize the participants with the locations of pictures to minimize the role of visual search on fixations after the target word was presented 105 . Pictures were 300×300 pixels, separated by 580 pixels horizontally and 324 pixels vertically. After 500 ms, the circle changed from blue to red, indicating that the participants could use the mouse to click on the dot and play the auditory stimulus. After hearing the target word, participants clicked on the picture that best represented the auditory word.

Every 30 trials a drift correction was performed to update the calibration for any drift of the eyes/head during the experiment. If the participant failed a drift correction, the eye tracker was recalibrated. The experiment lasted about 25 minutes and participants were permitted to take a break at any drift correction.

Auditory stimuli were recorded from a monolingual female English talker who spoke with the American Midwest dialect in a natural cadence. Words were recorded in a sound-attenuated room with a M-Audio 2×2 External Audio Interface with a head mounted microphone at a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz. For each word, the talker produced four to five exemplars both in isolation and in a neutral carrier sentence ( He said …), to ensure a more uniform prosody across exemplars. We then selected the best exemplar (i.e., the one that had a falling prosody and the fewest auditory artifacts, such as clicks, creaky voice, etc.). This was excised from the sentences for use in the experiment. These tokens were then edited to reduce noise and remove any remaining artifacts, and 100 ms of silence was appended to the onset of each stimulus. Stimuli were amplitude normalized in Praat to 70 dB. The average duration of the experimental words was 710 ms (not including the silent period).

Visual stimuli consisted of 240 pictures constructed using a standard lab protocol 61 . For each word, 5–10 pictures were downloaded from a commercial clipart database. These were reviewed by a focus group of graduate students, undergraduate students, and research staff which selected the image that was most prototypical for that stimulus and recommended any modifications. Pictures were then edited for consistency with other visual stimuli, to ensure prototypical color and/or orientation or to eliminate unnecessary features, or for cultural considerations (e.g., reducing stereotype, ensuring a representative mix of genders and races in pictures depicting humans). The final images were approved (or sent back for modification) by an independent lab member with extensive VWP experience.

Eye-tracking

Eye movements were recorded with an SR Research Eye-link 1000 desktop mounted eye tracker. Both eyes were tracked if possible, and the better eye was selected after the fact for analysis. Pupil and corneal reflection were sampled at 1000 Hz to determine point-of-gaze.

Pre-processing of the fixation data was done using EyelinkAnalysis (version 4.211) 106 . This works on the basis of “events” (saccades, fixations and blinks), which grounds the analysis in more physiologically realistic data than working with 4 ms samples 107 . Fixations, saccades, and blinks were identified by the Eyelink control software using the default “cognitive” parameters set. Adjacent saccades and fixations were combined into a single look, which began at the onset of the saccade and terminated at the end of the fixation. Looks were assigned to one of four regions of interest, where regions were defined as the 300×300 area of the image, extended by 100 pixels to account for any noise in the estimation of gaze position. This did not result in any overlap between areas of interest. Looks were time-locked to the onset of the auditory stimulus. These looks were the basis of analysis. Looks launched before the onset of the target word (accounting for a 200 ms oculomotor delay) were ignored.

Accuracy of the final mouse click was generally high (M = 92.3%, SD = 7.5%, Range = 48.0–99.7%). Only trials where the correct target image was selected were included in further analyses, since the analyses sought to identify differences in the processes by which CI users arrived at the correct word.

Non-linguistic VWP (nlVWP)

We used a modified—visual-only—variant of the VWP (the non-linguistic VWP or nlVWP) to assess general speed of processing, as well as visual/cognitive factors (like eye-movement control and visual search). This was available for 91 participants. Participants saw a target shape (e.g., a maroon hourglass ) in the center of the screen accompanied by four potentially matching shapes in the corners. Their task was to click on the shape that matched the target (see Supplementary Note  4 for an example). One of the shapes was a direct match, another matched its color but not shape (a maroon chevron ), and the other two were unrelated. As in the standard VWP, eye-movements were monitored to yield a real-time index of the decision process, but without any contribution from language processing. This was originally developed by ref. 85 , but we modified it here to use less nameable colors and shapes, to use color contrasts that were less susceptible to some color-blindness, and to shorten it for use with larger clinical sample.

The nlVWP used 16 sets of four colored shapes. Shapes and colors were designed to be difficult to name (e.g., burgundy or lavender instead of red and purple; shapes like a chevron rather than a square). Each set consisted of two pairs of items that matched in color (e.g., a burgundy arrow and a burgundy moon paired with a lavender parallelogram and a lavender trefoil ). Consequently, when one of the burgundy objects was the target, the two lavender objects served as unrelated foils. Each item in each set was presented as the target three times for a total of 190 trials.

Each trial started with a preview, in which each of the four objects appeared in their respective corners. This was accompanied by a small blue dot at screen center. After 500 ms, the dot turned red, and the participant clicked on it. After 100 ms delay, the target stimulus was shown for 100 ms before it disappeared. The participant then clicked on the matching object to advance to the next trial. Eye-movements were recorded and pre-processed using identical procedures to the VWP experiments.

Statistical methods

Analysis of fixations: vwp.

Analysis started from curves similar to Fig.  1 . For each participant we computed the proportion of trials on which the participant was fixating the target, cohort and unrelated items at each 4 ms time slice. Fixation curves were generated from trials which contained the relevant competitor types. For example, target fixations were based on TCRU, TC, and TR trials while cohort fixations were based on TCR and TC trials. Rhymes were not included in this analysis as with 101 participants, the PCA could not reasonably accommodate the additional 4 parameters. Additionally, rhymes often receive few fixations 108 , making them less suitable to index of general competition than cohorts. Moreover, in this sample, rhymes patterned with cohorts (e.g., a person with higher rhyme fixations also had higher cohort fixations), suggesting rhymes captured similar variance.

The fixation curves (e.g., Fig.  1A ) were then characterized by fitting non-linear functions to them. The parameters of this function were then used to compactly describe an individual participant’s data in terms of properties like the slope or asymptote (Fig.  2B , C). Functions were based on prior work 61 , 109 . Targets used a four-parameter logistic with parameters for the lower and upper asymptotes, the crossover (when in time the function transitioned between asymptotes) and the slope (the derivative at the crossover). Competitors and unrelated objects used a six-parameter asymmetric Gaussian with parameters for the initial and final asymptotes, the height of the peak, the location of the peak, and the onset and offset slopes. Curves were fit using a constrained gradient descent method that minimized the RMS error between the data and the function while obeying constraints to keep the function within reasonable bounds 110 , version 30.0 . Fits were conducted separately for each participant. Fits were evaluated by hand and refit with new starting parameters if needed.

The parameters were then submitted to a Principal Components Analysis (PCA) to identify a smaller number of dimensions. To avoid overfitting the PCA, we dropped the onset asymptotes for the target and competitors, and only examined target, cohort, and unrelated fixations (rhymes tended to pattern with cohorts), leaving 13 parameters. Data were z-scored prior to the PCA. PCAs used the prcomp() function in R (version 4.2.2 2022-10-31 ucrt) and were conducted without rotation, as we embraced potential cross-loading of the factors as theoretically meaningful. PCs were visually inspected and scaled (by multiplying loadings by −1) such that a high value of that PCA meant a more CI-like pattern (e.g., more waiting), and a low value meant more NH-like. We retained five PCs. To compute each participant’s score on these PCs, we used the get_pca_ind() function of the factoextra library in R (version 1.0.7).

To construct visualizations such as Fig.  3 (main text), we multiplied the eigenvectors (the loadings) by +/− 1.5 to create low and high values for each parameter (a difference of 3 SD between high and low). We then undid the Z transformation by multiplying the estimated parameters by the observed SD of that parameter and adding the observed mean, to compute each parameter under a low or high value of that PCA. These were then used to construct predicted timecourse functions.

Analysis of Fixations: nlVWP

Analysis started by fitting non-linear functions to the fixations to the target and color-matching competitor over time, using the logistic and asymmetric Gaussian respectively (similar to the linguistic VWP). Following prior work 111 , these parameters were combined into two indices. Target Timing reflects the speed of fixating the target (the slope and crossover). Slope was log-scaled, and z-scored. Crossover was z-scored and multiplied by −1 (since an earlier crossover predicts a higher slope). These were then averaged. Resolution reflects the ultimate separation between the target and competitors. It was the maximum of the target minus the offset asymptote of the color competitor.

Missing data

A critical goal of our project was to relate VWP indices to outcomes even after accounting for peripheral auditory function. However, auditory fidelity was evaluated as a part of clinical care and was occasionally missing for some participants. We opted to fill in these missing values for two reasons. First, our goal was to examine the heterogeneity among CI users and even a small number of excluded subjects could eliminate valuable subsets (younger or older, pre- vs. post-lingually deaf, different hearing configurations). Second, our model-space regression approach did not presume any one auditory variable was critical, and even if temporal fidelity was missing (for example) any given participant would have many other variables of potential interest (e.g., FAH, bilateral hearing, etc.).

Missing data were filled in according to the following procedure. First, in some cases, audiograms were missing because a CI user was documented by the audiologist to exhibit profound deafness and did not conduct an audiogram. For these, thresholds on the implanted ear were replaced by 115 dB. We were all missing measures of Spectral Fidelity for 9 participants, and Temporal Fidelity for 11 (8 were missing both). These were presumed to be missing completely at random as they were missing for things like time constraints or technical errors. Missing completely at random was verified with a Little test 112 : χ 2 (20) = 27.3, p  = 0.126). Thus, we used imputation (using the mice package in R, version 3.16.0) to compute these values. Scores were imputed from Age, Biological Sex, CI experience, PTA, and bilateral CI use with 200 imputations. This became our final dataset which is posted in the OSF page associated with this project. For analyses in which spectral or temporal fidelity was the outcome measure (Supplementary Note  7 ), we did not use imputed values, but excluded participants who were missing these measures.

General statistical approach

All significance tests assumed two-tailed distributions. When T -tests were employed, Levene’s test of equality of variance was conducted, and T -tests used Welch’s corrections for unequal variance. T -tests are reported with Hedge’s g as a measure of effect size, confidence intervals represent 95% confidence interval of the mean differences. For regressions, effect sizes are reported as r 2 for the overall regression, r 2 Δ for commonality analyses, and standardized regression coefficients (β) for individual effects. Confidence intervals always reflect the 95% interval around the estimate of the unstandardized coefficient (B).

Regression approach

Results were analyzed as a series of regressions in R using lm() with the jtools package (version 2.2.2) to compute standardized regression coefficients. The distribution of the residuals and linearity of the relationships were assessed by examining scatterplots of the critical analyses. Collinearity was assessed by examining the correlations among independent variables and handled by the model space approach described below. We avoided overfitting the data by using the model-space search to limit models to in general 6-7 predictors.

Our first series of regressions asked what factors shaped each VWP component. We were interested in 6 demographic factors: biological sex (Male = 0.5, Female = −0.5), CI experience in years (centered), deafness onset (prelingual = −0.5, intermediate = 0, postlingual = +0.5), age (centered), and age 2 since our prior work on typical aging found a strong quadratic trend 30 . We also included a CI experience × Deafness onset interaction as we expected device experience to play different roles for pre- and post-lingually deaf listeners. There were three peripheral auditory factors (all centered)—spectral fidelity, temporal fidelity, acoustic hearing (better ear PTA)—as well as device configuration which was characterized with two additional factors: the use of two CIs (bilateral = +0.5, unilateral = −0.5), and the presence of functional acoustic hearing across ears (one ear FAH = −0.5, no FAH = 0, two ears = +0.5).

We did not have sufficient data to include all 11 possible factors in the model (not to mention the real-time lexical competition indices that would be needed for some analyses). Thus, to avoid overfitting the regressions, we conducted a full search of the possible permutations using the lmSubsets toolbox (version 0.5-2). This search was constrained such that (a) if the quadratic effect of age was in the model, the linear effect must also be included; and (b) if the device experience × language interaction was present, both main effects must be included; and (c) all models must include at least one of the peripheral auditory factors (since our primary research question was whether there was an effect of real-time lexical competition over and above auditory factors). We then used the Akaike Information Criteria (which penalizes model fit based on the number of degrees of freedom) to select the most parsimonious model.

Our second set of regressions then used speech perception outcomes (CNC, AzBio and SSQ) as the dependent measure, and added the real-time lexical competition indices derived from the PCA. These used a similar model selection approach. First, for each outcome measure, we found the most parsimonious model based on demographic and audiological factors alone. Next, we added all three VWP indices to the model.

Finally, we conducted commonality analyses using the yhat library in R (version 2.0-4). Complete results of this analysis are shown in Supplementary Note  6 , Table  S10 , Fig.  S4 . This conducts a series of models with and without each combination of factors and uses r 2 change metrics to determine how much variance is uniquely attributable to each factor and how much variance is shared between subsets. We started by computing this separately for each variable and combination, but then subsequently added up the variance to compile the variance that was uniquely due to a class of factors. For example, to obtain the unique variance due to the auditory periphery, we summed the r 2 of any individual auditory variable and any shared variance that was shared between only auditory variables. Similarly, shared variance was pooled as either reflecting only shared variance among demographic or auditory variables (no lexical competition variables) or shared with lexical competition.

Reporting summary

Further information on research design is available in the  Nature Portfolio Reporting Summary linked to this article.

Data availability

This manuscript uses both newly collected data and existing data from ref. 30 . The data collected for this study (the sample of CI users) is available at the Open Science Framework, accession code https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/K32FT ( https://osf.io/k32ft/ ). This dataset includes all of the individual curvefits and all participant-level data. The raw eye-tracking data is too large to be conveniently shared. It is available by request to the first author. Existing data (the sample of ATH listeners) is available at the Open Science Framework, accession code https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/ZTHBW ( https://osf.io/zthbw/ ).

Code availability

Code is available at the Open Science Framework, https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/K32FT ( https://osf.io/k32ft/ . This includes analysis code and code for generating all the figures. In addition, we provide scripts for the temporal and spectral fidelity tasks on the Open Science Framework https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/MC4FN ( https://osf.io/mc4fn/ ). Eye-tracking processing and done with a separate utility available at the Open Science Framework ( https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/C35TG https://osf.io/c35tg/ ). Curvefitting was done using publicly available software ( https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/4ATGV https://osf.io/4atgv/ ).

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Camille Dunn for assistance with patient recruiting and coordinating the audiological testing; Bruce Gantz for leadership of the grant that supported this project; Jake Oleson for assistance with the statistics; and Camila Morales, Evita Woolsey, Nikki Chen and Kate Hinz for assistance with data collection. We particularly thank Keith Baxelbaum for consultation and support during the study design and the development of the statistical tools. We thank Richard Aslin, Michael Tanenhaus, Tim Griffiths and Chris Petkov for comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. This project was supported by NIH grants P50 DC000242 (PD: Bruce Gantz, PI: Bob McMurray), R01 DC008086 (PI: McMurray), and NSF 2104015 (PI: Kutlu, Mentor: McMurray).

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B.M., F.X.S., and S.C. designed the study; K.R., F.X.S., S.C. and B.M. developed the materials; K.R., M.H., S.C., J.M., C.J., and F.X.S. collected the data; B.M. performed the analysis, with consultation from S.C., F.X.S., and E.K.; All authors contributed to the selection of the analytic approach and the interpretation of the results; B.M. and M.H. wrote the first draft; All authors contributed to the final manuscript.

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McMurray, B., Smith, F.X., Huffman, M. et al. Underlying dimensions of real-time word recognition in cochlear implant users. Nat Commun 15 , 7382 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51514-3

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Received : 07 June 2023

Accepted : 08 August 2024

Published : 29 August 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51514-3

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