According to the widely cited ‘7-38-55 rule’, only 7% of human communication is verbal (spoken words). In comparison, the remaining 93% is considered nonverbal, with 38% attributed to tone of voice and 55% to body language (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6127604/). Through my research thus far through reading articles and papers, watching videos, and talking to my school’s Options Program teacher, I have now realized that the most significant communication barrier neurodivergent individuals face is their challenge in deciphering social cues and tone of spoken words. This means they will interpret what was said, not how it was said. When someone sarcastically says, “Wow, what a nice job!” they will understanding this as appreciation and misread the situation.
To address this challenge, we need to understand some nuances.
The tone of speech consists of the auditory variations that can be detected through the pitch, volume, rhythm, intensity, rate of speech, and stress of spoken audio that convey additional meaning beyond the words themselves. Some neurodiverse individuals have atypical auditory processing, and as a result, they do not perceive pitch and intonation in the same way as neurotypical individuals. This could make distinguishing between a cheerful and a sarcastic tone hard. Particularly, those on the Autism spectrum have a limited understanding of social norms, which leads to them not being able to read between the lines. If someone says, “Fine, you can leave!” they will not follow the anger in tone and may leave.
Here are some common attitudes and emotions that neurodiverse individuals may overlook due to challenges in detecting tone or facial expressions.
Sarcasm is a form of social communication when people say something they don’t mean. For example, doing something stupid and saying, “I am a genius!” A sarcastic statement is often that of a lower pitch than usual for that speaker, extra stress/emphasis (which will elongate some vowels), and longer utterance duration (due to the elongations resulting from added stress), but slightly reduced volume. Missing sarcasm puts one at a disadvantage because they may take offense to something that wasn’t meant to be said.
Anger and Frustration: When someone is angry or frustrated, their tone of voice often changes. They may speak louder, speak faster than usual, use a lower pitch, or sound more forceful. Recognizing these changes in ourselves and others can help us manage our emotions and respond more effectively in social situations. People with Asperger’s may have difficulty understanding anger in someone else’s tone, and people with Autism may have difficulty identifying it from facial expressions. Neurodivergent people may have difficulty identifying, understanding, and managing emotions. They may also have a low frustration tolerance.
Joy and Sadness: We can often detect when someone is joyful or sad based on the pitch, rhythm, and pace of speech. People speak louder and faster and use positive words when expressing joy, while their speech is slow-paced, low-volume, and monotone when sad. It may be hard for neurodiverse individuals to reciprocate emotions due to the challenges of identifying joy in speech or facial expressions.
Irony: When someone means the opposite of what is said, it is considered irony. For example, someone says something is “as clear as mud” when they mean that they did not understand something. This is the most challenging tone to identify.
Researching this topic gave me a peek into how the tonality of voice expresses various emotions and introduced me to various speech characteristics like pitch, volume, rhythm, intensity, rate of speech, and stress of spoken audio that, if interpreted correctly, could help bridge the communication gap!
