How to Stop Mumbling: A Speech Therapist's Guide to Speaking More Clearly
- Stephanie Jeret
- Mar 10, 2024
- 10 min read
Updated: 7 hours ago
"Can you repeat that?"
"You're mumbling."
If you've heard comments like these, you're not alone. Many people don't realize they're mumbling until someone points it out. Mumbling isn't a speech disorder itself, but it is a speech pattern that can make it difficult for others to understand you.
Whether mumbling is caused by speaking too quickly, reduced mouth movement, poor breath support, or another underlying issue, the good news is that it can often be improved once you identify the cause.
In this article, I'll explain why people mumble, what may be contributing to it, and practical strategies that can help you speak more clearly and confidently.
Clear speech matters in every part of life. Whether you're speaking at work, giving a presentation, talking with friends, or ordering coffee, speaking clearly helps others understand your message and allows you to communicate with greater confidence.
In this article, you will learn:
What Is Mumbling, and Is It a Speech Impediment?
Mumbling refers to speech that is difficult for others to understand. It often involves speaking too softly, too quickly, or without enough movement of the lips, tongue, or jaw, making words sound unclear or run together.
Mumbling itself is not considered a specific speech disorder or speech impediment. However, consistently unclear speech may be related to factors such as speaking rate, articulation, vocal volume, breath support, hearing, or an underlying motor speech or medical condition. If you frequently mumble and aren't sure why, a speech-language evaluation can help identify what may be affecting your speech clarity.
How Do We Produce Clear Speech?
To understand how to stop mumbling, it helps to first understand how clear speech is produced. Speaking clearly requires several different systems to work together efficiently.
Clear speech depends on four key components working together:
Breath support
Voice
Resonance
Articulation
Breathing is the foundation of speech. Without enough breath, our voice, resonance, and mouth movements won't work properly. Poor breath support can make us speak softly and mumble.
Voice is created as air passes through the vocal cords. Think of vocal cords as a pulled rubber band between two of your fingers. For voice to occur, the vocal cords must vibrate with our breath, which will only happen if enough air pressure forms below. If the vocal cords do not vibrate in the precise way they are supposed to, it will impact the production of certain sounds, specifically voiced sounds.
Next, this air must resonate through the nose, mouth, and throat, also referred to as the vocal tract. When a voice resonates, it means the sound made by your vocal cords travels clearly through your throat and mouth and out into the air around you. This also means that your vocal tract naturally helps make your voice louder and clearer. If you're not taking in a large enough amount of air or if your voice is strained, the resonance of your voice decreases.
Finally, articulation takes place. This is simply the movement of the vocal tract, tongue, palate, jaw, and lips to shape the particular sound you are looking to produce. For example, the /l/ sound is produced with your tongue tip up and jaws slightly apart, while a /b/ sound is produced with your lips together. When it comes to articulation, accuracy and speed are the most important for clear communication. Inefficient or inconsistent tongue and jaw placement during speech production results in distorted sounds, decreasing clarity.
If reduced tongue or jaw movement is contributing to unclear speech, you may also find my article on articulation disorders helpful. It explains how speech sound production affects overall speech clarity.
What Causes Mumbling in Adults?
Mumbling can have many different causes, which is why there isn't a single solution that works for everyone. Identifying the underlying cause is one of the most important steps in improving speech clarity because treatment depends on why the mumbling is occurring.
If you find yourself wondering, “Why do I mumble when I talk even though my speech sounds clear to me?” it may be because your speaking pattern has become automatic, making differences in your rate, volume, or articulation difficult to notice while you're speaking.
Psychological
A lack of confidence may cause worries about the content of your speech and how others will perceive you. This can lead to mumbling as a way to minimize the perceived significance of your words.
Anxiety can contribute to a lack of confidence in oneself, leading to mumbling as a manifestation of nervousness.
Previous negative speaking experiences can also lead to mumbling.
Physical
A hearing impairment may cause an individual to have difficulty hearing certain sounds, making it challenging to produce them accurately.
Dehydration or not drinking enough water can contribute to mumbling. For example, not drinking enough water can lead to a dry mouth and less hydrated vocal cords, which affect vocal quality
Dysarthria, or paralysis, weakness, or incoordination in the speech muscles—including those of the respiratory system, mouth, and face—can cause mumbled or slurred speech. This condition occurs in both children and adults.
Apraxia of Speech occurs in both children and adults. While the speaker knows what they want to say, planning the message with the articulators and other speech mechanisms can be challenging.
Respiratory issues, such as difficulty with breathing or controlling breath, can affect the strength and volume of speech, leading to mumbling.
Fatigue can reduce energy levels, resulting in shallower breathing and less air for speaking. This can lead to mumbling, as words may not be articulated clearly due to insufficient airflow.
Neurological Disorders
Parkinson's disease: Individuals with Parkinson's often present with rigidity in all body movements. A reduction in chest wall movements impacts the amount of oxygen inhaled for speech, leaving less power, or fuel for speaking. Because of this, they often do not have a strong voice. In addition, a limited range of articulatory movements can lead to imprecise articulation.
A stroke can cause damage to areas of the brain responsible for speech production, resulting in slurred or mumbled speech.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): Injuries to the brain from trauma can impact speech areas, leading to difficulties in articulation and mumbling.
Cerebral Palsy: This group of disorders affects muscle coordination and control, which can impact speech clarity and lead to mumbling.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS): ALS affects the motor neurons, leading to progressive muscle weakness and speech difficulties, including mumbling.
Poor Speech Patterns or Speech Habits
Mumbling can persist from early childhood into adulthood without much awareness if their model for speech (a parent or caregiver) spoke in the same manner. It is not uncommon for an adult to come to my office with a low voice if their mother spoke in a similar low voice.
If your speech sounds unclear because certain sounds are produced incorrectly—not simply because you're speaking too quickly—you may also find my article Speech Sound Disorder vs. Articulation Disorder helpful.
How Family Members Can Help
Family members can play an important role in supporting someone working to improve their clarity and stop mumbling. Here’s how you can be most helpful:
Encouragement and Patience: Understand that changing speech habits takes time. Your family member may have been mumbling for a while, so be patient and supportive as they work on this change.
Focus on the Message: Concentrate on the content of what your family member is saying, rather than how they are saying it. This helps them feel appreciated and encourages open communication.
Practice Speaking Together: Offer to practice with your family member, such as by reading aloud together or engaging in conversations. This can boost their confidence and provide valuable practice.
Seek Professional Help: If necessary, encourage seeking help from a speech therapist. Professional guidance can significantly aid in improving speech clarity and overall communication skills.
What Are the Benefits of Speaking More Clearly?
Improving speech clarity can make communication easier in everyday situations. As your speech becomes clearer, you may notice:
Greater confidence: Feeling more comfortable speaking in social and professional situations, including meetings, presentations, and conversations with others.
Fewer communication breakdowns: When others can understand you more easily, you may find yourself repeating or clarifying what you said less often.
More effective communication: Clear speech can make it easier to share your ideas during conversations, meetings, interviews, and other important speaking situations.
Ultimately, the goal isn't to make every word sound perfect. It's to help you communicate clearly enough that others can understand what you want to say without frequently asking you to repeat yourself.
How to Stop Mumbling: 7 Speech Therapist Tips to Speak More Clearly
The best strategy depends on why you're mumbling, but these are some of the techniques I commonly use to help people become more aware of their speech and improve their clarity:
Speaking in Front of a Mirror:
Practice speaking in front of a mirror and pay attention to the movement of your lips and jaw. If you're barely moving your mouth while speaking, exaggerating those movements slightly during practice can help increase your awareness of how you articulate words.
Use Enough Breath Support:
If your voice becomes too quiet or trails off at the ends of sentences, breath support may be contributing to the problem. Sit or stand upright, take a comfortable breath before speaking, and make sure you have enough air to finish your thought without your voice fading.
Slow Down Your Speech
You don't need to speak unnaturally slowly. Instead, try adding brief pauses between thoughts and giving important words slightly more time. A more controlled speaking rate gives your lips, tongue, and jaw enough time to move into the positions needed for clearer speech.
Focus on Enunciation:
Focus on making your words slightly more precise by increasing the movement of your lips, tongue, and jaw. You don't need to exaggerate every sound, but giving your articulators enough movement can prevent words from blending together and make your speech easier to understand.
Practice Challenging Words and Phrases
Practice words and phrases that are difficult for you to say clearly. Start slowly and focus on producing each word accurately before gradually increasing your speaking rate. You can also practice short tongue twisters, but the goal should be clarity rather than speed. If your speech becomes less clear as you go faster, slow down and focus on precise movements.
Record Yourself Speaking
Record yourself speaking naturally for a minute or two, then listen back. Pay attention to your volume, speaking rate, and whether certain words or parts of sentences are harder to understand. Recording yourself can help you notice patterns that may be difficult to recognize while you're speaking.
Practice in Real Conversations
Once you can speak more clearly during structured practice, begin using the same strategies in everyday conversations. Choose one strategy at a time—such as slowing down, increasing your volume, or using more precise mouth movements—and practice it while talking with someone you feel comfortable with. As it becomes easier, gradually use the strategy in more challenging speaking situations.
These strategies can be helpful when mumbling is related to speaking habits, rate, volume, or articulation. However, if your speech has suddenly become unclear, has noticeably changed, or may be related to a neurological or medical condition, it's important to speak with an appropriate healthcare professional rather than relying on home practice alone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are there specific exercises or techniques to help me talk clearly?
Yes. Strategies such as slowing your speaking rate, using adequate breath support, increasing the movement of your lips and jaw, practicing clear pronunciation, and recording yourself can help improve speech clarity. The most effective exercises depend on what is causing you to mumble.
Does mumbling mean you have a language disorder?
No. Mumbling does not necessarily mean that someone has a language disorder. Language disorders affect a person's ability to understand or use language, while mumbling typically affects how clearly speech is produced. However, unclear speech can sometimes be related to an underlying speech, voice, motor speech, hearing, or medical condition, which is why an evaluation may be helpful when the cause is unclear.
Why Do I Mumble When I Talk?
There are many reasons you may mumble when you talk. You may be speaking too quickly or too softly, using limited movement of your lips, tongue, or jaw, or not using enough breath support while speaking. Mumbling can also become a learned speech habit that you don't notice while you're talking. In some cases, hearing difficulties, anxiety, motor speech disorders, neurological conditions, or other medical factors can also affect speech clarity.
Why do I mumble even when I think I'm speaking clearly?
Mumbling can become a habitual speech pattern, which means you may not notice it while you're speaking. Recording yourself can help you compare how clear your speech feels while you're talking with how it actually sounds to a listener. A speech-language pathologist can also help identify specific patterns that may be reducing your speech clarity.
Can speech therapy help with mumbling?
Yes. If mumbling is affecting how well others understand you, a speech-language pathologist can evaluate your speaking rate, articulation, volume, breath support, and other factors that may be contributing to unclear speech. Therapy can then focus on the specific areas that are making your speech difficult to understand.
How Speech Therapy Can Help You Stop Mumbling
As a speech therapist, my first goal is to determine why you're mumbling. I look at factors such as your speaking rate, articulation, volume, breath support, and overall speech patterns to identify what may be making your speech difficult to understand.
From there, we'll develop an individualized treatment plan focused on the areas that are affecting your speech clarity. Depending on your needs, therapy may target slowing your speaking rate, increasing vocal volume, improving articulation, using better breath support, or becoming more aware of the speech habits that contribute to mumbling.
The goal isn't to make you sound like a different person. It's to help you communicate clearly and confidently while still sounding like yourself.
If your unclear speech is related to difficulty producing specific speech sounds, you may also find my Articulation Therapy page helpful.
Looking for Help With Mumbling?
If mumbling is making it difficult for others to understand you, speech therapy can help identify what's contributing to your unclear speech and determine which strategies may be most effective for you.
I provide in-home speech therapy in Skokie and surrounding North Shore communities, as well as online speech therapy throughout Illinois and New York.
If you're unsure whether speech therapy is the right fit, I'd be happy to discuss your concerns during a free consultation.
About the author:
Stephanie Jeret, M.S., CCC-SLP, is a speech-language pathologist and owner of Speak with Stephanie, a private speech therapy practice serving children, teens, and adults in Skokie and Chicago's North Shore.
With more than 10 years of experience, Stephanie provides individualized therapy for speech sound disorders, language disorders, stuttering, and other communication challenges. She offers in-home, school-based, and online speech therapy, with a focus on helping clients build practical communication skills they can use in everyday life.
Wondering if speech therapy may be a good fit for you or your child?
Schedule a free consultation with Stephanie to discuss your concerns and learn more about therapy options.
