#Speech

A sweeping cross-linguistic study has found that human speech follows a universal rhythm, with intonation units arriving at roughly every 1.6 seconds. These rhythmic chunks structure conversations, helping listeners track meaning, take turns, and absorb information. The rhythm also aligns with low-frequency brain activity tied to memory, attention, and volitional action, suggesting that how we pace speech is deeply rooted in cognition and biology, not just culture. For Thailand, the findings offer fresh angles on language learning in classrooms, therapies for speech disorders, and the design of Thai-language AI that sounds more natural to local listeners.