Charismatic speech breathing – How perceived speaker traits are linked to chest and abdominal breathing patterns

Is abdominal breathing really as important for a charismatic public-speaking performance as rhetoric books and trainers make us believe? Our research raises legitimate doubts as to whether this question can be answered positively; and, thus, calls into question common rhetorical practice. In view of this far-reaching implication, it seems imperative to increase the generalizability of our findings by using, in a follow-up study, a larger and more diverse sample of speakers. Our sample size of N = 18 is substantial and sex balanced, and we pointed out several aspects that support the validity of our data. Yet, we used experienced speakers who presented (without apparent anxiety) to small audiences and whose performance was limited to a brief investor pitch. In principle, each of these factors could have an influence on the role of abdominal breathing and must be examined in future experiments.