Effects of incremental cardiorespiratory exercise on the speech rate and the estimated exercise intensity using the counting talk test.
Siti Ruzita Mahmod, Leela T Narayanan, Eko Supriyanto
PMID 30034101WHAT IT FOUND
Healthy young adults counted faster while walking on a treadmill than at rest, but the counting test did not reliably separate nearby exercise stages.
Do not use it alone to prescribe exercise intensity.
Key findings
01Speech rate during the counting talk test was faster than at rest at every treadmill stage, but it did not differ significantly between adjacent stages.
02The counting talk test score fell from 100 at rest to 63 at 40% heart rate reserve, 52 at 50%, 47 at 60%, 40 at 70%, 36 at 80%, and 31 at 85%.
03The counting talk test did not distinguish each incremental exercise stage in these participants.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study included only 24 healthy young adults, so it cannot show how people with speech, breathing, neurological, or hearing problems would perform. The counting talk test did not distinguish every exercise stage, which limits its use for precise intensity monitoring. The paper states 24 participants, but the participant table lists 8 men and 8 women. The sample description is inconsistent. Speech rate variability was reported, and the counting score changed only in broad steps rather than smoothly across stages. The study was done in a laboratory on a treadmill, not in a clinical treatment setting.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the Science Fund, Ministry of Science and Technology, Malaysia. The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that counting aloud gives an exact exercise intensity. The test was done in healthy young adults, and it did not separate nearby treadmill stages.