ArticlePatient education and counseling2016
Eloquent silences: A musical and lexical analysis of conversation between oncologists and their patients.
Article in Patient education and counseling, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Systematic review of observational coding systems to assess patient-healthcare professional interactions.Patient education and counseling · 2025Pooled it
- Study protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial of SONATA: A social network intervention for older adults with advanced cancer.Journal of geriatric oncology · 2026Article
- Hysteresis Curves: Scalable Measures of Lagged Conversation Events for Communication Science.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2026Article
- Article
- Long gaps between turns are awkward for strangers but not for friends.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Article
- The Art of Saying Nothing.Pediatrics · 2022Article
- Silence in Conversations About Advancing Pediatric Cancer.Frontiers in oncology · 2022Article
- Emotions in the room: common emotional reactions to discussions of poor prognosis and tools to address them.Expert review of anticancer therapy · 2019Review
- Understanding User Experience: Exploring Participants' Messages With a Web-Based Behavioral Health Intervention for Adolescents With Chronic Pain.Journal of medical Internet research · 2019Article
- Re-enacting the Bodily Self on Stage: Embodied Cognition Meets Psychoanalysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveSilences in doctor-patient communication can be "connectional" and communicative, in contrast to silences that indicate awkwardness or distraction. Musical and lexical analyses can identify and characterize connectional silences in consultations between oncologists and patients.
methodsTwo medical students and a professor of voice screened all 1211 silences over 2s in length from 124 oncology office visits. We developed a "strength of connection" taxonomy and examined ten connectional silences for lexical and musical features including pitch, volume, and speaker turn-taking rhythm.
resultsWe identified connectional silences with good reliability. Typical dialog rhythms surrounding connectional silences are characterized by relatively equal turn lengths and frequent short vocalizations. We found no pattern of volume and pitch variability around these silences. Connectional silences occurred in a wide variety of lexical contexts.
conclusionParticular patterns of dialog rhythm mark connectional silences. Exploring structures of connectional silence extends our understanding of the audio-linguistic conditions that mark patient-clinician connection. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Communicating with an awareness of pitch, rhythm, and silence - in addition to lexical content - can facilitate shared understanding and emotional connection.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.