A speechwriter-friendly study finds: Spoken words are more powerful than written ones. A University of Chicago study reported on in The New York Times found differing audience reactions to the same proposal, delivered orally versus read in a transcript. The audience that heard the pitch rated the deliverer’s intellect more highly than did the one that read the transcript. The co-author, behavioral science professor Nicholas Epley, concludes that vocal cues “show that we are alive inside—thoughtful, active … Text strips that out."