Definition
Plain language
How uneven the silences are between chunks of speech.
As stated in the literature
Variability (e.g. standard deviation or coefficient of variation) of inter-speech pause durations, distinct from total pause duration; identified here as a weak cue that nonetheless triggers false sarcasm judgments.
Also called: pause variability, pause irregularity
Why it matters: It shows that a fairly meaningless quirk of timing can push a system into confidently misreading a sincere statement as sarcasm.
For example, a speaker who leaves gaps of one second, then a fifth of a second, then two seconds has high pause jitter, even if their total silent time is ordinary.
Heard on the show
“And total pause time isn’t the same thing as pause jitter — meaning how uneven the pauses are.”Episode 262 — Raise the Pitch Nine Percent and the Model Cries Sarcasm