Referring to just one person in an audience

Question

NOTE: I am not asking whether "audience" is a singular or plural word.

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I am writing critical analyses of essays written by influential people. So, a sentence in my analysis could be: (in an essay protesting against governmental policies)

The reader at this point feels guilty for supporting his government.

Now, what if I am critically analysing a speech? Surely, a speech has an audience and not just one reader. But, I still wish to refer to just one person, the same way as I did in the above sentence. One possible approach in my mind is:

Every person in the audience at this point feels guilty for supporting his government.

But, it's a bit verbose imo. I hope there might be more elgant or entirely different expressions.

Answer 1

It is quite common to find the phrases the reader and the audience in literary criticism and textual analysis. Apart from the theoretical issues of approaching a text in terms of audience response, using the phrases is certainly acceptable and is standard behavior.

Answer 2

I haven't entirely understood what you mean, but it might be "attender".

Edit: Actually, simply "listener" might be appropriate.