What was the immediate impact of Khrushchev's ""Secret Speech""?

The speech (Stalinist rebuttal of Khrushchev's "Secret Speech) shock to the audience to the core and this set off a chain of reaction that led to calls for reform in Eastern Europe and a new policy in the Soviet Union for dealing with the West.

Some reports reported that some audience were so convulsed as they listened that they suffered heart attacks; while others committed su i cide afterwards.