Check Your Voice for Bad Habits

Every normal individual has the makings of a good voice and training will help to make it better. Precious few of us ever take time to improve the quality of our own voice by making it pleasing and melodious. Demosthenes, a famous Greek of long ago, had less than the rest of us. He started out as a stammerer, but history credits him with conquering his handicap. He learned to control his vocal muscles by filling his mouth with pebbles and competing with the roar of the sea.

How Does Your Voice Sound?

If your voice sounds strident, high-pitched, or has a nasal twang, you are handicapped in selling yourself. These poor qualities are hard on listeners who couldn’t be blamed for finding them distasteful to the point where they lose interest.

A monotonous drone is equally bad and could ruin the best speech ever prepared. Variety in vocal tones is important to keep the sound of your voice from becoming dull. One excellent check on the qualities of your own voice is by means of a recording, but even without that mechanical assist, a little listening practice will make you voice conscious. Listen to your voice as you speak; analyze it honestly to determine whether you sound dull, or whether you speak too slowly or deliberately. These characteristics put people to sleep and anyone guilty of such an unintended lullaby must pick up the tempo of his talk by thinking faster. Just don’t go to the other extreme and accelerate that tempo to the point where the rapid delivery will exhaust your audience and they lose the context of your thought.

How It Should Sound

A natural, clear, pleasant voice expresses friendliness as readily as an extended hand, and resonant tones convey forthrightness and sincerity. A voice that vibrates with vitality reflects a spirit of fire and force that carries conviction. A flexible voice keeps changing in volume, pitch and tempo, thus conveying fine shades of meaning and keeping people interested.

At the outset it is well to start slowly-not SO slowly though that the words drag; nor so quickly that they tumble out in confusion. Adopt a conversational manner as though speaking to a friend in private conversation. Enunciate clearly but (and here comes the commercial), “Don’t let your dentures let you down!” A high-pitched voice has all the earmarks of a nervous person. More than anything else it is this strident quality that grates on hearers’ ears. This voice can be controlled by taking several deep breaths.

Tags: public speaking

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