The Soft-Spoken Voice: Is It a Strength or a Weakness?
Many years ago when I first started my business, I had a most eye-opening experience that I will never forget. It happened on a consecutive Monday and Tuesday. On Monday, I had been working with a group from Nortel in voice and presentation skills. One of the men from the group told me that, in the previous week, he had found others listening to him. That had never happened before. Apparently for Jim, whenever he was in conference, everyone talked over him.
The next day I had a private client by the name of Marie. Marie told me that during the previous weekend, she had had her family over for dinner and she held the topic of conversation at the table. In Marie's case, that had never happened before because she admitted to me that in the past, her family had always talked over her.
What was wonderful to see in both cases was that Jim's and Marie's self-confidence had increased tenfold just by increasing their volume of sound. This was a new experience for me as my prior experience had been teaching voice to broadcast journalism students. They came in with big egos and big voices. Being soft-spoken was not an issue.
The discovery for me was that those who are soft-spoken often think they are being talked over or interrupted because what they are saying is of no value when in fact, that is not the case. If you are soft-spoken, you are being talked over because those of us with bigger voices tire of straining to hear you, tire of asking you to repeat yourself. And we will take over the conversation.
The ability to speak in a normal level of sound is possible for every single person. If you are soft-spoken, however, the difficulty will be in accepting that your increase in volume is not too loud.
Of the 1,000's of people with whom I have worked, every single one who has been soft-spoken thought they were shouting when I asked them to increase their volume. When I played back their video, however, each one was surprised because they expected their recording to be too loud when indeed they discovered it was a normal level of sound.
This is the tricky part if you want to learn how to increase your volume properly. When I teach people how to find their ‘real' voice, their inner ear loves their new sound. When I teach the soft-spoken how to increase their volume, their inner ear revolts.
Your inner ear is how you recognize your voice in your head – your outer ear is how you hear yourself on a recording.
Your inner ear is very comfortable with your soft voice. Increase the volume and it will not like it. This is where recording yourself and playing it back can be so beneficial. It is only when you hear yourself in a recording and can appreciate that your larger volume is not loud, just normal, that you will be able to retrain your inner ear to accept your increase in sound.
Is learning how to speak in a normal volume of sound worthwhile? Only if you want others to hear what you have to say!
Questions and Answers
Article Tags:
soft spoken voice
,speak too softly
,increase volume
,loud voice
,speak louder
,inner ear
,outer ear
,confidence in speaking
If you are unemployed and wanted to find a good job, then the shortest route possible is approaching a placement agency.
Time management is an act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity.Time management can be effectively done by using various tools and techniques.
Glass ceiling is legitimate and find a solution. This is one of the biggest mistakes that many commit. Sexual discrimination is extremely much legitimate and don't permit this only thing to hold you back and accomplish your ambitions especially in this ever-changing age of modernization.
Microsoft IT jobs are not easy to come buy, the nature of the company, requires the best there is and this is why you have to get outstanding skills and qualifications to even be considered.
The health care industry is continuously growing and there's no sign of it slowing down soon. The growth can also be seen on the allied health care services closely tied up to medicine. The reason for this growth is the continued demand for health care. It was further fueled in the past decade by the fact that the world population is aging and is therefore requiring more health care services.
Some people who are normally colorful in conversation find their delivery skills lacking in expression. And then there are those who lack color both in conversation and at the lectern. There is no doubt that one of the quickest ways to put your audience to sleep is to speak in a monotone and talk at a rate of 100 mph with no acknowledgement of your audience. Does this sound familiar?
One of the reasons people contact me is because of lack of air at the podium, in the webinar, or in a sales presentation. So I have a question for you.
I am ever amazed at the number of people in public speaking who never give any consideration to their speaking voice. Concerned about their physical image, their content, and their delivery skills, they have yet to realize that the vehicle for transmitting their message is the voice. And, it is not the one they hear inside their head; it is the one they hear on their voicemail.
That's a leading question, isn't it? With teleseminars there is definitely no visual and with webinars, there may be a picture of you, but more than likely, your listeners will be focusing on the visuals; i.e. slides, videos, or webpages as well as the sound of your speaking voice. And, the sound of your speaking voice is what you are hearing through your headphones and not the familiar voice you hear in your head.
Teleseminars and webinars, do you know the difference? Teleseminars are held over the phone and do not require the internet; whereas, webinars are held over the internet. In the case of the latter, your participants may either listen by means of the phone or the computer; however, since webinars usually display video, slides, or a wegpage, your listeners will still need to use their computers to watch what is being presented.
Discuss this Article
