How to Improve the Sound of Your Voice

The sound of your voice is the most intimate part of your communication and the public
part of your self. One would think that you would want to listen to your self with the same
attention and thoughtfulness that you would examine a photograph of yourself for your
website or for your office wall. But no.
There are several reasons why you would be reluctant.

We did not evolve hearing our own voice as others hear it. (We DID evolve with the
ability to see ourselves on reflective surfaces like water.) It is psychological
shocking to hear the voice as it is out there and not as it sounds in our head during
the act of speaking.

We are highly skilled at reading the voices of others. We make judgments based on
this information. We feel exquisitely vulnerable when our own voice falls within
this sensitive analytic radar.

We know how to smile and comb our hair and otherwise manage our visual impact.
We do NOT know how much we can improve our vocal image.

A first step is to become specific about your voice goal by listening to yourself objectively,
using a good voice recording (NOT a answering machine message!).
Listen for issues of:

Pitch- Your customary pitch level, how high or low your voice is. Pitch is a major
clue for maturity and gender identity.

Volume How soft or loud. You must make sure that people can hear you
comfortably or you irritate them or waste their time.

Quality The tonal quality of your voice; raspy, breathy, thin, rich, melodious,
resonant. You can sound healthy/attractive. Or not.

Tension Evidence of excessive tension through stridency and staccato syllables

and the sound of effort.

The moral of this story:

1. You can improve the sound of your voice. You dont have to be stuck the way you are.
2. Start with focused listening to determine what aspect you would like to change. You
have made your first step.

Three steps to conquering the up-ending sentence

Youve heard about the pernicious up-ending sentence. Which is exactly that; a sentence
that ends with an upward rising pitch line, much like that of the questioning intonation you
might used when you say, Is that for me? , Is he OK?. Obviously, this is a perfectly OK
kind of thing to do. But when this questioning tone is heard with other sentence forms, and
too many times, it creates a sound of childlike insecurity. It sounds as if you are asking for
permission or affirmation.
Lets do something about it!
Step 1: Youd better find out if This Means You. You might listen to your outgoing
message on your voice mail and see if you hear something like, This is Marcia Jones? Ill
be out of the office today? You can leave a message after the beep? Have a nice day! If
you are smart you will listen to yourself on a recording or ask trusted friends.
Step 2: Deal with the emotional element. You need to have the attitude of telling someone
something in an authoritative manner. This is in contrast to a tone of voice that asks for
affirmation of your message. Prepare a paragraph of information in the form of simple
declarative sentences (subject/predicate). Now read it in a way that conveys you expect to
be understood and obeyed. (Not asking for permission, not asking for affirmation with a
head nod, etc.)
For example:
I have asked every one in the department to be at this meeting. I expect that you have all
signed the attendance sheet. You will need to pay attention to the new regulations we have
received. You will be expected to relay them to your own staff. Please examine the
documents on the table in front of you. Etc.
Deliver these lines with an authoritative attitude; you should be bringing your pitch down at
the end of each short sentence to show you mean it.
Step 3: Everyday you should intentionally use the simple declarative sentence form with a
lower pitch level at the end. Make up 10 sentences just by looking around the room. Be

stupid and obvious, not deep or clever. (The rug is brown. The telephone is blinking. I can
look outside. I can hear my neighbors voice. There is plant on my desk., etc.)
This is working on the habit part of your speaking. Do this simple task every day (with
careful self-monitoring) to make the pattern consistently authoritative and comfortable in
your mouth. Do this several times a day for a week and see how easy it comes to you when
you need it!

Quick tips for sounding Intelligent, Powerful, Polished,

Articulate and Confident

I know what you want. You want some quick tips to success. In these days of time pressure
and job insecurity, who could blame you? So I will give you the tips most frequently
sought. At the same time, I will remind you that it takes more than a tip to change your
behavior. You might review what you already know about the word practice to use the
following tips.
To Sound More Intelligent:
Speak just a bit slower than you normally do to give yourself time to select your most
appropriate vocabulary and to give the impression of thoughtfulness.
To Sound More Powerful:
Use short, simple declarative sentences. You say what you mean and you mean what you
say. Cut out any useless connectors, adjectives and adverbs, especially superlatives
(Fantastic! Outstanding!, etc.).
To Sound More Polished:
Avoid answering a question with a blunt yes or no. Append a short phrase of
clarification. For example, No, I did not see it. Yes, I know Mary. Doesnt that sound
more courteous?
To Sound More Articulate:
Make a special effort to pronounce the final sound in a word and use its energy to carry
over to the following word. Readers of my book will recognize the principal of linking.
Pay special attention to final t. (I cant_ever count_on him.)
To Sound More Confident:
Carry your body in an upright posture. Hold your head as if you had a crown on it. Dont
let your arms and legs have side to side motion when you move. Keep your elbows and
knees close to the midline of your body. Think CEO or King and youll probably get it
right.

Speech Training Blog

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HomeSpeech Training Blog5 Steps to Develop a Charming Voice thats Sexy

5 Steps to Develop a Charming Voice thats Sexy

This article originally appeared on Tower of Power: Build Friends and Influence People

Does this sound familiar?

People have trouble hearing my voice when theres any kind of noise.
When I try to talk louder, I end up with a sore throat. I sound raspy and flat on my voicemail.
I need to be able to project when I give oral reports, so people dont interrupt with, Cant
hear you! or Speak up!
I want to have a voice people call rich, resonant, and, well, OK sexy.
I have worked with voice improvement for many years and know there is single golden
road to your gorgeous voice: you have to think Singing.
Wait! Dont go! That first step to a charming voice is understanding there really are
learnable skills that make a huge difference in the attractiveness of your voice. Yes, you
can do something about it.
Singing is a matter of a sustained vocal tone with maximal resonance. In practice, what this
means for your speaking is the vowels are more prominent when you talk and you allow
chest resonance to build and color your words.

Why Your Voice Isnt Golden

Reason 1: The problem you are probably up against is that you barely open your mouth
when you talk you retract your voice to the back of your throat and constrict the sound so
there is little opportunity for resonance to build.
Reason 2: Most of your speech energy goes into your consonants and not your vowels. Big
mistake! While speech sounds are clearly important to intelligibility, vowels are equally
vital PLUS supplying a physical, musical element can be attractive and charming to the
opposite sex.

Heres a sentence that uses a lot of noise, just to give you the idea: Stacie cant scratch the
itch. Compare all those noise elements to the vocal flow of Many men will wonder. in
the following exercise.
Reason 3: You spurt your voice inside each syllable instead of providing a steady flow of
sound to carry your voice out with a continuous tone underlying all your speaking.
Those who have used my CDs, The Sound of Your Voice or have my book, Its the Way
You Say It, will recognize the concepts of Tonal Support and Linking. (Josh: See my review
of The Sound of Your Voice.)
If you use the concept of singing to guide your speaking, you are more likely to allow
melodic variation into your speaking.
Did you see the movie, The Kings Speech? The stuttering king produced his best, most
fluent speech when he used the continuous flow of voice, with one word linked to the next,
to connect his speech.
Place your hand firmly on your throat and say, very slowly, Many men will wonder. You
should have felt a continuous flow of voice as you moved from one word to the next. This
flowing of the voice helped the King speak fluently and will help you sound more resonant.
Reason 4: That constricted throat you habitually use will produce a monotone not yummy.
If you use the concept of singing to guide your speaking, you are more likely to allow
melodic variation into your speaking. Listen to the intonation of the famous homeless
guy with the golden voice in the news recently. Notice how musical his speaking is. It is
a constant song and people are enraptured by it. Crooning rhymes with spooning, doesnt
it?
If the first step to a charming and irresistible voice is knowing what to do, the second step
is actually doing it. To go from knowing to doing, you need some help. Here are five
steps to help you get the most out of your voice.

Practical Steps to Develop a Charming Voice

1. If you can, get yourself some singing instruction from someone who knows how to
guide you in learning a new voice. Youll probably pay for this. It will be worth
every cent.
2. Join a church or community choir that provides some instruction in voice
production. Just being in a group may give you the confidence to open up and try
new behaviors you would never do by yourself.
3. Use my book, Its the Way You Say It for exact instructions on these techniques and
you can use my CDs The Sound of Your Voice to give you the auditory guidance to
supplement the book.

4. Experiment with your new voice with people who wait on you in restaurants or the
dentists office. You can develop more skill and comfort using a changed voice with
people who are not emotionally important to you.
5. Voice to give you the auditory guidance to supplement the book.
6. Experiment with your new voice with people who wait on you in restaurants or the
dentists office. You can develop more skill and comfort using a changed voice with
people who are not emotionally important to you.
7. It is a good idea to learn appropriate poetry so you practice and memorize it in your
resonant voice. The poetry could come in handy.
All is fair in love and war, they say. And a sexy voice simply cannot be beat. Use this to
develop a charming voice