Your Voice is Your Superpower

How many voice classes did you have in school? Unless you are a singer or an actor, you have likely never had such instruction. Sure, maybe a public speaking professor took some effort for ten minutes during the lecture, but where is the dedicated instruction?

As I discuss in my books Talk It Out and No Words, nonverbal communication, the nonverbal code, includes paralanguage: the non-word aspects of our speech.

Your tone of voice, your rate of speech, your vocal pitch — even how you are breathing — communicates as much as the words you choose.

Considering the nonverbal coding is arguably 65% or more of our communication messaging — and considering the human receiving your communication is decoding that nonverbal code just as much as he or she is decoding the words you are offering, you should be just as practiced in your voice coding as you are in your vocabulary.

In this article, I offer you three aspects of your manner of speaking which you can improve so you can be understood better, make the impression you desire, and achieve clarity.

Your voice is a powerful, but unappreciated, tool.

VOICE AND BREATH

The voice, the sound produced by forcing exhaled air through the larynx, is a communication tool. Without air, your voice is altered. Without proper breathing, you lose the capabilities — the power, the range, the impact — of your voice.

As an example, listen to a speaker with vocal fry (also called glottal fry). Vocal fry happens when the vocal cords go slack — and not enough air passes through. Think of trying to blow up a balloon where the opening is glued closed. The result is a croaking, froggy, ugly sound. Both men and women suffer from this error.

While those suffering from the halo effect may think Kim Kardashian’s croaky voice is sexy cool and hip, those thinking, aware listeners hear an unpleasant, annoying, and untrained speaker. Honestly, I hear a person who is not intelligent enough to have learned how to breathe. At the very least, fry expresses anxiety — and the speaker is deemed less trustworthy or not confident.

And I’m not the only one. Employers deem a fry speaker uneducated, immature, and unprofessional.

Now, you’re listening.

You will want to notice — or record yourself — speaking. Note when you are out of breath, you will begin to croak. You must take the time to notice when you have the issue or you will never appreciate the instruction and you will never change the habit.

The cure: diaphragmatic breathing.

Diaphragmatic breathing is efficient breathing through the use of your diaphragm — the muscle at the base of your lungs. Many people do not use the diaphragm and breathe shallowly, only using the top of the lungs, and resulting in a splendid vocal fry croak. By learning to use your diaphragm and your lung capacity, you’ll have more air — and more control.

Once you have practiced the breathing exercises, try to read aloud long passages of text using one breath. The goal would be to have a strong, clear, and controlled voice throughout.

PITCH

Another favorite target for voice and speaking coaches is poor vocal pitch. We communicate our emotion through pitch (inflection): the rate of vibration through the vocal folds within the larynx. Tone is what is delivered when we modulate the pitch of our voice.

For example, if you are getting excited, the tone of your voice will change to a high pitch: “I can’t believe it! I’m so honored!!”

If you are angry, your voice will lower in pitch: “I can’t believe it. I lost.”

Try those two examples aloud. Go on. I’ll wait.

Hear the difference? It’s important you hear it to appreciate the pitch of your voice.

We also use pitch to communicate questions: We raise our pitch at the end of a question while leaving the pitch level at the end of a statement. Again, try it.

“This is a sandwich.” (statement)

“This is a sandwich? (question)

Sounds different, yes?

The unnatural raising of pitch at the end of every sentence is called uptalk or rising intonation. You can hear examples in this news report hosted by reporter Connie Chung in 1994.

Like vocal fry, uptalk is a form of powerless speech and negatively affects career prospects and credibility. If you suffer from this bad habit, what you intend as a statement becomes a question.

The sale: Buy this product? It’s really good for you?

The defense: I’m innocent? I would never hurt my husband?

The self-promo: I’m a great writer? I have a few agents calling me?

Not powerful. Not persuasive. Not strong. Not confident. Childish. Begging for approval. And… you sound at best, like a person with no self-awareness or, at worst, like a liar.

You should also be concerned with monotone pitch: unchanging; without expressiveness. A monotone speaker (often caused by reading a manuscript) sounds robotic and inhuman, emotionless, apathetic. You can hear an example, in a brilliant performance by Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

So, how do you fix pitch problems?

Record yourself. You can’t change poor pitch until you hear the issue. I can’t count the number of students I have critiqued with pitch issues. The ones who meet with me for coaching become aware and cure it quickly. The ones who don’t meet with me, well, I wouldn’t hire them.

Once you have heard when you do it, you can practice correct pitch. Try the three sentences above (the sale, defense, and self-promo). Repeat each as statements, questions, statements. For example:

Buy this product.

Buy this product?

Buy this product.

Soon, you will hear the difference and associate the physical elements with controlling your pitch.

Next, pick up a story you like. I suggest Roald Dahl, Matilda. Or something similar where you have various characters and shifting emotions. Read the book aloud and try different emotions. Sad, happy. Angry, thrilled. Excited, bored. Record yourself. Reading to another person and practicing performance goes a long way to training your pitch.

PAUSE

“The most precious things in speech are the pauses.” –Sir Ralph Richardson

Even the most talented speaker (or singer) needs to pause occasionally to take another breath. But that is not the only reason you should pause when speaking! We pause:

1. To indicate punctuation. At the end of a paragraph or complete thought — often before a transition to your next point. To communicate the full stop at the end of a sentence; short stop at commas or semicolons.
2. When first being introduced. A short pause and scan of the audience communicates control and authority. You are okay with being at that lectern!
3. When you have told an effective joke, to give people time to laugh.
4. After stating something profound.
5. After a rhetorical question. Give the audience a chance to process the question — but not enough of a chance to respond.
6. To change direction in a speech. For example, a spontaneous pause is when the speaker seems to be reconsidering his or her thoughts and going in a new direction. That spontaneity is planned.
7. To increase audience anticipation. When making a powerful statement, pause to allow the audience to wait, consider or anticipate your next words.

In this article, we are concerned with verbalized pauses (vocal fillers), filling a speech with ums, ahs, likes, and okays, are, like fry and uptalk, detrimental to credibility. Consider what others decode from that hesitation: the speaker is confused, lost, or lying. The speaker has a lack of confidence, is uncertain, or is fear.

If you, instead, offer a silent pause, the listener decodes your silence as cognitive load — you are thinking. A silent pause can also indicate punctuation — or invite the listener to process.

So, why do we, um, pause, ah, when it’s, ah, not needed? Fear of silence. Crushing thoughts — brain going all directions.

To cure it, be mindful, aware of your habit (recording, again, helps). Then practice shutting your mouth and allowing the silence. Actually closing your mouth. It takes practice, but being aware and purposeful with your pauses will help you resolve the habit.

These corrections are hard. You will need practice. Do not be hard on yourself. Practice, practice.

And be confident your voice is a superpower.