Instantly Improve the Way You Sound

Voice accounts for 38% of how you're perceived

 

 You could say "I don't care what people think about me", which you shouldn't.

But thinking and perceiving are different altogether.

When people perceive you, right or wrong they're making subconscious - that they may not be aware of - judgements about you. Their mind sputters out all these arbitrary questions like: "Is he employed?", "Is she married?", "Does she have kids", "How much money does he make?"

They don't have to make much sense, "What did he have for breakfast earlier?"or "Did she drive in to work today?". They all happen on and off, really fast.

Body language, physical appearance and choice of words are one thing - but none of them affect the reception of conversation like the voice does.

Mr. Monotony no melody

 

I'm not talking about an artificially bassy or sultry voice, but you're own voice - not used for just making sounds, but as a means to how you feel.

Many people are stuck in a habitual monotonous voice; either they picked it up from their dad, or their teachers - it doesn't matter. It's boring and is sure to turn even the most interesting of topics to mush.

How this is done is by staying on the same note for a few words, moving up or down a notch, going back to the original note for a few more more words, then going a bit lower as you round off the sentence. The problem with this is if people begin to guess what you're going to sound like next, they begin guess what you're going to say next. Then you've lost them.

I'm not saying you should sound like you're on something illegal. Just add more variety to your melody. Try going up a bit at the end of sentences and mixing highs-and-lows variances while you're speaking. This adds color, and I urge you to do this for public speaking - but start subtly, and do what feels natural.

Selling the pitch 

 

Say you have a characteristically high voice and feel you weren't "born with" very much bass. I'm happy to tell you that you were and there is a quick fix for that.

You see, humans are naturally designed to speak in their mid-to-low ranges. What happens is we develop a habit where our larynx (the ball that sticks out of your throat, also known as the "Adam's apple"), raises higher than it's supposed to. If this is done for a long time, it puts quite a bit of strain on the voice.

To solve that, you just have to lower your larynx. How? Start by holding you're larynx down as you say the word "goog" in the lowest Yogi Bear voice you can muster, without strain; then go all the way up your medium voice and all the way back down to your low.

This is a little easier for men to do because their larynx protrudes, but for women - we swallow to try to find our larynx, then keep your index finger on the part that should move up and lower when we finish swallowing.

This exercise may sound silly, but when the larynx begins to lower through muscle-memory, speaking will become more comfortable and sound natural.

The year-round cold

 

When you speak, do you feel a buzzing in your nose? If so, you probably have some nasality. Nasality happens when you direct your sound toward the soft palate of your mouth and air travels toward the nasal region.

This sounds like you're perpetually stuffy and can be irritating. Think of Squidward from Spongebob.

Unless you're a cartoon actor, this is probably not how you want to sound. Just another reason you should keep doing the Yogi Bear "goog" exercises, as it tones this sound down in your speaking voice.

 

Pace, Tone and Volume 

 

You don't want to speak so fast, your only goal is to get to the end of your sentence - done most often, during public speaking.

Especially in the workplace, you want people to hang onto your words, not hang up the phone or ask you to repeat yourself. Nor do you want to speak so slow people begin to question your intelligence.

Pace really depends on the topic at hand and overall mood of the conversation. But for most, start in the middle; if you're talking about something exciting, speed it up to about a 6 or 7 on a scale of 1 to 10 - and if you're consoling someone or showing an empathetic side, then stay towards a 4.

The tone you should comfortably stay in you natural low to middle range, but feel free to move up and down the vocal range with melody, especially when you're passionate about something or public speaking.

Finally, for volume you should speak as though the person you're talking to is a few feet away from you, when you're speaking one-on-one or to a small group; for public speaking, honestly speak as if they are about 10 ft away than the last row of the audience.  This is one thing, besides your melody, that will keep them reeled in.

Tying it alllll together 

 

You've probably heard this before, from a person who does this himself most likely - eliminate the "Uhs and Ums". And then you go back and say it in the next sentence.

The way to crush these pointless, boring "filler" words for good, is to tie all of your sentence together as though you're saying one long word. Try it out!

Sounds smooth, doesn't it?

The way to do this well, is on one or two breaths a sentence. Don't hold your breath, or gasp for air. Start by drawing one through you nose (as you want the moist, filtered air entering your lungs), every few seconds - filling up your diaphragm (visibly your abdomen) when you inhale and let the breath out little by little throughout your sentence.

After all, you want people to pay attention to you - not be distracted by misplaced drawls and monosyllables.

Listen with an objective ear 

The best way to practice this, is to record yourself with your smartphone. Better yet, listen back to your voicemail message. Does it sound the way you expected when you recorded it?

People hear your voice differently, especially in the case of men, than the rich sound that it resonates from your chest. Sound has to travel through the air and what reaches the other person's ears can end up a thinner, quieter sound than the one you thought you made.

Record yourself again. This time, just the same way you would practice a speech in front of a mirror. Try out different sounds and see what fits you!

With that, take the conversation and steer it in any direction you want!