How Your Voice Impacts Your Public Speaking Success?

People don’t hear their own voices as others hear them. The voice must travel through the bones of the head before reaching the speaker’s ears, changing the way it sounds ( Dr. Edie Hapner)

Your voice is physical, so it’s obviously a component of effective body language. In fact, aside from your brain your voice is the most flexible communication instrument you own. Our voices are incredible tools, capable of infusing great meaning into individual words and phrases. Simply by altering our volume, pitch, pace, and tone, we can better emphasize key points and help retain our audience’s attention.

So you should learn how to use your voice to influence others. I don’t mean only in terms of voice and speech improvement. I’m also referring to the many ways vocal expressiveness helps you indicate meaning and intention.

Here are five things to keep in mind regarding vocal delivery:

Volume: Speaking loudly adds energy and excitement to your delivery, while speaking softly increases intimacy .

Pace: Speaking quickly can be useful if you’re trying to add excitement to a specific point, but be careful not to rush through your entire presentation.

Pitch: People tend to speak with a higher pitch when they’re nervous or excited and with a lower pitch when they feel more relaxed and controlled.

Tone: For example, try saying “Sure, I love you” aloud in three different ways: Sincerely, sarcastically, or sadly.

Silences: You can’t be silent for long periods of time, but even a short two- or three-second pause can be incredibly effective immediately before or after making a key point.

For example, imagine you’re listening to a presenter. The woman delivering the speech is speaking at a moderate volume and average pace, but suddenly slows down and almost whispers, “And right then, I knew I was in trouble.” By changing her vocal pattern, she signaled to the audience that something important was coming.