How I Conquered My Fear of Speaking Into Microphones
Is this thing on?
If I placed a microphone in front of you right now, how confident would you be to tell a story, read a script or even sing into it?
A lot of people would answer that question with “not very”.
This is totally understandable, as the entire experience of talking into a device that projects your voice is unnatural — and as a result, fear can stop people from making that podcast or YouTube channel they have always dreamed of having.
As a journalism student, I have had to adapt to this fear and get over the anxiety I once had if someone placed a microphone in front of me. A year and a half after starting my course, I can safely say that microphones don’t scare me anymore — and below are the techniques I used to get over that fear.
1 — Learn to love your voice
I think it’s safe to say that a lot of people don’t like the sound of their own voice. What you hear when you speak and what you hear when you listen to a recording of yourself often sounds very different.
According to the BBC, this is because sound wave vibrations produced by the vocal chords are distorted when travelling through your skull, which is why the sound waves you hear when talking sound…
