Understanding the Attributes of Voice for Better Public Speaking

The way in which you speak can have a tremendous impact on how an audience receives you. If you mumble and stumble over your words, you are likely to not be taken as seriously. Consider the 43rd President of the United States, George W Bush. Many critics of his policies criticize his inability to articulate himself well. His speech is very choppy and difficult to comprehend. On the other hand, consider the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton was acclaimed for possessing an uncanny ability to express himself eloquently and with passion.

Speaking well, whether to a small group or a large audience, requires understanding the attributes of voice. There are certain things that we can do vocally to make our communication more clear and understandable. We can utilize the various attributes of voice to better emphasize points, build emotions, and create certain moods.

Pitch

Pitch refers to the 'highness or lowness' of your voice and is a function of how quickly your vocal chords vibrate. In addition, pitch is measured on a musical scale. You must speak at a pitch that is comfortable and efficient. The goal in utilizing pitch is to achieve a strong basic pitch, 'optimum pitch', and then be able to use rising and falling pitches to communicate. An upward inflection can potentially connote questioning, a lack of finality, or indecisiveness. On the other hand, a downward inflection can potentially connote finality, decision, or command. If you say, "We are going to the movies" with a rising inflection, then it will sound more like a question. If you say it with a downward inflection, it will sound more like a command. However, if you say it with a level pitch, then it will sound more like a simply stated fact.

Loudness

You must also use different variations in loudness. The basic gist is to speak loudly enough that the audience can easily hear the message. A very useful tool in regards to loudness is utilizing different stress. Stress refers to added or reduced volume to a word or statement. Stress essentially functions as a form of oral underlining in that you make a word or statement stand out from its context. For instance, consider the basic statement, "We must do something now." By utilizing stress, you can say, "We must do something NOW." This adds an additional level of meaning to the statement. Notice how stressing different words results in a different sounding statement: "We MUST do something now" vs. "We must do SOMETHING now."

Time

Similar to pitch and loudness, a base level exists for time as well. Your goal is to speak at a rate that the audience can comfortably follow. If you speak too fast, the audience may have difficulty keeping up with your ideas. Or, if you speak too slowly, the audience may become bored and apathetic. In general, it is stipulated that serious or thoughtful rhetoric relies on a slower delivery rate versus light or comic content.

Quality

Quality is a measure of the overall effect of your voice. Quality is in fact the most complex of vocal attributes, thereby being the hardest to control. Quality is best described as a combination of basic voice plus the underlying overtones. The best way to judge the quality of your voice is to record yourself speaking. If you discover that you sound raspy or nasal, then you need to find a way to eliminate this unpleasant characteristic. The best way is to hire a professional speech clinician to help you overcome this obstacle. Lots of practice and using speech exercises can only help.