***How Your Voice Can Improve with Age When the Rest of Your Body Isn't!

By Nancy Daniels The Official Guide to Public Speaking
The official guide to Public Speaking

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One of the most amazing benefits of voice training is that you will find your voice improving as you age. If you are over 40, you are beginning to discover that nothing on your body is getting better as you get older. This is difficult to accept because you slowly begin to notice that you have more aches and pains and that your body doesn’t bounce back the way it used to.

If you learn to power your voice from chest, however, you will discover that, while everything else on your body is going downhill, your voice will continue to improve. Yes, when you are 85, you may look it, but there is no need to ever sound that age.

The reason this is possible is because the voice that is powered or amplified from the chest decreases the wear and tear on the vocal folds (cords). For most people, using their chest as their primary sounding board is not happening. Aside from some actors, singers, and a few politicians, the majority of the population is unaware that indeed they have a better voice inside. It is only a matter of finding it and making it a habit.

Even more fascinating is the fact that if you already sound old, by changing the placement of your voice, you can eliminate the tremors, the high-pitch, and your faltering sound. My oldest client was 81 and a stunning woman physically but her voice was weak and quivered when she spoke. By learning to use her chest to power her sound, she discovered a stronger voice that no longer faltered in speaking. In addition, she sounded younger than she looked.

The goal in good voice training is to sound ageless – not too young, not too old.

Similar to a fine bottle of red wine, the voice that has had training actually improves with age. Today my voice is better than it was 15 years ago. 15 years ago my voice was better than when I had found my ‘real’ voice in graduate school. Through all the years, it has only improved.

If you are not using your chest as your primary sounding board, then you are relying on your other 4 resonators – the throat, voice box, mouth, and nose – to do the work of producing vocal sound. When you compare the size of the chest cavity to your other resonators, however, you can begin to appreciate how much power is gained by utilizing the largest of those 5 cavities or resonators.

For a voice that is ageless and continues to improve when everything else on your body is in decline, learn to power your voice properly and discover a voice that sounds warmer, richer, and resonant.