***The 1st Thing You Must Do for a Deeper, Richer Speaking Voice

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

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Of the thousands of people with whom I’ve worked and the thousands of ‘before’ and ‘after’ video clips I have recorded, the 1st thing that all are doing to sound more mature is to breathe with the support of their diaphragm. A muscular partition separating the chest from the abdomen, the diaphragm is responsible for the voices of James Earl Jones, Sean Connery, Vin Diesel, Cher, Kathleen Turner, and Julia Ormond.

Each of those voices is distinctive, deep, rich and resonant. 99% of the population, however, while possessing a more mature-sounding speaking voice, is unaware that they have it or how to find it.

Unless you happen to be part of the 1% of the population who are breathing correctly, I can tell you with confidence that, at this moment, you are not using your ‘real’ voice.

We have 5 cavities in the body responsible for the production of voice sound: the voice box, throat, mouth, nose and, the largest of these cavities, the chest. If you are a shallow or lazy breather which again is typical of 99% of the population, then you are physically unable to utilize your chest cavity because your breathing is occurring only in the upper portion of your chest.

What results is a voice that is thinner in quality and higher in pitch because your sound is being produced by only 4 of those cavities or resonators.

When you learn to breathe with support and make it a habit, you are then able to power your voice from your chest cavity which is responsible for the depth, richness, and resonance in those speaking voices which sound more mature. In addition, you will have the ability to increase your volume without shouting.

Using your chest as your primary sounding board alleviates vocal abuse and allows you to speak for greater lengths of time without undue wear and tear on your vocal folds (cords). What this means is that as the rest of your body ages, your voice will actually continue to improve – much like a bottle of fine wine.

When I’m 85 I may look it, but I will never sound that old because I’ve take the pressure off my vocal cords by allowing my chest to do more of the work.

Imagine having a voice that sounds more mature (not too old – not too young), has depth and resonance and actually improves with age!

There is one other thing you must do in finding your ‘real’ voice which I will discuss in my next article. In the meantime, learn to breathe: it is the secret to a better speaking voice as well as the best means of controlling nervousness in any form of public speaking.