***Would You Consider Your Speaking Voice An Asset or a Liability?

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

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I recently listened to a webinar in which the speaker’s voice was so nasal, it gave me a headache. And I use Bose speakers on my computer! Is this man’s voice an asset? No. In his case, it is most definitely a liability.

The problem with his overly nasal voice is that he does not sound credible because his sound is whiny, sharp and irritating. Excessive nasality is not the only problem with speaking voices that are annoying however.

• If you are over 21 and sound like a child, a pre-teen, or even a teenager, then you are projecting a childlike image.
• If your voice is soft in volume and others ask you to repeat yourself a lot, then your words are not being heard. And, if your message is not being heard, you might as well say nothing.
• If your voice is too loud, then you hurt your listeners’ ears (and probably your throat as well).
• If you talk too fast, your listeners may not be able to keep up with you.
• If you talk too slowly, you may be putting your listeners to sleep.
• If you suffer from vocal abuse and actually lose your voice because of yelling or prolonged speaking, you have no voice and you might as well be soft-spoken.
• If you mumble (men) or have lockjaw (ladies), your message is being lost because you are not speaking distinctly.
• If you speak with a heavy accent, your words are not being understood which means your message is not being heard.
• If your voice quivers, you are projecting an image that does not sound confident or tells you listeners that you are a senior citizen which may or may not be true.
• If you sound like wimp, then others think of you as a wimp.
• If speak in a monotone, your listeners will be more likely to pay attention to their iPhones than to you!

As you can see from this partial list of problematic vocal characteristics, how you sound when you speak determines whether others can hear you, understand you, not want to hear you, believe in you, or not.

You have a better voice inside of you that is just waiting to be found. It is richer, warmer, mature in quality, and probably deeper in pitch. And, it is ageless. It could be one of your greatest assets. What does your voice say about you? Is your voice an asset or is it a liability?