One of the difficulties people have with their speaking voice is that they have no control over it. They push hard from their throat and vocal cords to speak instead of allowing their sound to be powered by their chest cavity. And the difference between these two practices can be quite extreme.
When you speak, your voice should be resonated in 5 cavities: the chest, larynx (voice box), pharynx (throat), mouth and nasal cavities. For most people, however, there is no chest resonance because their sound formulates in the larynx and pharynx and then follows through in the mouth and nose to complete their words.
The result of this type of voiced sound is usually a higher pitch, a thinner quality, and a lack of depth to the speaking voice. Other words which describe sound produced in this manner may be nasal, reedy, throaty, hoarse, childlike, whispery, soft, loud, shrill, edgy, weak, wimpy, etc. The list goes on and on.
Why this is happening is due to the lack of correct breathing to power your sound. Shallow or lazy breathing – which is typical of 99% of the population – makes producing sound correctly impossible. If you are using only the upper portion of your chest to breathe, you are unable to vibrate (power) your voice in your mid-torso region. Once you begin the practice of breathing with the support of your diaphragm, however, you are then able to discover the optimum range of your speaking voice and power your sound from below instead of from above. [Your diaphragm is a large muscular partition separating your chest from your abdominal cavities.]
All classically-trained singers breathe in this manner as well as all newborn babies. In fact, opera singers are often called professional breathers. Unfortunately, we stop this practice of breathing diaphragmatically during our childhood and instead revert to upper chest breathing.
When you are able to place your voice properly however, you will find that the pitch of your voice will drop (in most cases) and your voice will become more mature in quality. You will not sound old, nor will you sound too young. Your voice will become ageless.
What is fascinating about this change in voice placement is that once you discover the difference, you will find that speaking becomes almost effortless. Whereas pushing your sound from your voice box and throat takes work, especially when you increase your volume, speaking with your ‘chest’ voice is much easier and takes much less work. In addition, when you are using your voice properly, you will be able to increase your volume without shouting which, again, is only possible if you train your voice properly.
Empower your voice and discover a tool that you never knew you had!
The Voice Lady Nancy Daniels offers private, corporate and group workshops in voice and presentation skills as well as Voicing It!, the only video training program on voice improvement. If you would like to see and hear a dramatic change, from childlike to mature, watch Trish's 'Before & After' video clip.