Sound Nice

If you recorded yourself, changed all the words to gibberish and just listened to your sound, what would it sound like? Would it sound like what you imagine? How do you think others perceive your sound? And how does it impact your message?  

Your sound determines if your audience even listens your content. If they like the sound, they’ll listen to the content; If they don’t, they won’t. If you’re not sure how you sound, ask a couple friends to parrot it back to you (without words). But before you do, decide whether or not you want to know.

Approximately one third of what you communicate has to do with sound. Most of the emotion in communication comes through tone of voice. HOW you say what you say—more than WHAT you say—determines whether people enjoy listening to you. We enjoy listening to people that sound nice and have a pleasant tone. We don’t enjoy listening to people who sound grating and have a stressed tone.

Imagine a voice you would enjoy listening to. Put an ‘X’ on each scale where that imaginary voice would fall.

​Stressed   -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  - ​Soothing

​Monotone   -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -​ Stimulating

​Predictable  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  - ​Impulsive

​Unassertive -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -​ Vigorous

Now put an ‘O’ on each scale where you think your voice falls.

You now have the opportunity to be your own vocal coach.