***Are You a Whisperer?

Are you one who often reverts to whispering or speaks consistently in a soft voice instead of a normal volume of sound? I am not talking about the horse whisperer or the dog whisperer in this particular case, but the individual who speaks in a whisper even when his/her throat is not sore or plagued with strep. While speaking in a LOUD voice for great lengths of time can do serious damage to the vocal folds (cords), continually speaking in a soft voice or whisper can be even more devastating to your voice box. The reason is that when you whisper, your vocal folds are doing all of the work. (Another problem is that you must often repeat yourself because you are not being heard the first time you speak.) We have 5 cavities in the body called resonators which are responsible for powering or amplifying our sound. They consist of the chest, voice box, throat, mouth and/or nose. When used properly, the 5 cavities vibrate to some degree when you speak. Because whispering requires the major source of power to come from the vocal folds, it usually results in vocal abuse if it is employed over any great length of time. At a conventio I recently attended, the woman in the booth next to mine was extremely soft-spoken, a prime example of the whisperer. In order to hear her, you had to be standing directly in front of her. The convention opened at 10 am. By 11 am, her voice was gone. I was stunned because she had to remain until 6 pm that evening and she literally had no voice with which to speak. Unfortunately, little value is placed on our speaking voice until we don’t have one. What are the chances that you or your business can succeed without a voice? If you are suffering from chronic hoarseness, sore throats, or even loss of voice by the end of the day, it is time you learned how to eliminate your problem. Vocal abuse will not go away on its own. Until you take steps to change your misuse or misplacement of the voice, it will only continue and, in most cases, get worse. Good voice training means finding your ‘real’ voice by using all 5 of your resonators to power your sound, especially your chest cavity, the largest and most powerful of your resonators. Once you learn the technique for allowing your chest to become your primary sounding board, you will discover a richer, warmer, more mature-sounding voice that will be heard easily without any ‘push’ from your throat. There is a time and a place to whisper; but, the workplace is not one of them. End your vocal abuse and discover the joy of being able to speak all day long without pain or loss of voice. Your listeners will thank you as well!