***If Your Voice Is the Vehicle for Your Words, Are You Driving a Cadillac or a Jalopy?

No matter how great your message or how powerful your delivery, have you ever considered the vehicle or instrument that is transporting your words? What does the sound of your speaking voice say about you?

If you are over 21 and sound like a teen or preteen, do you know that you image you are projecting will not be one of maturity or confidence? On the other hand, having a voice that is reminiscent of your grandmother is most definitely giving the wrong impression of your age, especially if your grandmother is still alive!

Perhaps you are soft-spoken. If such is the case, then those struggling to hear you will regard you as being shy, diffident or insecure. It is even possible that they may think you have something to hide. Maybe you speak in a voice that is too loud. Adjectives that come to mind with those who speak beyond a normal volume of sound include arrogant, boorish, overbearing, and insensitive.

Plagued by a nasal, strident, high-pitched sound? In this case, your listeners may regard you as whiny or irritating. Without a doubt, stridency and excessive nasality are reminiscent of ‘nagging wife’ syndrome.

Speaking in monotone has one powerful description and that is boring. If you voice, your face and your body language are lacking in expression, then no other word better describes you except possibly tedious. If, on the other hand, the inflection of your voice rises at the end of each statement, then consider yourself a Valley Girl.

The quiver or shaky voice tells your audience that you are nervous even if you aren’t. Perhaps you speak in a wimpy voice or a wispy one. If either is descriptive of you, then you appear weak or like a bimbo.

When you look at the above traits, you can begin to understand how certain characteristics of your voice can describe your personality even it if they are not true. It is the image you are projecting. Your listeners form a mental picture of you every time you open your mouth to speak. And, over the phone where there is no visual, those characteristics are multiplied by ten!

You have a better sound inside. It is just a matter of discovering it. Since your voice is the vehicle for your words, why not get rid of the jalopy and drive a Cadillac instead!