Vocal Characteristics

This is the aspect of voice that describes how one sounds while speaking. We are not very

accurate in our semantics of vocal characteristics.

Humans commonly describe the characteristic features of human voice such as, the

accent, as erratic, muffled, clear, fast, slow, dull, energetic, lovely, smooth, boring,

soothing, inviting and so on.

Then we may describe vocal mannerisms.

Or, we may talk of vocal qualities and characteristics.

Mannerisms fall under voice rhythm, which I would discuss in my future posting.

But all descriptions of human voice is highly subjective and contextually and culturally

nuanced.

We are all born with our own organic voice. Rarely do we have two identical sounding

voices. Even among twins!

Short of being born with obvious vocal impairment, everyone has a personally distinct

vocal registers in unique vocal characteristics and qualities. That is, every person has

uniquely distinct voice registers.

The voice is one of the most powerful human organs. The voice is the tool

with which all humans use, regardless of nationality, ethnicity, race, class,

social, economic, political ideology, religious beliefs, or status, to

produce meanings and share experiences, whether not they can read or

write. Everyone has a voice literally, vocally, and metaphorically.

Three mechanisms responsible for human vocal production are: the lungs, the larynx,

and the articulators.

Organic vocal delivery requires one uses all and varied vocal qualities and

characteristics to communicate with audiences in any contexts of speaking.

This imposes the abilities to modulate the voice to the audiences and

contexts of speech-making.

There are several kinds or types of human voice.

Often the voice is described by their characteristics. For example: raspy, nasal, throaty,

glottal, speaking, talking, singing, laughing, crying, yelling, screaming, snoring, hissing,

huffing, moaning, groaning, clicks, whispering, whistling, whiny, breathy, sexy, wimpy,

feminine, masculine, orotund, and so on.

Next, humans have also been inclined to define the voice based on its qualities. For

example, we speak of covered, creaky, breathy, pressed, wobbly, muffled, honky, nasal,

glottal fry(due limited air supply depending on how vocal folds vibrate), falsetto — usually

when one is emotionally distressed, pulsed, yawny, rough, shimmering, strained, twangy,

and so on. As I said earlier, we have not been very concise while describing voice

characteristics and qualities.

Voice qualities are variations in the ways one speaks. This means humans have the ability

to modify one’s vocal qualities. Voice characteristics on the other hand, involve what

humans do with their voice. These are functions. So, different roles in human societies

demand or require specific and particular vocal characteristics.

Then the voice is also defined by its specific professional and contextual uses. So, we have

for example, the musical voice, soprano voice, alto voice, tenor voice, baritone voice,

operatic voice, among many others. Some may say, “You have a radio voice!” And I have

heard people say, “Her voice is so lyrical.” Different languages have been used to describe

the voice subjectively, contextually and professionally. For now, I am only looking at the

main elements of voice in public speaking environments.

10 Vocal Characteristics For Public Speaking

For public speaking there are no such discerning characteristics. Public speaking is an

eclecticism. Many skills, competencies, and expectations meet and challenge both the

speakers and audiences to be better auditors and performers, in what I label

performance quotients elsewhere.

But as communication practitioners, we have preferable vocal qualities crisscrossing

national, ethnic, regional, and professional lines, that add weight to every speaker’s

public image in each country.

Knowing the content of the topic is not enough; the speaker must contend with the vocal

quality of his or her delivery. Vocal qualities include volume, pace, pitch, rate, rhythm,

fluency, articulation, pronunciation, enunciation, tone, to name a few.

These qualities make your presentation interesting, engaging, and pleasant to listen to.

They keep the listeners attuned to your content. Quality of voice also impacts content

comprehension and message processing.

These qualities interlock organically to give your delivery an appeal and wholeness that

make every speaker unique and different to the ears of the listeners.

I cannot exhaust the list here. But I am going to focus on the ten main types here. In my

subsequent postings I hope to exhaust all others and to expand on these ten. So, read on

and stay connected!

1. Tone of Speech. Refers to how you say and write what you wanted or intended
to say; as well as the words you use to deliver your messages.

It is how the words come through to the listeners and readers. It is what kinds of

impressions your word choices make in the minds and hearts of the audience who hears

or reads or listens to them.

Use the right tone to engage your audience and clients or customers in all speaking

situations.

Everyone speaks in their own unique ways. You must have met some very crass people

who just say whatever is in their minds. Many are ramblers. They can go on and on and

on, without making any salient point. Some are pushy, or polite, pleasant, passive, or

aggressive. There are others who say much in a few words. For some others, it may take a

whole hour to say what they have in mind.

Varieties of tones are necessary for the various goals and contexts of sharing meaning.

Indeed, some companies, corporations and institutions tie their tones to their core

values. So, we have come to see, hear, and read of concise, technical, driven, focused,

outwardly, global, inward-looking, factual, impressive, boastful, cryptic, formal, as well

as informal tones, just to name a few.

You can express your ideas in various ways. Unless you are a comedian, do

not imitate or mimic other people’s voices. You can study and emulate the

good vocal practices and mannerisms by others. But you must find, nurture,

develop, and speak in your own voice in a tone appropriate to the occasion.

That tone must be consistent and must be yours to communicate the ideas

you want, to the audiences with, or to which you speak.

Your tone also gives away your impressions, regard, respect, love, and appreciations of

the persons or groups of persons you are speaking to or relating with.

Any choice in your tone leaves lasting impressions on your listeners and prospective

customers and clients.

Because communication has relational and contextual levels for meaning making, the

tones of your speech delivery speak to the listeners’ emotions and esteems relative to the

contexts of meaning making and meaning sharing.

For example, facts speak to your analytical and technical sides of your brain and core

principles and values.

The tone speaks of, and to the creative, emotional sides of you, the audience, and your

company.

In researching, writing, and practicing your deliveries, you must consider

these two aspects (factual-technical and the emotional-relational) of tonal

deliveries so that you can arouse and fulfill the expectations of your diverse

audience members in any specific, particular and general communication

situations.

And that is organic vocal delivery of ideas; it occurs when you are able and

then invoke your intellectual and emotional capacities to relate and move

ideas to people and people to ideas. That is communication par excellence!

2. Rate of Speech. Refers to the fastness and slowness of word utterances.

The more words you spit out of your mouth per minutes, the faster your rate. And

conversely, the fewer worlds coming out of your mouth per minute, the slower your rate.

Fast rates of delivery puts you as a speaker in a disadvantage because the audience

members may not understand, comprehend, hear, process or internalize all that you are

intending to express with your message.

A slow rate may tell the audience you are thoughtful, considerate, deliberate,

compassionate, concerned, very involved with the topic and respectful of them as

listeners. But, there is a catch: slower rate may also lead the listeners to feel you are

condescending, patronizing, not sure of yourself, not knowledgeable about the topic, not

interested in them or the speaking event, and consequently, not excited about the topic.
A middle-of-the road pitch is ideal. You are assured. You prepared. You pause. You

communicate thoughtfulness. You are moderate to conservative in delivery style. You

establish appropriate eye contacts. You determine that rate by knowing the audience,

knowing the context , and knowing the purpose for the speaking event.

3. Volume: Is the loudness or softness of the voice.

It is like your boom box or car stereo system. Or, your home entertainment system: you

can raise its volume or lower it as much or as low as you want, depending on your mood

and the situation. When you have friends over and /or if you happen to have a get-

together with friends in a party environment.

The speaking situation, the number of persons in the audience, the topic, the

demographic composition of the speaking event all combine to determine the volume of

your delivery.

You have to be able to modulate the volume (that is the loudness and non

loudness/quietness) of your speech or presentation to meet the size, context, and

audience composition of the speaking event.

Absent public address system you become the loud speaker, the amplifier, the modulator,

and the facilitator or inhibitor of audience perceptions of the speaking experience.

You must speak to be heard. But you must not yell or shout or whisper.

That is very commonsense. So I used to think until I sat in a restaurant with an attractive

lady friend who became an “item” of interest to two boisterous middle aged men three
tables from us. They became louder and louder. It became obvious that they were either

rude, ignorant, disrespectful, or arrogant to ignore the norms of public etiquette or they

just wanted to be obnoxious.

Your bedroom volume is not appropriate for classroom either. Boardrooms speech is

quieter and calmer but deliberate and deliberative. Courtrooms are even more subdued

and deferential as is the church, temple, shrines, and mosques, unless the assigned

individuals at any specific time.

The auditorium accommodates loud volume of speaking. Absent public address systems,

you are expected to speak loudly. When activities are ongoing, you will need to raise your

voice in that environment so that you could be heard.

4. Pitch. This is the high and low levels in your delivery.

It is similar to volume in some ways. Your emotional and /or psychological involvement

with the topic or affiliation with the audience may influence the pitch of your

presentation at any point in time. Usually, you are to use variations of pitches to address

different audiences in varied contexts of speaking.

A singer can vary his or her notes depending on the size of the audience, the size of the

room, the venue of performance, and the lyrics. The political aspirant varied the pitch

when in a one-on-one exchange as opposed to when on a campaign trail with varieties of

peoples, both supporters and non-supporters.

A low pitch conveys seriousness and intimacy with the listeners.

If you are selling to a group of retirees in a senior citizen complex, your language and

tone and pitch would have to mirror the situation, the content, and the demographics

specifically. Here, the pitch would be low, deliberate, and the volume as well as the

content very conversational.

A high pitch is advised when in a jolly and exciting mood with friends and acquaintances.

Rhythm is an aspect of pitch. It refers to a lowering of the voice while speaking and

reading, especially at the ending of your presentation.

When there is a rhythmic flow in the choice of words and in the sound in your

presentation, there is a melodic quality that is pleasing to the ears of your listeners.

So, you need to be slow and deliberate. Enunciate for emphasis. Pronounce

for effect in the arrangement of your words to ensure a flow, in the ways you

create a pattern of stressed and unstressed words and phrases and

intonations in the sequencing or presentation of ideas and thoughts in the

minds of the audience.

Rhythm is the cadence; the rise and fall in your vocal presentation. It matters. It gives life

to your words in the sounds undulations of your voice.

5. Pace. It is the natural rate at which you speak. It could be either too fast or too
slow.

In a public speaking arena, you must gauge your pace to the audience.
Learn to talk slow; but not to lull your audience to sleep and yawning.

But you also must speak fast to an audience that is predisposed to processing fast data

and facts.

The key again here is to know your audience and gauge to them accordingly, your content

and the other qualities of public speaking I have discussed in this posting.

Take time to pronounce and enunciate clearly for effect.

6. Pause. This is the conscious, deliberate and intentional breaks you take and
insert during your speaking.

They are temporary and short silences or interludes during speaking. They are

deliberately inserted for effect.

They are different from speech disfluencies or irregularities that are physiological,

neurological, biological, or due birth defects.

Yet, excessive pauses could become distractions from the flow of effective deliveries.

Do not allow your intentional breaks to be perceived as false starts, show of discomfort,

slips of the tongue or mispronunciations of long and difficult words and phrases. So

practice hard and technical words in your speech before speaking.

7. Fluency. Is all about the ways we say and use the words and non-words we
choose to communicate our ideas.

It is how words flow out of our mouths to create the sounds in the ears of the listeners.

Speeches that flow smoothly and effortlessly, and the words roll with the sentences make

for fluency. Same is true of non-words.

Fluency makes the listeners follow the ideas as you the speaker relay them.

Fluency makes for comfortable listening.

The flow makes your speech pleasing to listeners.

Speech flow is also a function of the words you choose, the ordering of the words, the

pronunciation, articulation, and the enunciation of those words.

I am not saying that you should not have deliberate breaks and pauses. These tactics are

also part of that flow. You stop. You break. And you pause, to give listeners time to

reflect, digest, internalize, and follow your thoughts.

You use internal summaries, connectives, transitional statements, and signposts to make

the journey through the speech content a smooth and enjoyable ride to the audience. All

these add to fluency in idea presentation and communication.

You also must consciously avoid vocal fillers, such as “um’s.” “ah’s” “uh’s,” “like,” “you

know’s;” “em’s;” “eh’s;” and so on. These take away from fluency and your credibility as a

speaker.

8. Intensity. Is an attribute of vocal volume and pitch used to control the loudness
or quietness of your delivery.

It is an aspect of pitch and volume that has a lot to do with the passion and the emotion

expressed in the speech.

Intensity can be manipulated by the speaker to suit the situation and the expectations of

the audiences, by controlling the vibrations of the vocal chord.

9. Articulation. Is how clearly your words come out. It is from the word ‘article.’

It requires you clearly and crisply say every ‘article’ or letter, in every word you use in

your presentation. For example, “I want you to understand the importance of saying

every word in your sentences clearly.” is a clear demonstration of articulateness.

An inarticulate phrasing would be, “I wanna let you understand the importance…..”

Wanna is not an English language word. It is an example of inarticulate speaking word.

Other examples are “gonna,” “gotta,” “ya know,” “dat,” for “that” and “tink,” for “think”

among many others.

10. Enunciation. This is the ability to make your ideas stand out clearly through
your language in words.
It is the commitment to pronounce words and their constitutive parts clearly. Here you

do not slur on words.

Here, you do not swallow the last syllable or articles. You do not omit letters in words.

Enunciation is sometimes used as synonym with articulation and pronunciation. I have

chosen to separate them here for emphasis.

Summing Up

In any fora for the presentation of ideas, the voice is the most important human organ to

be explored, exploited and modulated or manipulated to arouse and fulfill the

expectations of the speaker, and the audiences. Several vocal characteristics and qualities

make these activities successful. I have discussed ten of them in this posting: tone, rate,

volume, pitch, pace, pause, fluency, intensity, articulation, and enunciation.

At other times, voice is a metaphor to cover written as well as spoken communications.

In today’s telecommunication systems, voice is everywhere. Voice communications is the

end all, and be all of modern communications.

It is imperative that any speaker mind their human voice for effective communication,

dissemination, diffusion, and immersion or penetration of their ideas.