Kate's Voice

The other day, I was speaking with  a woman who has chronic laryngitis.  Her voice is very low and husky, and she gets lots of comments on “that sexy voice.”  To me, it sounds tired and unhealthy, but I know people who want that sound because they DO think it’s sexy.  So the questions I want to answer today are

• What is a sexy voice, and
• How do you create it? (and is there time before Valentine’s Day???)

What makes a voice sound sexy?

A now-famous study by Gordon Gallup and others at the University of Albany showed that both men and women with attractive voices also had more attractive bodies, and a larger sex life.  The researchers were able to show that women felt that low voices were more attractive in men, but they were unable to conclude what makes a woman’s voice sound more attractive to men.  In a later study, however,Dr. Gallup found that women’s voices are most attractive to both men and other women when they are at the peak of fertility, which in fact, causes their pitch to rise rather than drop. This is caused by the presence of more estrogen, just as a lower voice in men is associated with a higher level of testosterone.  This makes sense.  First and foremost, even in this modern world, we are attracted to people for procreation, and the voice seems to be an indicator of the right chemistry!

Perhaps the reason we think a low voice sounds sexy is because we are intuitively aware that a low voice means power.  This is true in the most primal way, of course, but again, we cannot deny our primal roots!  As women have sought to compete more and more with men in the workplace, they have lowered their voices.  Anne Karpf discusses this trend in her book, The Human Voice: How This Extraordinary Instrument Reveals Essential Clues About Who We Are.   It seems that the average pitch of women’s voices is no longer an octave higher than a man’s, but just 2/3 of an octave.  The problem with this trend is that it is hazardous to the voice.  Speaking too low can cause nodules, or calluses on the vocal folds, chronic laryngitis, and reduce the flexibility of the vocal mechanism.

So, I want to stop all this nonsense about a low voice being sexy and about power being demonstrated by a low voice and get to the heart of it.  A sexy voice is grounded, just like a sexy person is confident.  A sexy voice has vibrant resonance, just as a sexy person is vibrant.  And a sexy voice is flexible, reflecting a sensitive, emotional person.  If you have those three things, your sexy voice will be healthy and it will reflect your emotions and desires.

How to create a sexy voice

1. Make your breathing low and expansive.  Just like good sex, good breathing is low and deep (now you will never forget that about proper breathing!)
2. Create a resonance that is powerful by using mask resonance.  To do this, humming is a great tool, and music is the food of love, of course.  (Research shows that music stimulates the brain in the same place as food and sex, by the way, so you know why I always recommend humming!!)
3. Create variety in your sound by letting your voice show your emotions.  An emotional connection with your voice allows others to feel closer to you too…hint, hint

Vocal Variety is a term used by many speakers to describe variations in the sounds created by speaking.  Other terms for this are inflection, expression or prosody.

Vocal Variety is generally thought to be good.  It creates interest and helps a speaker to have more influence over the audience.  Toastmasters has a vocal variety speech in their training.  They describe effective use of Vocal Variety in this way: “An effective vocal variety speech is a speech where you convey your emotions through your voice to your audience. “

How is vocal variety created?
Here are five aspects of sound that create vocal variety:

1. Cadence: The way you end a sentence.  Variety is found in open versus closed cadence.
2. Speed: The pace at which you speak.  Variety is found in fast versus slow pace.
3. Volume:  Variety is created by contrasting loudness and softness of speech.
4. Pitch: Variety is created by using more range in your speaking voice.  Every sound you make has a pitch.
5. Duration: Variety is created by accentuating or varying the length of the sounds created.  (See example below.)

How Expression Creates Meaning
You can probably see that there is a difference between speaking slowly and speaking quickly, and that speakers use speed in different ways.  For example, if I tell you to pick up the pace of your delivery, you probably assume I want you to speak faster.  Actors use vowel sounds to draw out the duration of sound and consonants, such as “t” to cut sounds short.  To hear variety in duration, do the following:

•     Say “long” and elongate the vowel sound to illustrate the meaning of the word.
•     In contrast, say “short” and abbreviate the vowel sound and punch the “t” to illustrate the meaning of that word.

This example shows how many of our words are already expressing their meaning when we speak.  True vocal variety is the use of vocal sounds to infuse meaning into all words. It starts with recognition that every sound you make creates an impression on others.  I call this your vocal image.

How Vocal Variety Creates More Meaning
What really makes this interesting to me is the infinite variety created by combining different aspects of sound.

A recent post by Cal Habig suggests the use of a quadrant diagram (as modeled by Rory Vaden ) to better understand vocal variety. This illustrates how we can combine attributes to create a vocal image (though he doesn’t call it a vocal image.) Cal discusses only two aspects of sound: volume and pace (speed).   The quadrant contains a personality characteristic/quality of expression for each combination in the quadrant.  Here is his chart:

What’s wrong with this model?
I completely agree that attributes of sound give us perceptions of the speaker and that the perceptions may change as we combine the attributes in different ways, hence creating vocal variety.  Here’s where I want to challenge you, my readers,  and respectfully disagree with Cal’s post and even with the responses of his readers.  I am not convinced that every time a speaker speaks slowly and softly that they are perceived as authentic.  A person who is afraid may also speak slowly and softly or fast and softly.   However, it is absolutely true that the sound you create gives a perception to your listener.

How to use Vocal Variety to be a better speaker
Use this information from this quadrant to increase your awareness of your “bag of tricks,” the tools you have to make yourself heard as a speaker.  Ask yourself,  “what is the impression I give when I speak slowly and softly,  or loud and fast, with short and long vowels and consonants?  Is it negative or positive, and how can I use that combination of attributes to create more interest and also to create the impression I want?”  Listen to other speakers as well or actors in films. How do they use vocal variety to express emotions?  What vocal image is conveyed by the patterns of sound each person creates?

You may also want to read:

Breathing: Your Seductive Key to Vocal Variety on the Six Minutes blog

Five Colors for Vibrant Vocal Variety