VOICE MODULATION

“Voice Modulation” is the art of moving the pitch of the voice up and down. It includes use
of pauses from time to time and also emphasizing few words more than others in order to put
forth a point in an authoritative way.
The change in tone and pitch of your voice is voice modulation.
Tone is how we say what we say. For example “he said in a nervous tone” Pitch is
the frequency of our voice. The higher the pitch the higher your voice sounds and
vice versa.

People in power like politicians and notable public speakers have been known to
make use of voice modulation and even have dedicated speech coaches just to guide them.
With the right practice you can also master the art of voice modulation. Here are a few tips:

 The Pitch: While delivering a speech, the pitch of your voice plays an
important part. Try to lower your voice slightly because due to microphones
shrill voices can cause a bit of annoyance.

• Speak Slowly: Another thing to be kept in mind is to speak slowly while delivering a
speech! Speaking slowly helps get your point across to your audience. So remember
to speak slowly and clearly.
• Stress on certain Words: To add a bit of impact in your speech, it’s advised to stress
on certain powerful words. You can even vary the intensity of your voice to add a
powerful impact to your speech and grab the attention of your audience.
People but speaking in front of a large audience and knowing that they all have
gathered to listen to you may give goose bumps to many of us.

In public speaking, your voice and your body language play a vital role. In this post,
let us talk about ‘voice’. It is really important to understand the power of voice- having
control over it and knowing how to modulate it. It has a few important components. They are:

1. Pace: Pace is the speed of your speech. Your pace should be such that it is understandable
by your audience. You may have to change your pace from slow to fast or vice versa but
whatever it be, it should sound good to your audience. Speaking too quickly is a mistake
in public speaking. Keep your pace slower than the pace we have when converse one to
one. Give pauses at important points. This will help the listeners to be able completely
absorb what you said.
2. Volume: Your volume should be loud enough so that your audience can hear you clearly
but at the same time being loud does not mean shouting. It is also seen that the volume at
which you would be speaking, your audience would also adapt that same volume. On the
key sentences or key words, it is good to raise your voice (no shouting). You sound clear
and strong when you are loud.
3. Pitch: You would get more depth as you would go deeper. Try not to stress your vocal
chords too much. Be comfortable with your pitch. Practice increasing your pitch from
oral track to vocal chord. In public speaking, it is advised to keep your pitch a little lower
as shrilling voice can be annoying. Even when speaking passionately, keep your pitch
even.
4. Inflection: It means connecting words with feelings by bringing ups and downs of words.
Your feelings give words to you and you modulate your voice according to your feelings.
Importance of Pitch for Voice Modulation
1) Do not speak in a high pitch. It sounds like noise.
2) Do not speak in a very low pitch. It’s not audible.
3) Speak in pitch which is comfortable to you and your audience. The natural pitch of
conversation is good for delivering speeches.
4) Do not speak in a monotonous voice. Your voice should rise and fall.
5) Modulate your pitch for emphasizing a particular idea.
Tone
The tone of voice conveys about the situation whether a serious or joyous situation.
Tone helps in visualizing the words of the speaker. It’s very much necessary to speak in the
right tone and stress words which carry importance. You need to take care as to when you
should change the pitch to stress a word.

Pause
Pause helps in understanding the meaning of the spoken words. Pause helps in enhancing the
meaning of words and it also provides a breathing opportunity.

How to use the pause effectively –

1) After you are introduced
2) When you want to emphasize certain ideas
3) Pause after questions
4) Use the pause as a transitional device – When moving from one point to another 5) Pause
to get the best effect from humor – pausing before and after the humor prepares the
audience to understand and react to the message.

The Skill cycle – Presenting, Evaluating, Improving Presenting

There are few things which should be kept in mind when presenting speeches –
1) Know your Audience – Know about the age of the audience. What is the percentage
of males and females? Education level. This will help you in making a presentation
which suits your audience. The mindset differs according to age.
2) Find out what your audience want – Enquire from the event organiser about the
expectation of the audience. This will help you in planning the topic and speech better.

3) Be Enthusiastic – Be enthusiastic when giving your speech. The audience will feel it
and will listen. If you are in a hurry just to complete and leave, the audience will lose
interest and switch off their mind.

4)Use examples – Try to quote examples wherever necessary to explain a point. This will
draw the attention of the audience. Examples provide a good mix when there is too much
theory in a speech.

5)use your non-verbals correctly – Your body language i.e gesture and posture should
convey confidence and you should not look like and imposter. Just be yourself.

6) Speak with modulation in your voice to draw the attention of the audience

7)Be specific – Be specific as to what you want to speak before the audience.

8)Do not use words like “UM” “UH” in your speech.

Evaluating
The process of evaluation helps you in improving your speech so that it meets the audience
expectations.

There are various ways in which you can evaluate your speech –
1) Reaction from the audience ( Here I mean overall reaction, leave a few )
2) Evaluation by means of feedback forms
3) Our own personal evaluation. Once we give our speech we are aware of what all mistakes
we have committed and what corrections need to be made. We have to mend these and
move further.
Improving

Once a person is aware of his shortcomings he can improve.

Improvement can involve any of the following-

1) Improving language.

2) Finishing on time and covering all the points.

3) Checking all non-verbals
4) Giving important information in the best possible time.
5) Add humor to it
6) Getting less nervous
7) Improving eye contact, gestures and postures.
Good Voice Modulation Effectively Bad Voice Modulation consists of
1. Pitch 1. Nassaly and high pitched voice
2. Timbre 2. Squeaky erratic voice
3. Prosody 3. Monotone
4. Pace 4. “uhms” and “ahhs”
5. Volume 5. Overuse of loud volume
6. Silence