If you find others recoiling when you speak, it could be that you talk too loudly. While those who speak too softly far outnumber those who are too loud, the difficulty with the loud voice is that it is offensive to your listener’s ears.
How loud is too loud? If you have been told that you are shouting or have been requested to speak more softly, then it would be a wise decision to learn how to decrease your volume. This would involve retraining your inner ear to know when you are speaking with too much volume.
You may have been raised in a large household and in order to be heard, you had to speak loudly. You may be imitating a parent who spoke with too much volume. Whatever the reason for your loudness, it is a habit that can be broken.
The problem with too much volume is that it not only hurts your listeners’ ears but it can eventually lead to damage to your throat and vocal folds (cords), known as vocal abuse. If you are suffering from a persistent sore throat or chronic hoarseness and you are not sick, then you need to learn how to place your voice properly and decrease your output. It might be an idea to get some help in voice improvement because neither will go away on its own as long as you continue in the same manner of speaking.
Being known for being too loud is not an asset but a liability. If you care about the image you project, then you are doing a grave disservice to that image because you are being judged not on what you are saying but how loud you are when you say it. Just as those who are soft-spoken may be labeled improperly because of their lack of volume, so, too, are you being judged because of your abundance of volume – usually at the most inappropriate times.
Once you learn how to place your voice properly, you will discover a softer, warmer sound that will not hurt your listeners’ ear. Your throat will be thankful as well as your audience. In addition, good voice training means that you will learn how to project your voice. Projection is the ability to increase your volume without shouting. This is only possible, however, when you change the placement of your sound.
Imagine speaking in a normal volume and being able to increase that volume without shouting. All it takes is a change in the placement of your voice!
The Voice Lady Nancy Daniels offers private, corporate and group workshops in voice and presentation skills as well as Voicing It!, the only video training program on voice improvement. Visit Voice Dynamic and watch Nancy as she describes Your Volume Control.