Factors Involved in Voice Quality

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Voice Quality

Voice quality plays an important role in making your speech effective and impressive. Your voice quality determines how your words affect your listeners. This article is all about factors involved in voice quality.

There are four factors which determine your voice quality. These are volume, pitch, tone, and tempo. Besides, effectiveness of your voice depends on enunciation, pronunciation, and breath control.

Volume

Volume refers to the loudness or softness of voice. This voice quality makes the speaker audible to the listeners.

Pitch

Pitch means highness or lowness of your sound. A shrill voice is too high which is unpleasant. A moderately low voice is pleasing.

Tone

It is your voice tone that reveals our attitude and feelings to our listeners. In your relations you should use a pleasant and cheerful tone.

Tempo

Tempo refers to the rate or speed at which you talk. As tempo makes your speech understandable, you should speak at a proper rate of speech. Communication experts suggest the range of public speakers lies between 80 to 160 words per minute.

This is, however, different in more casual and informal conversation when it may range from 80 to 250 words per minutes. Remember to put variety to your speech. Variation in rate is better than speaking at the same speed. A key word to remember here is pause.The pauses—short breaks—between major thought groups are called “oral white spaces,” just like the white space between paragraphs in a written document. As in writing, a pause while you speak lets you, as a speaker, collect your thoughts, take time to move to a visual, or white board, change your standing position or angle, or rest your voice.

street performer standing on pavement showing factors involved in voice quality

Pronunciation and Enunciation

Pronunciation means saying words correctly while enunciation means saying words distinctly. Both are necessary if you are to be understandable to your listeners.

Breath Control

If you want to improve your voice quality, you must be able to control your breathing. Breath control depends upon your correct posture and deep breathing.

Please don’t hesitate to leave your feedback in the comment section if you have something to share regarding factors involved in voice quality.