"Speaking without a healthy air supply is like trying to drive a car without gas! Your breath is your fuel and it is vitally important. Vocalizing requires a sustained breath."

-Ronni Lederman

"My wife was too beautiful for words, but not for arguments."John Barrymore, actor, 1882 - 1942

"My wife was too beautiful for words, but not for arguments."

John Barrymore, actor, 1882 - 1942

How do you know?Actually, your voice may be more pleasing to others than to yourself.Most people don't like the sound of their recorded voice, but other hearers might find it "just fine."After all, "Pleasing is in the ear of the hearer."

When we speak, two important factors are these:

Is my speech intelligible so that others understand?

To answer this question, you can look for clues in the responses of those you talk to.Do they often ask you to repeat what you've said?Do they have a puzzled look on their faces?If yes, you can make some adjustments.

Is my voice sufficiently pleasing and easy to listen to?

If your voice is raspy or squeaky or flat, your hearers may let you know with their nonverbal responses.

Aesthetics matter.Listening to a singer who can't carry a tune takes effort and can even be painful.Listening to a talker with little vocal resonance or melody is not enjoyable.Worse, how about if your voice is heard as

grating, flat, croaky, monotonous, shrill, singsong, toneless, wobbly, thin, strident?

or nasal, guttural, gruff, shrill, tiny, wheezy, tremulous, staccato, or booming?

If you have a hunch that your voice is unpleasant, you can ask trusted friends, or you can ask a professional such as a voice coach or a speech pathologist.

If you don't know and don't want to find out, you might continue vocalizing in a way that turns off your listeners.Your awareness of your vocal expression will remain in the "blind area" of your life.It's a bit like having bad breath.When these people are not aware of their unpleasant breath, others avoid close contact with them.

Fortunately, an easy and simple vocal exercise can improve the timbre of your voice.In response to subscriber interest, I have written this article on "toning for timbre."

Vocal timbre has to do with the quality of a sound, independent of pitch and loudness.Timbre depends upon the strengths of the components of different frequencies , determined by resonance.

Voice training exercises improve timbre - which explains why it is that many people would enjoy James Earl Jones' voice - even if he read a phone book aloud.

Doing this simple toning exercise on your own will improve vocal timbre.(As well, the exercise releases stress, so you get a twofer as reward for 10 minutes of

exercise.)You will increase both tonal support (making a steady sound) and also pitch variation (vocal melody).

Here's how to do the simple toning exercise:

1. Stand erect, feet a few inches apart.Loosen up with a stretch.

2. Eyes closed, breathe deeply in through the nose, out the mouth.

3. Warm up for 2-3 minutes by making the lowest tone you can make,using the sound "E" as in "red."Then 2-3 more minutes repeatedly making the highest tone you can make, using the sound EE as in "tree."

4. Now let your voice "float," and be guided only by voice andyour intuition, not your thinking mind.Let your voice come up from your feet,throughyour body.The experience will be that "It sounds me."Forabout 5 minutes (or more, if you wish), let your voiceresonate asit floats,sometimes changing pitch, sometimes stayingat the same pitch.Breathe in to get a supporting breath; thenexpress the tones that emerge.Let go of trying to control them.

That's the basic exercise I have used hundreds of times.Most of you who try it will find it freeing and quite amazing, because your voice will sometimes seem disembodied, as if it were sounding on its own.Afterwards, your voice will be more rich and resonant.You'll see.

On some Sundays at a former church I attended, we were honored to have a member, Ms. Erika Banks, sing for us.Each time I heard her, I andothers felt deeply touched by the feeling in her voice, those qualities we call timbre.Certainly, hers is a well-trained and maintained voice, and she has in-born talents for musical expression.

Most of us are not similarly gifted, nor do we have the patience and willingness to do years of training.Erika's voice is a combination of natural talent and steady practice.She deserves the standing ovations she receives.For the rest of us, we can also enrich our voices with exercises. The result will be that we are more pleased to speak aloud, and others will enjoy listening to us.

Loren Ekroth �2011, all rights reserved

Loren Ekroth, Ph.D. is a specialist in human communication anda national expert on conversation for business and social life.

Contact atLoren@conversationmatters.com