My voice inventory - Stephen P.

Soliguen
When I first heard my voice played back on the tape recorder, I was a bit confused. It seemed
that my younger brother was the one talking and not me. This I proved to myself that I really
couldn’t accurately hear my own voice. What I hear rumbling down inside my head is quite
different from what others hear after the sound leaves my body and travels around the room.
To help me understand my voice, it is necessary for me to monitor my own physical voice and
make an analysis that will help me develop a pleasing and impressive voice.
The following observations are based on the properties of voice:
1. VOLUME - Adequate volume is an important trait of an effective voice.
“Without using a microphone, I should say that I made myself audible enough. Varying the
volume of my voice enabled me to make my words audible and to emphasize words in the
representation of my ideas in a sequence”.
2. PITCH - Using different levels of pitch eliminate monotony in speech.
“As I read aloud my piece, I just noticed that I used pitch variations. By doing it, I was able to
make my speech more interesting to listen to. In other words, pitch can affect the meanings of
my words”.
3. QUALITY - A person’s voice can be categorized as pleasant or unpleasant depending upon its
timbre and quality.
“I must admit that I could hardly recognize my voice played back on tape recorder but as I
listened to it, I can say that I also produced a pleasing quality of voice if my throat is free from
tension or constriction. Whatever the characteristics of my voice, I can be sure, it is unique for no
two persons have identical voices”.
4. DURATION - Implies the rate of words spoken per minute and the length of pauses between
words.
“As I observed I made some changes in duration, I spoke in different tempo: slow, average, and
fast which indicated different feelings or moods”.
5. RATE - refers to the speed at which a person speaks.
“I sometimes spoke rapidly as if I was chasing someone. Through this voice inventory, I learned
that to be an effective speaker, I should vary the rate of my voice depending on the feeling or
mood I want to convey”.
6. PAUSES - are intervals of silence between or within words, phrases, or sentences.
“I made some pauses which signal the end of a thought unit to give dramatic impact to my
statement. I just realized that a pause could express my feeling more forcefully than words.
7. PRONUNCIATION - The transcription in phonetic symbols of the accepted or standard
pronunciation of a word.
“I must admit that I tend to mispronounce unfamiliar words. As I read my piece, I encountered
several unfamiliar words and as I consulted the dictionary, I found out that I mispronounced
some words in the piece. I just realized that if I mispronounce words, the listener may not be able
to grasp easily and quickly the meaning or significance of what I say”.
8. ARTICULATION - refers to the shaping, joining, or separating of sounds produced by the
vocal mechanism.
“I just noticed that I tended to slur sounds, drop some syllables completely in enunciating. I even
skipped over the beginning or ending of words. I just learned from my speech teacher that sloppy
articulation is the failure to form particular speech sounds crisply and distinctly. To correct it, I
should learn to manipulate my organs of articulators such as tongue, lips, teeth and jaw .”
9. STRESS - the way in which sounds, syllables, and words are accented.
“I actually had a series of voice recordings. In my first voice recording, I just noticed that I didn’t
have any vocal stress, everything sounded the same, and the resulting message would be both
incomprehensible and emotionless. Through this, I just realized that without vocal stress, I would
sound like a robot. Improvement on vocal stress was achieved on my second, third and fourth
voice recording”.
This short inventory of my voice made me realize that voice is essential in communication since
it helps communicate what I think, feel, and say. It is the final filter that my thoughts go through
before someone else receives my message. I also realized that to be an effective speaker, I must
speak loud enough to be heard but not so loud as to shout. I also must be clear and distinct
enough to be understood and must be flexible enough to carry the greatest possible amount of
meaning.