how do i improve my voice /adv/? and stop being so self-conscious?

If anyone has ideas, I'd also like some way to accomplish this. It'd be awesome if I were able to at least pretend to sing, but the way that I currently butcher everything is actually too embarrassing for me to even do it jokingly in front of people. The social pressure is mounting, and I'm trying to play nice with others instead of hiding whenever people want me to do something I'm not 100% comfortable with.

>>16961279
See a speech therapist.

>>16961279
When speaking, do you get a good lungful of air, or are you OK with going half empty? Experiment with using more air each time you speak. Could you do a vocaroo as an example of how you sound?

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>>16961279
Record your own voice when you speak, sing out loud or do weird "character" voices until you don't cringe anymore. That may make you less hateful against your own voice (maybe) and more accepting towards it. I've done it and I think it have worked in some way.

It also helps just getting more confident in yourself and to know who you really are, if you know what i mean.

Maybe you care too much what other people think about you anon.

>>16961279
We are our own worst critics, and you are probably judging yourself too harshly. This is also likely why you notice your voice sounds different in public versus being alone at home, as people tend to put on a sort of different performing role when around others, almost like being an actor or actress.

Do you feel that your occupation or hobbies encourage you to modify your self-concept when around other people? For instance, when I am addressing an audience as a public speaker, I tend to be more candid and less meticulous when communicating so I can go for the gusto and a Wow factor, whereas around my family members (who are definitely not shy or uptight people), I take on a vocabulary and articulation style that is much more choosy. When I am just talking to my dog at home alone, I make little to no effort to speak quite right, but that is mostly due to me acting silly for her and my entertainment.

>>16961314
Singing and speaking are two different talents, to be sure. If you have some favorite songs, practice practice practice! It does help if you record your efforts and listen to them to see where you are lacking. Anyone with a working voice box can sing, but it does take applied practice and a developed listening ability for whether or not you are doing things right. Regardless of whether you have a low-pitched voice or high-pitched, if you can focus your attention on honing your voice modulation to get the right notes, you can sound at least OK. It might help to practice with a musical instrument that does not require your mouth and sing along with the notes you play, not necessarily getting to the level of ability where you can play and sing at the same time, but rather exploring accurately tuned strings or keyboard keys and how they compare with the pitch you are achieving with your voice. Then, it is a matter of maintaining the ability to hit that pitch when you are singing without the accompaniment of the instrument. It's good that you are exploring yourself!

>>16961279
>i don't even laugh in public.. really just awkwardly smile when something is funny
As a woman, I have a weirdly deep pitched sneeze or cough unless I consciously adjust the attack of the air, so I make sure to take evasive action when I feel one coming on. Usually, my coughs and sneezes come out signalling far worse wheezy health than I am actually experiencing, but at least I don't sound like a man. Laughter is a harder beast to tame, but I am sure your laugh is not as off-putting as you seem to think. Mentioning my modulation of my coughs and sneezes, I would recommend that you DO NOT try to change your laugh. A laugh that sounds fake is worse than no laugh at all. Your communication of jovial delight by a smile is an interesting example of substituting expressive or body language for spoken language. Both are equally valid forms of expressing yourself, though silent communication is often harder for other people to pick up on. If you can't find a good compromise with your voice, it seems like you could be on a good track to communicating non-verbally, but I would still encourage you to explore your audible options first.

>rhotacism
A think a slight mispronunciation of the spoken "R" is a cute thing <3

>>16961279
stop thinking so much about it.

try thinking about how you're breathing, or how you use the spoon to put food in your mouth. you'll notice it starts to get weird, that is the problem in itself.

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I would like to see this thread stay alive. Posting as a neophyte speech therapist, so please make some more questions anons! I love thinking about this sort of thing.

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For those of you unfamiliar with the human respiratory system and how it interacts with the voice, it might be interesting to know a little more about it. When you breathe in air through your nose or mouth, it travels down your pharynx and typically passes through your glottis into your larynx, then into your trachea, then into your bronchae which carry it to your lungs where the oxygen in the inhaled air enriches the alveoli which in turn refreshes the blood moving through the capillaries of the alveoli, allowing your body to keep on keeping on. What we are interested in for this thread is what happens in the larynx, also known as the voice box, which appears in people with high testosterone production as the Adam's Apple.

>>16965240

I can't seem to talk and walk at the same time. I have to walk really slow or else every word I say is an utter struggle. I don't heave or pant when I walk though. Still, I can't seem to talk while walking I always run out of of breath and my head feels light.

>>16961279
That girl is soul crushingly gorgeous. Jesus fuck

I'm not OP, but I fucking hate my voice and I get people saying I'm super hard to understand constantly.

No matter how much I try to anunciate and slow down, people don't understand the first time and often more a god portion of the time.

I don't have a lisp I don't think. I don't get it. It hurts my self confidence a lot and it's already pretty low to begin with.

Help?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Esjrpw9T0c

The glottis is the V-shaped folds of cartilage that you can see the throat of this participant. A person's voice is shaped by the vibrations of the glottis, though it is not something that most people have to think too hard about when speaking the average sentence, however, for those interested in changing their voice, knowing more about the parts you are working with can help. Your voice can change over time due to the effect of hormones produced by your body (which is why males, typically testosterone factories, experience an enlarged larynx) or from outside influences such as chronic smoking or bacterial infection, bot which can result in scarring of the tissue. Your voice can also be modulated with practice. This is how people can affect funny voices or sing in different styles. Using more air of less air when speaking can cause your glottis to vibrate in different ways, and involving different mouth shapes utilizing your lips and tongue can totally reshape the sound of your voice. Notice the vocalist in the video taking new breath between each utterance.

>>16966063
Do you feel that you have any learning disabilities? The way the human brain is wired can be very complicated, and nerves that serve to move your arms and legs can hog that neural juice usually reserved for other functions such as talking or breathing adequately.

>>16966082
Do you have issues with your hearing? Your ability to hear can actually affect your ability to speak. Do people give any particular criticism about your speaking ability? If you are taking the time to slow down and speak clearly, I feel that it may be something to do with your own perception. Do you feel it may have to do with a regional accent? You seem to be taking steps to address the issue, which is good!

I used to be that way as well. Over the past year or two I've just been talking to myself or singing (quietly of course) around the house in the tone of voice I want my voice to around like trying to sing higher and lower to expand my range.

Don't ask me for scientific crap but It feels like I've stretched my vocals chords to the point where I can speak in the tone of voice I've wanted in a much smoother way by just getting my voice box (or whatever) used to it. Now I announce all of the sports games and pep rallies at my High school and will be doing so at my college next year.

Like I said, just practice your voice whenever you fell comfortable doing so trying to expand your range of normal talking or sing voice and it'll stretch your chords so your voice is smoother.

>>16966157
Nope, no hearing issues and no accent

Yeah, I naturally mumble and talk fast but I've been consciously slowing down a lot..people still have trouble understanding me though.

Sometimes it feels like my tongue's too big for my mouth and my throat kind of closes up and I can't speak very well, I don't really know what that is but that's what it feels like

I can make a vocaroo if anyone wants to help? I'm pretty desperate at this point honestly

>>16966072
your standards are shit anon. That girl is like a 4/10 at best.

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To allow yourself to speak with more air which can affect the volume and the timbre (pronounced "tamber," the tonal quality) of your voice, it is important to get a good lungful of air before speaking. The part responsible for inhalation is the diaphragm, a muscular fold that lives underneath your lungs. When you flex your diaphragm by breathing in (the process of inspiration), you cause your lungs to be drawn down and expand with air that is pulled in through your nose or mouth. When you relax your diaphragm by breathing out (expiration), your lungs deflate and the air is forced out of them. By breathing in a lot of air, you give yourself a lot of the resource necessary for speech.

>>16966185
I would be very interested in hearing a vocaroo sample!

>>16966161
Anyone can benefit from practicing their vocal ability, for sure. Even if you aren't a singer or public speaker, see just what you can do! Creating a warm-up routine to use before something as basic as daily conversation is also helpful.

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When we produce consonants, a constriction is made somewhere in the mouth, either by stopping the air stream entirely, for example with our lips when saying "P" or with our tongues when saying "T," or by leaving a very narrow gap which makes the air hiss as it passes, for example with our lips and teeth when saying "F" or with our tongues when saying "S."

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We also use our vocal-folds to differentiate consonants. When we bring our vocal folds close together, the stream of air makes them vibrate, which sounds like a hum, however, when they are apart, they do not vibrate. You can feel this difference by putting your finger on your Adam's Apple when you say "ssss" and "zzzz" - can you feel how "zzzz" is voiced and "ssss" is not voiced? When we produce vowels, we change the shape of our mouths by moving our tongues, lips and jaw.

The different shapes of the vocal tract act as different acoustic filters, altering the hum produced by the vocal cords in different ways. For example, we move our tongues to the front of our mouths and make our lips wide to make an "ie" sound, and we move our tongues to the back of our mouths and make our lips round to make an "oe" sound. For an "aaa" sound, we move our tongue to the bottom of our mouth, lower the jaw and open our lips wide. The sounds "M" and "N" are made by moving the stream of air through the nose to create nasal sounds.

>>16966240
http://vocaroo.com/i/s0eWYbhVMlcA

Is this okay?

>>16966380
I can understand your speech fine. Nothing was hard for me to pick out, and I do not know what other people's difficulty could be in understanding you. Perhaps if you read something with a greater variation of vocal sounds such as "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country" or "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog," it might reveal something this sample was missing. At this moment though, all I can advise is to drink plenty of clear water to keep your speaking parts well hydrated and ready for action.