Voice Tips

For job seekers and college applicants, winter is a season of interviews. Among these people, there are many like Yoo who worry about their shaking voice. What should you do to speak confidently in an interview that can determine your life path?

?0 to 80 percent of the general public experiences their voice shaking in particular circumstances,?said Professor Nam Do-hyun of the Institute of Logopedics & Phoniatrics at Yongdong Severance Hospital. 밇ven though your voice shakes more than others, you can overcome it by doing some everyday exercises.?

Identifying the Reason-

Why does your voice shake in front of other people as opposed to when you speak during ordinary times? Experts say unstable breathing due to tension or anxiety is the reason.

If you feel too much tension or excitement, your heartbeat quickens, your heart pounds and your breathing becomes faster. Voice sounds are made with breathing as its driving force. When your breathing becomes irregular, your voice also becomes unstable, making you nervous, speechless and mumble-prone.

First Step: Control Your Mind-

You can make some preliminary drills in your mind. This is a favorite mind control method for golfers and baseball players. You imagine and associate some images of things to come one by one. For instance, if you are about to make a very important presentation, you can imagine in advance yourself walking through the conference room, saying hello, standing before the podium and making the speech.

It is also good to visit in advance the venue where you are supposed to speak to the public or express yourself. This time, put yourself in the audience뭩 shoes and replay all the images you have just imagined as if you are watching a movie. From the perspective of a third party, you revisit what your image is like and what image of yourself will give people confidence in you.

Second Step: Conduct Mock Exercises-

Abdominal respiration is good for relaxing your body and breathing stably. If you have trouble doing abdominal respiration, inhale deeply and exhale slowly several times. In this process, you make suggestions to yourself that you 밼eel at ease.?

If your jaw comes forward when you speak, your voice becomes hoarse and heavy. Pull your jaw as backwards as possible and make sure your ears are kept in line with your shoulders.

If your voice feels fast, urgent or high-pitched, you look overly excited, making your counterpart nervous. To prevent this, you should relax your voice-related muscles such as jaw, tongue and lips. To relax your tongue, lips and vocal cords, you can try quivering your tongue and lips by making the sound of 밄rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr?to make your tongue and lips quiver accordingly.

You can repeatedly practice saying vowel sounds, making sure to open your mouth wide enough. It helps correct a murmuring, unconfident voice. Holding wooden chopsticks in your mouth and reading aloud helps you make accurate and clear pronunciations and prevents your voice from shaking.

You should practice your speaking in your daily life. The best thing to do is read a short writing sample like a poem for about five minutes a day. In doing so, you need to put your emotions aside as if you are making a real presentation. You should breathe regularly and pronounce accurately and slowly. Spending at least thirty minutes a day for a week, you will feel a change immediately.

likeday@donga.com