Roland Millward

Archive for the ‘microphones’ Category

Just looking at microphone instills fear into some people!

I often ask people “What is it about microphones that you find so frightening?’

The answer is nearly always the same. They say that when they speak through a microphone they sound so different and they don’t like it. Why is that?

When we speak normally to others we are not hearing ourselves directly through our ears. Much of the sound from our vocal cords is travelling through the bones in our jaw and face up into our ears. Therefore what we are hearing is not the voice that others are listening to. The sound has been changed because it has travelled through bone as well as air.

The truth of the matter is when we hear ourselves through a sound system the sound coming back to our ears is pretty much as we really sound to others. To see this in action record your voice on a voice recorder or video and play it back to yourself. Your voice will sound different to what you are used to hearing. By recording yourself and listening back will prepare you for when you hear yourself over a public address system and it will not prove such a shock!

So please do not fear a microphone – it will not bite and it will be you that is speaking!

The correct use of microphones is covered in our 1 day intensive speaking course.

Roland Millward

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