Outer voice
It's hard to listen to myself
When I listened to my stoa session, I started cringing a bit. My inner voice speaks non-accented English and is much deeper. I was aware that I was nervous, but I didn’t realize that I was going “umm” repeatedly, 1-2 times a sentence.
I checked in with some friends, who thought it sounded rather normal. Peter said not to worry, that I was being harsh on myself, and that I’m sounding “Swedish”.1 Accents have some benefits,2 and I guess I just need to get used to mine.
When researching the difference between my “inner” depth of voice vs my “outer” depth of voice, I stumbled upon this article, which states:
When you hear your voice on a recording, it commonly sounds higher in pitch than it does in your own head. This is because when speaking, the bones and muscle tissues in your head and face increase the prominence of low-end frequencies, making your voice sound deeper to your own ears.
Today I learned…
So, what to do?
I’ve decided to embrace and accept my Swedish accent. I have also decided to work a bit on improving the clarity of my speech. I’ve done a lot of practice when it comes to the words I use and how I choose to approach topics; it’s a shame if that work is partially spoiled by pronunciation issues.
I want to start improving by adding more pronunciation feedback to my life. An easy step is to make more voice messages and listen to them directly after I’ve sent them. This will hopefully help me iron out some of the “umm:s”, as well as some other unclarities.
I also want to improve my presentation-giving. Next time, I will prepare by grounding myself, going into a relational headspace rather than a performative one. I’ll do a small cacao ceremony, talk to a friend, or engage in some metta meditation.
Let’s see where this ends up, radio voice next? :D
Something like this:
Sounding exotic if you know what I mean ;)