My most long-term useful employer-paid training were a few days of voice/speaker training.
It made me feel more grounded when speaking and it changed the sound of my voice to the better. Also I became more aware of speech tempo and other aspects. The most valuable learning in the seminar was the concept and the practice of speaking on my "Eigenton".
Bing chatbot on Eigenton
"The Eigenton is a range of tones that are located in the lower third of your vocal range. It is the range in which you can speak most efficiently without straining your voice. It is not a single tone but rather a range of tones that are most comfortable for you to speak in. The Eigenton is important because it helps you to speak more naturally and with less strain on your voice. It also helps you to sound more confident and authoritative when speaking in public."
Sounding like oneself by speaking on one's Eigenton: why bother?
These are at least three important points:
Relax yourself and your dialogue partner
Transmission of tension: when one speaks outside of the Eigenton range, it implies unnecessary tension in voice and body. This is a physical tension that subconsciously transmits also to the listener. It makes people feel uncomfortable.
Improving communication between men and women (and everyone else)
Women and men use their voice in different ways:
Usually, men instinctively tend to speak lower than their Eigenton, as a way to amplify " maleness". The problem here can be also that lower male voices can be experienced as threatening by women. "Growling".
Women tend to speak too high, too girly, in order to amplify femininity. The problem: men can easily be overwhelmed by high-pitched female voices.
So, often men have to raise their Eigenton range, and women have to lower their range.
Doing so, if necessary, can affect a few life areas:
Status management
Speaking in a maximally relaxed voice increases your assigned social status. You appear to be unfazed by things, level-headed and emotionally balanced.
How to determine one´s Eigenton
There are a few ways how one can determine one´s Eigenton and improve one´s speaking habit:
Kinaesthetic experimentation
What feels best and most relaxed in the body when trying out to speak higher or lower?
Auditory experimentation
Record your own voice and replay at different pitch. The program "Audacity" and many others can help with this. When I did the training, the teacher brought a specialised box. Listen to which voice simulation of your own voice you like most.
Peer feedback
Get feedback on speech variants by as many people as possible: people have an uncanny ability to recognise whether someone speaks in their natural range.
Professional feedback
Take an hour of speaker training to get
professional feedback. This is probably the most efficient and most accurate way to get a precise idea of one's Eigenton.
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