It cannot be denied that the voice as an emotional tool of the body has a significant importance in the life of all human beings, since we are made to express emotions that are the manifestation of what we feel and what we think. This is how, very often when we hear a person talking, we are generally able to interpret his state of mind, and even without expressing any sound we can sense that something positive or negative is happening in his life.
But did you know that various psychological studies have shown that you can identify various aspects of a person’s physical and emotional state, such as age, gender, appearance, even intelligence and personality, just by listening to his voice? Yes, as you are reading it, and we will explain why these statements are made.
Numerous studies such as those made by the renowned psychologist Michael McCallion show that every emotion has its voice, and on the other hand it has its own breathing pattern, because when each syllable is said, it is a unit in which certain muscles are used that in the end give the message that the transmitter transmits as a result with its proper tone, which reflects the emotions that are felt at the moment.
Likewise, psychologist María Soledad Cabrelles points out that “a healthy voice has versatility, sensitivity and purity of timbre, without signs of being forced or violated.” In this way, it is evident that a healthy voice, which is not affected by negative emotions, has clarity, vitality and strength.
In this sense, it is convenient to take care of our voice, and therefore take care of our emotions, because these are very powerful emotional tools of our body, so we will give you some effective techniques and tools when using your voice:
Your facial and body expression is always according to emotion that you are feeling at a particular moment: Obviously the body through facial and body expression helps with the expression of emotions, and therefore it will have an impact on the voice, so it is important to prepare yourself before speaking in public, warming up the muscles that intervene in oral expression, in addition to learning to breathe and relax by doing vocalization exercises through openings of the mouth and inflections in the voice.
In this context, we can affirm that human beings react through our feelings, emotions and even attitudes depending on the tone of voice which someone uses when talking to us; and of course, our tone of voice when addressing other people. Obviously, they will find different forms of expression not only in view of our proposals, but also in the way we do them; for a reason it is said that “it is not what you say, but how you say it”.
But, in this process of communicating messages and emotions, what do you think it is produced first, “the voice or emotions”? According to the criteria of some researchers who have asked that question, the process is carried out in a double direction, since the mind plays an active role in the way emotions occur. Therefore, if you think you are happy, you smile, and on the other hand, if you feel the physical sensation of smiling, it makes you think you are happy; so it is thought that the voice has the power to change our emotions; that is, it is an emotional tool of the body in certain situations of daily life.
On this aspect, Jean Julien Aucouturier conducted some research related to voice and emotions at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, with the aim of creating a computer program to electronically manipulate the emotional content of the voice to later ask 109 people to read a short story and record it to modify the tone of each person’s voice by using such program.
It should be noted that most people did not realize that their voices had been modified with the computer program, but they did notice that the voices of their mates were altered. In this way, the skin conductance tests confirmed that the participants felt according to the mood of their modified voice because the emotion that they felt when reading their story prevails. Therefore, there are enough reasons to recommend you to pay attention to your voice when speaking, since this has more important benefits that will help you to perform better.
It is important that you know that if you manage to recognize your own emotions through your voice, you will be able to protect yourself from dangerous situations and even protect other people. In addition, this ability to recognize your emotions through the voice works as a signal to know if you are thinking things well, or if you are not transmitting your ideas and / or knowledge properly.
Likewise, the voice is a reflection of the personality and security that you have in yourself and it can make others see attitudes and behaviours that are typical of your way of acting. For example, people who tell precise lies have a low tone of voice and a slower rhythm, because they are aware that they are lying; but if we are in the presence of habitual liars, let’s say professionals, they know they are lying and instinctively they raise their voice to generate more credibility in other people, even believe them themselves.
This is how a wide range of feelings can be distinguished; this is corroborated by the study carried out by Michael Kraus from Yale University, in the United States, who concluded that when it comes to detecting emotions, our sense of hearing can be even stronger than sight, giving significant importance to the voice as an emotional tool of the body, which acts as a more reliable guesser than gestures to detect emotions.
ALFA