Speak with Confidence

Chapter 17Vocal Variety

Thanks to my social media feed, I recently came across the following humorous reviews for instructors on “Rate My Professor”:

“Bring a pillow to the class, so when you lose consciousness, your head won't slam on your desk, and bring a pillow for your pillow because your pillow will fall asleep, too.”

“Boring but I learned there are 137 tiles on the ceiling.”

“I don't wear my seat belt driving to school because I want to die before I make it to this class.”

Can you relate to any of these? We've all had teachers like those, ones who drone on and on. We describe them as dull, dry, or uninteresting, but the best description is monotone. Maybe they're saying different words, but they all sound (tone) the same (mono). It doesn't matter if that sound is high or low, fast or slow, loud or quiet, it will sound monotonous if there isn't any variety.

Here's why vocal variety is crucial. In every waking moment, your brain is bombarded by a massive amount of stimulation and information, so it has to sort between the irrelevant (such as the sound of the traffic) and the vital (a car swerving in your direction). It does this by filtering out things that stay the same and focusing on things that change. We are wired to ignore the monotonous. This is why you will so quickly adapt to an obnoxious smell in your house—or a droning speech. Your brain is literally trying to save your life by pushing boring or repetitive stimulus into the background.

We are wired to ignore ...