Voice Too Loud/Quiet?
Last night I had to chair a meeting. Luckily it was only 4 people who I know reasonably well, but in spite of my best efforts I still found myself stuck in "voice too quiet" mode. It's as if one part of my brain tells me not to speak while another tells me I've got to, so the executive part solves the dilemma by compromising....I speak on the threshold of audibility.
I think this kind of thing could be sorted out with a bit of intense coaching. Or is the "don't speak" conviction too strong to be practised away? I can't tell whether it's low confidence, Pavlovian conditioning (years of "seen and not heard" schooling), or what....all I know is that it pulls me back as if it thinks it's a matter of life and death. It's not as if my voice is out of practice - I've no problem singing as loud as a foghorn, as long as I know I'm expected to, at a performance. I guess it was difficult to do the chairing job partly because I had to listen to people and work out whether to try to move to the next item by holding the "big picture" in mind, which is a classic Aspie problem. It would be nice to learn my way out of this weakness.....I'm sure I wouldn't think much of a chair who was barely audible.
From a sincere standpoint, often some people think I'm mumbling cause my voice is not that loud though, I do my best to understand people and try not to make that many mistakes when it comes to interpretation of communication and all.Personally, I'd say at times I'm more than likely to sound like some character from a movie or tv show at times.
These days, social conventions can be difficult in terms of speech yet, when encountering such obstacles I don't let it overwhelm me as, it once did in past times..
I'm a tossup most of the time. I either mumble and people can't hear me or I'm talking too lound and I'm told to quiet down. I think it has to do with confidence and knowing what I'm talking about. I will frequently have to repeat myself for people and they for me (I don't have an actual hearing problem, but I think it's more paying attention and knowing someone's talking to you.
Happens to me all the time. When I write an e-mail or something, I tend to write these big long paragraphs and then the other person would come back with a sentence or two. In a literary sense, the term we're lacking is called "lean prose".
ayra
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: 21 Feb 2008
Age: 33
Gender: Female
Posts: 177
Location: My invented world, ie Kalia (kuh-lee-uh) or just stuck in Texas rollercoaster weather
I get told I'm mumbling a lot too. It frustrates me because to me I sound perfectly audible most of the time, so how am I supposed to know when I'm not speaking at an adequate volume or speed?
I am the same way! I hear myself perfectly fine, but everyone else says I am mumbling. It's quite annoying, as I feel like I have to yell for them to hear me.
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I'm not crazy, err, not yet. I'm just on the wrong planet!
My cat is the only one lately to try and distract me from this world.
Interesting that there are so many people with this same problem. I have always been told I'm quiet and it kind of pisses me off because if I have something relevant to say I'll say it. I can't understand it because in my head my voice sounds normal. I've also had people say I speak too quickly. So, too quiet and too quick makes for a lot of problems for people. i just thought I was weird... now to know that it's all part of the spectrum helps. I have to consciously try to slow down and speak louder.
I have a friend who says the only time she can hear me is when I'm inappropriate.
It depends. The other week when I was speaking to a man I have a crush on, I found I was speaking too quietly because he kept not quite catching what I was saying, and normally he's a pretty good listener and hears pretty well. I just kept mumbling. It was probably because I felt shy, because we exchanged Christmas cards and I felt a bit embarrassed (but in a nice way).
On the other hand, I can speak too loudly in the wrong context (which is mostly what I do ). I speak too quietly when I should be free to speak louder, and I speak too loudly when I'm somewhere where I should lower my voice a bit. My friend is a very paranoid person, and she doesn't like talking loud in her front room, just in case her next door neighbour hears, even if we're not talking about anything private. But I usually forget and I stand there in the front room almost talking at the top of my voice (without meaning to), and she often starts flapping and points to the wall, which is a non-verbal warning which I know means, ''sshhhh - next door!'' It's annoying really, I mean, as if her neighbour (who works full time) stands there with her ear to the wall listening out for everything my friend does all day. But, everybody has their quirks, so I just let her be paranoid.
This is where self-hatred feelings come into play. I absolutely loathe being told to shhh, and when I do I can't help but feel uncomfortable and embarrassed afterwards. When I was younger I used to shout out inappropriate things in the street, not literally shout but just say it like I didn't care, sort of thing. Like once I mentioned my private bit but the ruder word for it when I was out in public like I didn't care (even though there was nobody around), and my auntie looked at my mum and said, ''ohh....'' and my mum said, ''I know - she doesn't care if anybody hears'', and I was like, ''yeah, I know I don't.'' I would care now.
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Female
My normal, 'real', voice is a quiet mumble and when I talk at length I ramble and my voice gets more 'blurred'. I often make syllables and ends of sentences inaudible. I sometimes realise that people around me have just tuned out from what I'm saying but are probably too polite to tell me.
I paid for some voice coaching, which helped a little, although I have to think about the techniques as I do them.
However, I can imitate accents and do characters, and then my voice can be strong and clear as a bell, especially if I'm reading out from a book. It's just not my 'real' voice...
I'm always too quiet for people, the amount of times I've been promised loudspeakers I find it difficult to control my volume without it affecting how I come across emotionally. So when I am just trying to be loud enough it comes across as aggressive which gets pointed out to me causing me to actually become angrier.
I mumble and sound monotono most of the time, i also talk extremely quiet cause i just don't like loud noises so why would i make them myself but i probably just can't talk loud enough except if i'm mad because my voice just doesn't have the power and energy to be loud if i don't wanna be tired on the ground 3 minutes later. i talk to myself all the time which i then do quietly so maybe that makes it less likely for me to talk loud.
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Who's to say I can't live forever? Jack Sparrow
Aspie score: 182-200
Don't know what to say.
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