The Voice: Personal Branding Done Differently

The voice variable is one of the most misunderstood and misused factors in communication. When voice is discussed in public-speaking and voice-coaching workshops, it is often treated as merely a vehicle for words and a way to drape verbal content with “emotions”.

For this reason, modern voice-coaching typically focuses on elements like accent, rhythm, intonation and enunciation. Speakers also want to deliver their message effectively and make an impact on their audience. So, stress management and body language are also typically added to the mix in ways that are usually not really relevant to the voice itself. Every single aspect of this mainstream model of voice is not about the voice per se. In fact, it mainly focuses on the verbal and paraverbal contents carried by the voice, and how to ensure that those contents are delivered into the brains of the listeners, whose role in the process is implicitly assumed to stay passive.

But the real power of a voice lies in its timbre, which is what makes it unique and evocative. Timbre is very often neglected in voice coaching as it is typically (and conveniently) assumed to be unmodifiable. In fact, cultivating timbre can be a highly rewarding exercise, albeit one that requires guidance and dedication. Timbre is the main way of starting a conversation with other people on the instinctual, unconscious level, at which persuasive arguments and even emotions have limited effect, and where a significant portion of our decision-making processes take place. Timbre is the body language of the nervous system and therefore one’s main source of credibility because it reaches very deep into the listener’s brain and has a huge impact on how content is received and processed by one’s audience. The role of deep and subcortical brain structures in decision-making processes has been the object of extensive research by some of the most prominent neuroscientists of our age.

Moreover, the conventional approach ends up limiting voice - and its communicative power - to the more visible realms of conscious will and “emotions”, neglecting much of its instinctual and usually unconscious potential. Very few voice teachers are prepared to venture into the near- “animal” domain of timbre, the very stuff a voice is made of: its ingredients, texture, flavour and aftertaste. And yet timbre is precisely what makes a voice unique. Timbre is what distinguishes a trombone from a cello when they are playing exactly the same music in exactly the same way. Timbre is where the speaker’s psyche and nervous system leave their hallmark.

Timbre answers your listeners’ unconscious but ever-present question of who/what/how the speaker is deep inside and how they usually approach things. Timbre is the product of the tissues and areas of the speaker’s inner body that are available for the function of vibration, and to what extent and in what manner. Are your body tissues being forced into vibrating? Are they willingly contributing to the vibratory field? Are they being flogged into action or are they spontaneously enriching your voice? Even if you enunciate (and/)or intone properly, and your voice never falters, this information cannot be altered or concealed. Timbre reveals to others information the way we usually treat ourselves. And it helps others make unconscious predictions as to how we might behave when interacting with them. Timbre, and, more generally, voice (when timbre is included in the picture) are the body language of your nervous system and inner organs. And this particular form of body language cannot lie.

Research has shown that the quality of a speaker’s audio— i.e. the timbre of their voice—has a significant impact on how their credibility and the quality of their content are perceived. In a 2018 study by Newman and Schwarz, a group of scientists was asked to evaluate the credibility of fellow researchers presenting their findings, as well as the quality of the research itself. The presentations were recorded and then shown to two separate groups of fellow scientists who acted as evaluators. Both groups experienced identical content, accents, speaking speed, presentation skills, and body language. The only difference was the quality of the audio signal, which was deliberately degraded for one group.

The results were striking: evaluators exposed to the degraded audio perceived the presenters as less credible and trustworthy, and their research as lower in quality. This highlights the importance of timbre—the unique signature of a person’s voice. Timbre reflects a speaker’s internal posture, the level of tension in their muscles, ligaments, and mucous membranes, as well as the configuration of these elements.

Listeners subconsciously absorb this subtle form of "body language" and the information it conveys, often without even realizing it. This is because our hearing is essentially a haptic sense. When we hear a sound, our ears literally “feel” the marks and grooves left by its source in the surrounding air. Hearing a voice is akin to touching an intangible plaster-cast of the body that made that sound. When we listen to somebody, we are, like the blind, on a tactile tour of the speaker’s inner body. Deep down inside we simply know what it takes to sound like that person, as the mirror neurons in our supplementary motor area, somatosensory and motor cortex can instantly recreate the type of inner configuration required to sound the way that our speaker sounds.

When we hear a voice, we are forming a very clear impression of who the speaker really is and what type of interaction he or she is having with his/her own body. Are they real and authentic? Do they mean it or are they pretending? Is there something artificial to their voice? How excited, relaxed, afraid or stable is their nervous system while they are addressing you? On a purely perceptual level, are their inner organs being “massaged” by vibration or pressed hard to keep the phonatory system running? How “credible” are they to the deep layers of your brain? Are they really as self-assured as they appear? If you find this idea somewhat far-fetched, consider the practice of shaking hands.

By simply touching someone while shaking hands, and by feeling their handshake, your brain can make instant judgments as to the type of person they are. As to whether or not you can trust them. As to whether or not you would buy a used car from them. As explained above, the auditory system relies on haptics to detect pressure variations in the surrounding air. So, a comparison between auditory and tactile experiences is fully justified: when you listen to a voice, your nervous system is shaking hands with the speaker, - only in a deeper, more complex and subconscious way.

The way you sound has a significant impact on how others perceive you and assess your credibility. Your timbre tells your listeners how valuable and authentic you are. It is therefore a powerful asset for personal branding.

There are clearly more than enough reasons for you to want to work on your voice, especially if you do so in a way that respects its true nature and thereby helps to ensure you sound genuine, rather than fake or artificial. 

Reach out if you want to learn more on how the Applied Physiology of the Voice (the Lichtenberger® Institut method) can help you achieve this.

© Andrea Caniato 2022-2024