Woman Physicist’s Speaking Guidelines Resonate with Readers

To Heidi Newberg’s advice on speaking, let me add a note on the need for intelligibility. With old age I have become more conscious of the voice quality and diction of speakers.

Until about World War II, college graduates usually had some training in public speaking and how to project the voice. With today’s public address systems, that is no longer deemed necessary. Unfortunately, too many speakers confuse loudness with intelligibility.

To increase intelligibility, voice control and pace are needed. If the room has echoes, one needs to speak even more slowly and distinctly. From my observations, most speakers tend to push their voices when addressing a large audience, even with a public address system. In doing so, the tendency is to use the head tones, which produces a harsher and more nasal voice quality. And as Newberg points out, women’s voices tend to be softer than men’s, so their head tones tend to be more prevalent. With a little care and a little practice, a speaker can learn to use chest tones, which not only provide greater power but also a more pleasing voice.