Voice Therapy for Vocal Projection in Melbourne and Online
Learn evidence-based strategies to target vocal projection.
Are you always being told to speak up? Do you get fatigued when talking over background noise? Do you dread catching up with friends at a noisy bar because you know that your voice will suffer?
Voice projection is an essential vocal tool for your professional and personal life. If you struggle to project your voice, know that there are evidence-based strategies to target vocal projection.
Here are some key terms for voice projection: 🗣️
Amplitude: the size of the vibration and how wide the vocal folds open
Sound pressure level (SPL): the strength of vocal fold vibrations measured in decibels (dB)
What is Volume?
Simply, volume is how wide your voice vibrates. The larger the amplitude (width of the vocal fold movement), the more energy produced and the louder the sound will be.
In terms of sound pressure levels, a low volume has a low SPL, and a high volume has a high SPL.
What should my everyday speech volume look like?
The human voice is an amazing tool, and we have the capacity for a dynamic volume range.
Everyday speech 50-70 dB
Whisper 30 dB
Shouting 80-90 dB
If you’re looking for a team of voice therapists with both expertise and experience, look no further than the speech pathologists at Voice Science. When you complete a Voice Assessment, one of our skilled clinicians meticulously transcribes your vocal health, hygiene and function, meaning that your one-on-one voice therapy program will be specific to you.
Is voice projection just about volume and “being louder”?
The short answer is no!
The long answer is that vocal projection requires the effective coordination of airflow, phonation and resonance.
- Airflow: we need to take an active breath so that the body has adequate power to drive the voice. An increase in air pressure below the level of the vocal folds means that when the air is released, it has greater intensity and thereby volume.
- Phonation: To build up sufficient air pressure below the vocal folds, the vocal folds need to close completely. We call this vocal fold closure. Insufficient closure can lead to people developing counter-productive habits such as squeezing or pushing from the throat to achieve loudness. These muscular habits can lead to vocal fatigue.
- Resonance: the forward placement of your voice allows your voice to carry. Imagine your voice as a megaphone. If it is placed too far back in the mouth, the sound won’t carry, but if the voice is resonating at the front of the face, your vocal tone improves and can carry more effectively.
How will we work on voice projection?
We will target the three components of voice – breath, phonation and resonance. Your sessions will involve strategies for how to maximise your breath, achieve safe vocal fold closure and increase your forward resonance using exercises such as the hum.
All sessions are individualised and targeted towards your goals, so be prepared to complete drill tasks based on your concerns, e.g. projection across the room, projection with background cafe noise.
Where to begin if you want to improve your voice projection skills?
Let’s not sugar-coat it: it can be really hard to know where to start to improve our voice projection, especially when we want to keep our voices healthy! But don’t worry, that’s where we come in!
Here’s your first step, submit a Voice Therapy Query Form and we’ll guide you through which assessment or skill sessions you need. We care about tailoring everything to you as an individual!
Then it’s time to get excited for your one-on-one sessions with our experienced speech pathologists, and the start of improved voice projection!
References
- Colton, Raymond H., Leonard, Rebecca., & Casper, Janina K. (2011). Understanding voice problems: A physiological perspective for diagnosis and treatment (4th ed.). Philadelphia, Pa: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Science Direct.