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Voice Training website. ">Nothing is more frustrating than having your message interrupted by others or being talked over as you speak. The impact of not being heard or of not being taken seriously can certainly have negative effects on your self-esteem. Given enough of this treatment and your confidence could be at an all-time low. You may even believe that what you have to say is not important when, in fact, that is not the case. If you find that others talk over you or interrupt your sentences, there are a number of possibilities to consider. 1. If you speak too softly, those listening to you cannot hear you. And, if they ask you to repeat yourself often enough, they will take over the conversation. Those of us who speak with a normal volume of sound, tire of asking you to repeat yourself. We also tire of straining to hear you. 2. If you speak with a heavy accent, you are not being understood. Again, your listeners will often ask you to repeat yourself or to speak more slowly. If you are being asked to repeat yourself a lot, others will stop listening. Your goal is not to eliminate your accent but to improve your diction. 3. If you speak too quickly, you are leaving your listeners ‘in the dust.’ To struggle to keep up with someone who is talking at a 100 miles per hour is frustrating. Add an accent to the mixture and your listeners are nowhere to be found. 4. If you speak too slowly, you will get interrupted because you are trying the patience of your listeners. Normal rate of speech is anywhere between 140 and 180 words per minute. If you dawdle at around 100 words per minute, you are giving your listeners the time (and the inclination) to go grab a coffee. 5. If you pause too often, others will take the conversation away from you. My mother-in-law is a perfect example. She pauses so long in the midst of her sentences that you often wonder if she is finished. Again, do not try the patience of your listeners. [There are a few people who interrupt everyone so this is not really a reason because your friends, family and colleagues will not all fall into that category. In that sense, we all know someone who rudely interrupts us and it has nothing to do with our volume, speed, or diction.] Your goal in speaking is to communicate with others. If you are being talked over or interrupted when speaking, then you are not communicating. You can eliminate the problem, however, with voice training. When you learn to power your voice from your chest cavity, you will find that your speed and volume will normalize and your diction will be clearer. You will be understood the 1st time you say it! The Voice Lady, Nancy Daniels, offers private, corporate and group workshops in voice and presentation skills as well as the Voicing It! the only video training on voice improvement. If you would like to see a wonderful improvement in volume control and diction, watch Mohammad's ‘before & after’ video clip at Nancy's Voice Training website.
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