Speech delivery is one of among the many factors that should be considered by a promising speaker. There are some important features of the voice that are considered as essential in an effective speech delivery. These are some features of voice quality that needs to be developed by aspiring speakers.
In delivering a speech, it is an important factor to have an effective speaking voice. An effective speaking voice may be summed up under six categories. These are the audibility, the pleasantness, the variety, animation and clarity.
The good speaking voice has its audibility. The words uttered by the speaker should
be clearly heard. Since loud sounds or voices might be irritating to hear, it is not necessary that the voice of the speaker is very much loud. The speaker must know how to adjust the volume as well as the force of his or her voice. He or she must consider the audience as well as the coverage of the place such as the size of the hall in modulating his or her voice.The speaker should also have a pleasant voice. Pleasant voices are considered as those voices that are variable in rate or in force, follow an accepted pattern, articulation as well as pronunciation. Furthermore, a pleasant voice is not raspy, shrill, breathy or
nasal.An effective speaking voice also has variety; meaning, it fluctuates in its rate, in its pitch, in its quality, and in its volume as the speaker shifts the ideas, purpose or attitudes.
An effective speaking voice can also be animated by the change on the voice’s rate and force. The voice when animated can produce liveliness to the delivery of the speech.
An effective speaking voice also has its fluency; speaking with fluency means delivering a smooth flow of words. The fluency in speaking may be affected by nervousness, the faulty breathing or other thing such as poor speech preparation.
An effective speaking voice also has clarity. It means that the speaker’s voice or the words he or she uttered are clear enough or easy to be understood by the listeners or the audience. Clarity in speaking may be developed through constant practice in the articulation of the vowel and the consonant sounds.
The audibility, pleasantness, variety, animation and quality of the voice need to be developed; in order to produce an effective speaking voice that could influence the audience or listeners impression.