Acquire: Is This Thing On?

Of all the skills that we need in order to improve our voices, the ability to hear ourselves accurately is the most elusive.

It's not that there is an issue with our hearing. Our hearing is just not optimized for self-awareness. It can be exceptionally good at helping us process the sounds of the outside world so perhaps we should give it a break on its weaker spots. More information on hearing and the voice here.

So rather than assume that what you hear is the absolute truth, for good or ill, I'd like you to acquire a habit. Record yourself. Daily. Often.

Recording yourself is an attainable self-assessment tool as many of us carry a smartphone with decent recording power. After you get past the cringe-inducing lack of recognition, it will help you both identify characteristics in your voice and help you build a better auditory library for how you sound. Try it and let me know what you think.

Gina Razón is the principal voice specialist at GROW Voice LLC, a full-service voice and speech studio in Boston’s Back Bay. She has over 16 years of experience both as a teacher of voice and speech, and a voraciously curious voice user. Gina has worked professionally as a classical singer for over a decade and more recently as a professional public speaker. For more information on the studio or to book Gina visit www.growvoice.com.