Is Mumbling Damaging Your Personal Brand
Mumbling is a common vocal problem and relatively easy to change!.
By JULIETTE JENNER
Mumbling usually consists of a combination of factors such as jaw tension, low volume, poor audibility and low vocal energy. This can result in the speaker being dismissed as low-confidence or lacking credibility, a sure way to undermine the importance of your communication. See if any of the following apply to you:
- People often ask me to repeat myself
- My mouth hardly opens when I speak
- I have a lot of jaw tension
- I drop the endings of my words (“and” becomes “an”)
- The ending of my sentences trail off…
- I speak very softly or tend to rush.
“Mumbling is economy speech, robbed of its power, clarity and sparkle. To combat it you need to put more energy, effort and care into making the sounds of speech that make up language”
TIPS for correcting mumbling:
Mumbling is economy speech, robbed of its power, clarity and sparkle.
To combat it you need to put more energy, effort and care into making the sounds of speech that make up language. Here are some simple ways to stop mumbling and start speaking!
- Breathe! Take a good, deep breath before you speak. Breath is fuel for a strong voice. So this automatically slows you down and gives you the fuel to articulate clearly.
- Keep breathing! Give yourself enough breath to finish your sentences and carry the ideas through, instead rushing or trailing off as you run out of steam.
- Loosen your jaw by gently opening your mouth as wide as you can and then releasing it, letting your jaw flop closed.
- Practise opening your mouth when you speak and forming each sound clearly. Use the following tongues twisters. Start by exaggerating the sounds to really exercise your vocal muscles.
“Unique New York, New York Unique”
“How Now Brown Cow”
“Around the rugged rock, the ragged rascal ran”
- Make sure you hit those word endings such as “d’s” and “k’s”. It will immediately raise your credibility!
