It is forbidden to knot dead coyotes' paws
Did you ever stroke a voice on the phone? A dark voice, like warm earth. With a timbre? somehow rough, quiet, harsh. It touches the ear like a breeze, causing goose bumps. The stranger hangs up and leaves the question: Who is behind this tingling swing?
The voice is an audio book of the personality
An acoustic identity that can conjure up all the moods with a snippet. There is a reason that sounding through in Latin means per sonars. Joyful voices beat somersaults, swinging the scale up and down. Sounds of joy are clear and loud. Sad voices speak muffled, mumble and swallow syllables, lyres in a pitch, grave voices. Angry voices precisely cut through each syllable, fencing, cutting a hard "cut-off". "Come heeeer", on the other hand, a voice in negligee lures, enveloped in an imaginary scent of perfume. Marilyn Monroe's voice hugged musk, "Happy Birthday, Mr. President." Each syllable from the red pout tenderly breathed sex.
The voice is as emotionally colored as our facial expression
Words can lie, tone of voice, tone of voice, loudness express feelings. The acoustics and facial expressions also dance close together. A friendly smile enchants audibly, even if it is not visible. Is a friend on the phone, we already recognize the "hello", whether she is good or in a bad mood, only the sound. When we talk to her, we even adapt to the speed, pitch and volume. When we sit opposite her, we unconsciously imitate her expression. Like the facial expressions, the voice is a wire to the other, emotional glue. Brain researchers assume that similar neural networks are active in the brain, regardless of whether we try to interpret a person's facial expression or voice. With the voice, we gently feel our way into the world of others, feel at home, acoustically reflect their emotions.
From the first cry in this world, we respond to voices. But the voice melody of the mother calms down. She emphasizes syllables unusually, like at the end of a word, drives roller coaster, turns loops, flutes, coo and twitter. Sounds pretty silly. That's how we talk to pets. And with men. A singsong that existed before the language, my anthropologist. "Haaaa-lloooo, liiiiebliiiing, I'm back daaaa"? Neanderthal couples probably greeted each other with this buzzing tone of voice. And in the most fertile phase of the cycle, female voices sound the most attractive.
The voice is our business card
Our effect on others, our charisma, depends to 40 percent on her. Nevertheless, we estimate it low. We trim our abdominals, shape our hair, pluck our eyebrows, but we do nothing for our voice. On the contrary. We ruin them because we breathe badly, take a bad posture, talk hoarse in air-conditioned rooms. Who takes notes important? It's just hot air. Only two octaves, with which up to 325 sounds can be produced. But a single wrong tone can destroy even the most beautiful appearance.
Granted, not everyone can style their voices to be phone sex-ready. Because the way the voice sounds depends a lot on which wood we are carved from: body, muscles, larynx, vocal cords, throat, nose, diaphragm. The voice is not an organ, it is the audible result of a perfect coordination of different organs with initially completely different tasks. 50 muscles work on her, sometimes quite unexpectedly: "The buttocks squish and two talents to brace," betrayed Tenor Enrico Caruso his trick to the high C out to press. Depending on how we breathe and how much pressure we apply to the vocal cords, the voice gets the drive. Then she rattles, clatters, creaks. Or rejoices like a queen of the night.
The voice creates memories
"Ohhhh, yeah, uhhh, that's good, jajajajaja," Meg Ryan moans in "Harry and Sally." There are unforgotten sounds that can be called up mentally at any time: Meg Ryan's most famous fake orgasm in film history, the dark croak of Louis Armstrong, the grater of Marianne Faithfull, the friendly objectivity of the announcer in the local S-Bahn, Susi Müller from " Herzblatt "? red velvet in the ether.
Quietscheentchen are allowed to wrap up, in bed and at work. If you speak deeply, you're more likely to be the career ladder. Alpha animals have dark voices, courtiers comparatively bright. Toads croak very deep to attract more females. And, let's be honest: Do we really want the family doctor to pre-chick our cholesterol levels? Or a flaring shrill Verona field bush voice gives us instructions for the landing approach on the plane?
In the course of the emancipation women have stopped the Kieksen.Since the 40s of the last century, the little girl's voice is no longer in demand. Since then, the female voice has dropped by an average of 23 hertz, as recorded by radio hostesses. Today we tend to modulate in the lower part of our vocal possibilities. That? Mmmmmhhhhh? after consuming your favorite chocolate is exactly in the lower octave of your own vocal range. In this voice, it speaks the most relaxed. Voice coaches help to find exactly this so-called indifferent situation.
The voice can be specifically changed by training
But it also changes in the course of life. From the menopause the voice stumbles down the stairs in women. The reason for this is the changed hormone mix in the body. The larynx reacts to the increased male sex hormones, the fundamental frequency of the voice becomes deeper, more mature. OK then. In any case, we no longer need tempting tirades in this stage of life. With the dark tones, we catch the alpha toads themselves. They squeak happily. Compensatory justice. Because with the years, the dwindling muscles in the larynx male voice can be higher. But also the vocal cords are, in both sexes, stiffer over time, inelastic. Hundreds to a thousand times a second they swing against each other, in women up to a million times a day, in men half a million times rubbing in the draft like curtains at the open window. This leaves audible traces and has sparked a trend: vocal lift. Cosmetic surgeons are now, matching wrinkle-free faces, young voices back. With implants that are planted in the neck, they tighten the vocal cords in the front of the neck, tightening them again as if they were pulling a new string. However, one singer in the USA misses every sound since then, she is already litigating.
It's easier to keep your voice fit regularly. By strengthening the abdominal, chest and shoulder muscles, relaxation of the jaw, improving posture and proper breathing technique. And through humming, singing and speaking exercises: "It is forbidden to knot dead coyotes' paws." Sounds nonsensical, but has just the right deep vibration to, regularly and firmly spoken, train the larynx and conjure up an incomparable sound. Sounds pretty damn good, right?
Train the voice
In pathological voice and speech disorders such as chronic hoarseness help speech therapists; The costs of treatment are borne by the doctor when they are ordered by the doctor. Information and addresses from the German Association of Speech Therapists under www.dbl-ev.de. Voice trainers correct incorrect speech and breathing techniques and train the voice in individual and group training. Cost between 80 and 180 euros per hour. Some have good results after just 10 to 15 hours, others need half a year of weekly training. Information and addresses at the German Society for Speech Science and Speech Education. Special singing education training to keep the voice performing for life has been developed by Professor Elisabeth Bengtson-Opitz of the Hamburg University of Music and Drama. More information in her book "Anti-Aging for the Voice" (140 pages, 18 Euro, Timon Verlag 2008) and at www.anti-aging-fuer-die-stimme.de. To read more: "Women speak differently, men also What the voice reveals about our true feelings" by Anne Karpf (478 pages, 8.95 euros, Lübbe 2008).
