Speak to Communicate: eye and voice synchrony

Leave a Comment / Global Communication, Speaking Performance / By Linden Thorp, the Enlightened Copywriter

My Background and motivation

I have been teaching Speak to Communicate: eye and voice synchrony skills for the last 30 years at the university level. My students were usually non-native performers of English so I evolved many strategies and techniques to guide and encourage them to communicate with an audience. It’s amazing what observations I can now make about native speaker performers after working with these students with virtually no communication skills.  Incidentally, I live and work in Japan. Presently, I teach and coach speakers exclusively online using the many approaches and experiments I drew on in face-to-face classrooms. 

In a series of articles on Speaking Performance which will lead to a book, I share my approach so that students and teachers—educators, trainers and coaches—can benefit from my insights. I started my career as a performing musician and became fascinated by the rigour and mindset required to perform (see more about me here). A skilled performer is a hybrid human who can manage and control his/her anatomy and physiology superbly. They may be singing, dancing, acting, playing an instrument or speaking.   

 

 

Contents: Speak to Communicate

In this first article ‘Speak to Communicate; Eye and Voice Synchrony,’ I will explain the connection between the eyes (eye contact) and the voice when speaking to an audience. The topics I will cover are:

• • what is eye contact: why so important?

• • how does the eye work in synchrony with the voice? 

• • listening to your voice: language fluency

• • your message: is it loud and clear?

• • speaking naturally: being human and communicating

 

 

Eye contact: why so important?

This is a huge topic including social behaviour and pragmatic communication which is not appropriate here. Suffice it to say,

Eye contact leads to meaningful connections because we like when people give us their visual attention

according to Valerie Cantella. Eye contact initiates the secretion of two happiness hormones: dopamine and oxytocin. British social psychologist Dr Michael Argyle found that Westerners and Europeans tend to hold eye contact an average of 61% of the time, 41% while talking, and 75% while listening. There are many books about the topic now and body language in general, especially since the pandemic.

It’s important to note, however, that most of the statistics available on eye contact refer to the West. In the East, eye contact is not always culturally appropriate, especially in Japan. Here in Japan, people read the air when communicating and privacy is key, so openness doesn’t come easily, especially with strangers. Teaching spoken communication in Japan for the last 20 years has been my greatest challenge as a communication teacher. Here eye contact is not at all natural. In fact, mothers rearing their children are quite strict about curbing it as it’s not regarded as polite.

 

 

 

Starting from scratch when you speak to communicate

As you can see from the photos above, eye contact is often avoided giving the general impression that Japanese are shy and modest. However, I can assure you they are not always. It seems that they have never openly communicated before when they start to learn to do so in English style. This is due to a number of things, one of them being the conspiracy of a National Consciousness—everybody understands each other without the necessity of words. They are all persuaded to be the same as others around them and not to stand out in a group. In addition, they are highly competitive and so afraid of criticism if they do stand out.

So, working to prepare to give a short presentation means starting from scratch. They have to learn to make genuine eye contact while they are speaking. But this presents a huge problem because of a deep fear that they will not remember their memorised script. In fact, fear is often the main thing they express in their eyes in an English context.

Memorising what you are going to say verbatim will never produce a good, interesting communicative performance. It doesn’t allow for adapting to the speaking situation and often sounds robotic. Your eye movements are probably occupied with memorizing something written so look upwards to an imaginary notebook. Also, losing your place on the page can seriously disrupt the flow and fluency of what you are saying.

 

 

How does the eye work in synchrony with the voice

 

One of the first things I teach speaking students is to read aloud communicatively to an audience. This means a change in posture—their spine is straight, their head is upright and their face is visible. This posture change immediately makes a difference to the sound of the voice because the larynx—also known as the vocal cords—is not constricted. They also should hold up their book closer to their eyes being careful not to cover their mouths. 

The easiest way to test if your eye and voice are synchronized is to read something aloud from a text. Then read it while communicating with your eyes to someone else, or your mirror reflection if you are alone. Immediately you will hear a difference in the tone and pitch of your voice if you use your eyes.

This has an added benefit. By lifting the eyes away from the text briefly, you are memorising small chunks of language to say them to the object of your communication aided by your eyes. Then you look down at the text and memorise the next chunk, and keep repeating this procedure. Most students find this remarkably easy and are astounded that they can actually look away from the text instead of being locked to it.

This simple technique initiates an awareness about the eyes and the voice which can be built on with other techniques. 

 

 

Allowing vocal emotion when you speak to communicate

 

The next stage is to allow emotion into your voice. Anger is a fun emotion to work with especially in cultures that frown upon public displays of anger. To avoid memorisation, you can count or say the alphabet or months of the year or even your address in an angry way. Students enjoy this and it shows them what the range of their voice really is (usually about 2 octaves).

Voice teachers call this embodying the voice. Unless students have done any voice training or acting work, their voice follows the patterns of everyday speech and performing to an audience requires different patterns and qualities in the voice. I’ll be talking in more detail about embodying the voice in a future article.

 

Listening to your own voice

Listening to your own voice is another step. When you are trying to recall a written text you have memorised, you do not have any processing space left to listen. So, I record student’s voices and ask them to listen: they are always very surprised at how they sound. We can then work to improve, deepen, or lighten their voice so they are more satisfied with its quality and volume.

 

 

Videos are the craze nowadays, but it really helps if you just listen to an audio track without visual distraction. There are many points to look out for:

• • How often do you breathe?

• • Do you take in a lot of breath?

• • Do you pronounce the ends of words clearly?

• • How about your speech speed? Is it varied enough?

• • Are you using different registers, e.g. joyful, serious, concerned, etc.?

• • Do you hesitate? If so, why?

• • Are you speaking fluently, ie. smoothly and at a natural speed?

I encourage voice recording as a way of both practising the speech matter and learning to listen to yourself as the audience will. Everyone has a mobile phone with a voice recorder these days, so it’s easily done.

 

 

Is your message to your audience clear?

Your message is crucial to your performance. If it’s not clear, then you will be confused and lacking in motivation. A clear goal for your speaking will also boost your confidence and allow you to actually know what you are saying.

Many performers spend a long time writing a script for their performance, word for word. But this will not help you for 3 reasons: 

1. 1. Written English is not remotely like spoken English
   2. You have no choice but to memorise it.
   3. Using a script will never allow you to communicate naturally.

Therefore, it is advisable to make a mindmap of your ideas, find the right words to convey them and become aware of your keywords and the key points you will make.  In a spoken performance of 3 minutes, you might make 4 or 5 points after your introduction and before your conclusion.

All presentations in English have an introduction and a conclusion so it’s wise to memorise a few sentences to introduce:

• • yourself – name, status (department, rank, etc.)

• • your topic – in broad terms and then the detailed area you intend to talk about

• • your timing – is your talk short, medium length, lengthy, etc.

• • questions: invite audience members to either interrupt you while you are talking or wait until the end.

For conclusions, you should mention:

• • your topic again

• • wishes for audience enjoyment of your talk

• • give your thanks for their attention

• • invite questions

In a future article, I will look in detail at how to make a small memo to use while you are speaking and how to use it effectively. In the meantime, you may find the following video useful.

 

Speaking naturally when you speak to communicate

 

 

It is perhaps unnatural to perform but the word ‘performance’ has become so important in the business world and competitive job race. There are times in our lives when we have to stand up alone and speak. Nowhere in the world is it more difficult to coach students to take this challenge up than Japan?  Often performers have to put themselves under great stress to see a performance through. But the important motivation to grasp is that all human beings are unique and as a result have fascinating and unusual views of the world. 

Audience members are truly interested in what you have to say if your topic is attractive to them and thoughtfully prepared and expressed. We are all valid members of our societies and communities, and, more importantly, we all have something to learn from every unique view of the world we encounter. Therefore, your performance stands to touch members of your audience and perhaps inspire them or take a different viewpoint.

A good attitude to develop is one of sharing your view of something with a group of friends or admirers. This needs a good level of self-esteem and self-belief. During the preparation, practice and performance of a speech or presentation, I believe there is much to learn about oneself. It’s a challenge and a chance not to be missed.

Article 2: ‘From memorization to Keyword Memo: how to transition.’

 

Linden Thorp teaches/coaches professional English online. If you would like to know more about one-to-one coaching or Presentations from Scratch, please visit the homepage of: https://flourishrealworld.com