You know how they say that law students love hearing the sound of their own voice? Well as shocking as it may be to some people, I did not. At least not the actual sound of my voice.
Growing up, I used to compete in 4-H public speech contests. My parents and "coach" used to videotape us practicing to do a critique. I could take the critique, but I hated listening to myself. Is that really how I sound, I thought to myself. My voice on tape was so different from how I heard it in my head.
Funny how I did not like how I sounded but I used to do these public speaking competitions, be a lector at church, did the morning announcements over my high school PA system, and decided to become a lawyer.
This past week, I spoke on a panel that was podcasted. I had to make sure that the link worked before I sent the podcast out, but I did not really want to listen to myself. I did, however, and I was shocked. I did not hate the sound of my voice. Nor did I ramble on as much as I thought I did in my head. I know I need to cut down on my "ums" and sound less like a Valley Girl sometimes with my inflexion, but I am (I hope) my own worst critic.
3 comments:
For a long time, people don't like the sound of their own voice. Mostly it's because they're just not used to it. The same way that you're unaccustomed to seeing someone whom you normally see with glasses without them, it's just because you're not used to it. The sound of your voice is completely different when you hear it from some external source than from inside your own head (pretty much). I could be wrong about this point, but I'm pretty sure that this is one of the main reasons that singers in loud bands have a large amount of speakers pointed at themselves: so they can hear themselves (in their heightened volumes) through the speakers over the sound of their voice through their own head. It's actually a really interesting phenomenon.
PS How's about dinner in or around SJ, when you're around SF? Maybe we could meet you half-way in Mountain View? There's a great Mexican place Bill and I know. :D?
Err, maybe it's not exactly half-way... but this Mexican place is really amazing! :D
Oops, I didn't notice you responded to the first message.
Okay, sounds good. Sorry for spamming your blog... D:
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