Find Your Natural Volume
Forty ways to find your natural volume, so you are heard without shouting.
Too quiet loses people. Too loud tires them.
40 tips that really help
These ideas come from How to Be Heard (Julian Treasure), The Right to Speak (Patsy Rodenburg), and Quiet (Susan Cain), and everyday practice. Pick one tip and try it today.
Too quiet loses people
If listeners strain to hear you, they stop trying. A voice that is easy to hear is a kindness, and it makes you sound more sure. A voice that is easy to hear is a gift.
Ask a friend to sit across a room and listen to you read a few lines. Ask, ‘Can you hear me comfortably?’
Too loud pushes people away
A voice that is much louder than the room feels aggressive or tiring. The aim is ‘easy to hear’, not ‘everyone must hear’. Be easy to hear, not hard to bear.
Next time you talk with a small group, notice how people sit and look. If they lean back, bring your volume down a little.
Find your baseline
Your natural volume is the level you use when chatting with a friend across a table. It is your home base. Know your baseline, and adjust from there.
Chat with a friend at a table, and notice how your voice feels. Say a sentence a little softer, then a little louder, and compare.
Add ten percent in a group
In groups and rooms with noise, add a little extra volume and project forward. Small boosts make a big difference. A small boost helps you be heard in a group.
Next time you join a group, remember your baseline. Add a little breath and open your mouth a bit more.
Aim at the back of the room
Imagine your voice travelling to the furthest person. This mental aim often adjusts volume and support naturally. Send your voice to the back, and the whole room hears.
In your next group, choose a person at the far end. Look at them and imagine your words landing in their hands.
Support with breath
Volume comes from steady breath, not throat tension. Take a low breath and let it carry your words. Louder through breath, never through the throat.
Breathe in low, and say a sentence at your baseline. Say it again with a little more air, but with the same loose throat.
Open your mouth
A slightly more open mouth gives more sound without strain. Many quiet speakers speak through almost closed teeth. Open the door, and your voice walks out.
Stand in front of a mirror and say a sentence as you normally do. Say it again, dropping your jaw about a finger’s width.
Speak into the room
Face the people and lift your head. Speaking down at the floor sends your voice into the ground. Lift your head, and your voice flies out.
Hold your notes at chest height, not on the table. Glance down, take the next phrase, then lift your head and say it to the room.
Use a microphone wisely
With a mic, keep it near your mouth and speak at normal volume. Shouting into a mic distorts. Let the mic carry your voice, and speak naturally.
Hold the mic about a hand’s width below your chin, pointing at your mouth. Speak at normal volume and keep the distance steady.
Test the mic
Always test volume in the actual room. Ask someone to listen from the back. Test the sound where you will speak.
Arrive early and ask for a sound check. Speak a few sentences while a helper listens from the back.
Know the Lombard effect
When noise rises, people naturally speak louder, and then louder still. Notice it in restaurants, and use steady breath, not strain, to be heard. In noise, go closer and clearer, not louder.
Next time you are in a noisy place, notice if your voice rises without you choosing. Take a low breath, slow down, and shape your words clearly.
Move closer in noise
Standing closer to the person is better than shouting. Turn your face toward them so they can see your mouth. Step closer, face them, and speak clearly.
In your next noisy place, step closer to the person you are speaking to. Face them, so they can see your mouth.
Speak lower in quiet rooms
In a library or at a bedside, soften your volume and keep your clarity. Quiet does not mean mumble. Be quiet, but never muffled.
Practise a soft voice at home, with a loose jaw and low breath. Keep your consonants crisp, and move your lips fully.
Match the mood
A wedding toast, a classroom and a hospital room need different volumes. Read the setting. Match your voice to the room and the mood.
Before your next event, ask yourself what the mood is. Choose a volume that fits, and plan to adjust.
Do not let your voice fall away
Many voices lose power at the end of sentences. Keep your volume steady to the last word. Finish every sentence at the volume you began.
Take a low breath before a sentence. Say it, keeping the same volume to the last word.
Practise with a friend at distance
Stand at the far end of a room and say a sentence, then ask if they heard it. Calibrating by feedback works fast. Test your voice at distance with a friend.
Ask a friend to stand about ten metres away. Say a sentence, and ask if they heard. Adjust until they say yes.
Record in a room
Recordings at different distances reveal how you sound. Listen for clarity and ease. A recording at distance shows your real reach.
Place your phone two metres away and read a paragraph. Move it to the far side of the room and read again.
Use your torso, not your throat
Imagine your whole chest and belly as the speaker cabinet. Throat tension cuts power. Let your whole body ring, not just your throat.
Put a hand on your chest and count aloud, feeling the buzz. Relax your throat and imagine your chest as a big, open box.
Relax your shoulders
Tight shoulders squeeze the voice. Let them drop and the sound opens. Drop the shoulders, and the voice opens.
Lift your shoulders to your ears and hold for two seconds. Drop them and breathe out slowly.
Smile slightly
A gentle smile brightens tone and carries better. Dull tones need more volume to be heard. A slight smile makes a voice that carries.
Say ‘good morning’ three times with a flat face. Say it three times with a slight smile.
Use the "consonants carry" rule
Clear consonants help you be heard without extra loudness. Say the ends of words crisply. Crisp consonants carry further than loud vowels.
Say ‘cat, cap, can’ slowly with crisp end sounds. Say a sentence full of end consonants, such as ‘Take the next bus to the park’.
Speak slower, not louder
Often the key to being heard is a slower pace and clearer shape, not more volume. Try slowing down before turning up. Slow down before you turn up.
Next time someone says ‘pardon?’, do not raise your voice. Repeat the sentence at three quarters of your speed, with an open mouth.
Check your seating
In meetings, sit forward and face the group. Slumped back voices get lost. Sit forward and your voice goes forward.
Next time you sit in a meeting, move to the front half of your chair. Plant both feet and lengthen your spine.
Stand to be heard
Standing opens the lungs and projects the voice. In group calls, standing helps energy. Standing gives your voice room.
Before your next call, stand up with your feet hip width apart. Breathe low and smile as you speak.
Use eye contact to adjust
Watch faces. If people lean forward or squint, you are too quiet. If they lean back, you may be too loud. Watch the faces, and adjust your voice.
In your next talk, look at the faces every minute. If you see squinting or leaning in, add breath and open your mouth.
Ask kindly
‘Can everyone hear me at the back?’ is a good, confident question. People appreciate it. Ask if they can hear you, and then give them what they need.
Write ‘Can everyone hear me?’ at the top of your notes. Ask it warmly at the start, and wait for answers.
Never apologise for volume
If someone asks you to speak up, simply do so with a smile. No apology needed. Say ‘of course’, breathe, and speak up.
Practise one calm phrase: ‘Of course.’ Say it with a smile, and take a low breath before repeating your sentence.
Be gentle with a hoarse voice
If your voice is tired, use a microphone if possible, rest and hydrate. Do not push. A tired voice needs kindness, not force.
If your voice is hoarse, ask if you can use a microphone. Speak softly, drink water and avoid whispering.
Use hand gestures to emphasise
Gestures can add energy without raising volume. They signal key points. A clear gesture adds weight without volume.
Choose two key points in your next talk. Plan one clear gesture for each.
Use pauses for impact
A pause before a key point draws attention more than shouting. Use it. A pause can say what a shout cannot.
Pick the one key line in your talk. Before it, stop, breathe low, and count two.
Lower your pitch for authority
A calm, lower pitch at normal volume feels authoritative and is easier on the voice. Speak from a lower note. A lower, relaxed pitch carries calm authority.
Hum a comfortable low note for ten seconds. Say a sentence starting from that note, with a loose jaw.
Modulate on purpose
Vary volume: soft for intimacy, stronger for emphasis. Variety holds attention. Soft and strong, used on purpose, keep people listening.
Mark two places for soft and two for strong in your notes. Practise them aloud, staying close to your baseline.
Avoid constant loudness
Even a strong voice tires listeners if it never changes. Mix it up. Mix loud with quiet, and your voice stays alive.
Record a one-minute talk at a steady loud volume. Record it again, using soft, medium and strong sections.
Do not shout to a phone
Phones pick up quiet voices well. Speak clearly and calmly, close to the microphone. Speak calmly to the phone, and it will carry you.
On your next call, speak at your baseline, close to the mic. If the line is poor, slow down and say key words twice.
Check your headset
Test headset volume and position before video calls. A good mic setup removes strain. A good headset check saves your voice.
Ten minutes before a call, put on your headset and check the mic position. Speak at your baseline and watch the level meter.
Watch the background noise
Reduce noise sources so you do not need to raise your voice. Close the window or move rooms. Remove the noise, and you will not need to shout.
Before your next call, stand still and listen to the room for ten seconds. Remove or reduce any noise you can.
Learn from broadcasters
Radio voices are natural, clear and steady. Listen and notice how they sound. Natural, steady and clear is the broadcaster’s way.
Choose a host or podcaster whose voice you like. Listen for five minutes and note their volume, pace and pauses.
Celebrate being heard
When people respond to what you said without asking you to repeat, it is a win. Enjoy it. Notice the times you are heard, and enjoy them.
Keep a small note on your phone titled ‘Heard’. Each day, write one moment when you were heard first time.
Ask for feedback on volume
After a talk or meeting, ask one trusted person, ‘Was my volume right?’ Specific feedback calibrates you far faster than guessing. A clear question gets clear feedback.
Choose one person you trust who will be in your next talk. Ask them to watch your volume, and give you one comment afterwards.
Warm up your volume before you start
Say your first sentence once at full volume in a private spot, so your voice has already been ‘out’ before the real moment. It prevents the hesitant first line. Say your first line at full volume before you walk in.
Write your first sentence on a card. Ten minutes before you speak, say it aloud twice at the volume you will use.
Easy things to say
When you are stuck, pick one of these. They work in many everyday situations.
“Can everyone hear me?”
“Should I speak up?”
“Let me project a little more.”
“I am working on volume.”
“Thanks for telling me.”
“Thank you for hearing me.”
Your first week
One small action a day. Each day is only a little bigger than the last.
Test your volume in a room
Ask a friend to stand at the back
Record yourself
Speak to the far wall
Practise a medium voice
Adjust for noise
Review feedback
Further reading
- The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking (Dale Carnegie)
- Talk Like TED (Carmine Gallo)
- Made to Stick (Chip and Dan Heath)
The tips above are written in our own words and are general guidance. The books are suggestions for further reading.
More lessons in “Speaking Clearly”
Keep going. Small steps every day make a big change.
← Previous: Warm Up Your Voice in One MinuteNext: Vary Your Tone to Keep Attention →
- Slow Down by Ten Percent
- Speak From Your Belly, Not Your Throat
- The Magic of the Pause
- End Sentences Like You Mean Them
- Warm Up Your Voice in One Minute
- Find Your Natural Volume
- Vary Your Tone to Keep Attention
- Use Words a Ten-Year-Old Would Understand
- Short Sentences Sound Confident
- Cut Jargon and Filler Words
- Lead With Your Main Point
- Say One Idea at a Time
- Replace Vague Words With Exact Ones
- Read Your Words Out Loud First
- Open Your Mouth and Speak Clearly
- Stop Mumbling in Three Steps
- Pronounce Hard Words With Confidence
- Breathe at the Right Moments
- Speak Clearly on the Phone
- Speak Clearly on Video Calls
- Handle an Accent With Pride
- The Point, Reason, Example Formula
- The Rule of Three
- Start With Why It Matters
- Tell a Short Story Instead
- Use Numbers and Pictures Wisely
- Finish With One Clear Takeaway
- Answer a Question in Thirty Seconds
- Replace Um With a Silent Pause
- What to Do When You Lose Your Thought
- Recover From a Mistake Smoothly
- Stop Over-Explaining
- Stop Apologising Before You Speak
- Practise With a Voice Recorder
- Stay Clear When You Are Nervous
- Speak Clearly When Put on the Spot
- Explain Something Complicated Simply
- Speak Clearly in an Argument
- Speak Clearly to Someone Senior
- Your Daily Clarity Habit
