"How do I keep my voice from shaking?” Why your voice shakes when speaking in public, and what you can do about it
For people with public speaking anxiety, a shaky voice can be hard to hide. fortunately, there are tools to help.
Researchers know a lot about what causes a shaky voice. Using the right tools to prepare before speaking, as well as managing your stress, can help you steady your speech.
People with public speaking anxiety often experience symptoms like a fluttering heart or sweaty hands. For many, public speaking anxiety can also involve a shaky voice!
Professionals at all stages of their careers can experience a fear of public speaking. It’s hard not to feel self-conscious when standing in front of a crowd. Will your audience notice you sweat? Will you look less professional if your hands shake? What if you forget what you’re trying to say? Feeling off-kilter can contribute to your shaky voice. Not feeling like your normal self is common in a speaking scenario, where the rush of adrenaline and nerves makes your hands shake and your heart flutter.
Why does your voice shake in the first place?
The human vocal cords (or vocal folds) are the folds of tissue sitting on top of your windpipe. You can’t feel them from outside (they’re hidden behind your Adam’s apple, contained inside your voice box, or larynx), but they help us do everything from speaking and breathing to consuming food. Unlike in previous years, researchers now understand that the human vocal cords are ‘folds’ of muscle and tissue - not cords as previously thought.
We might not be string instruments, but our vocal folds are complex pieces of machinery. When they aren’t being used for public speaking, your vocal folds stop you from inhaling the water you drink or choking on food. They also protect your airway, which is why you cough when there’s something irritating your throat. Herein lies the problem: your vocal folds are designed to protect your airway and you. Like the ‘fight or flight’ response we get when we encounter a stressful situation, your vocal folds can react to stress and tighten when you don’t want them to - causing a tight, squeaky, or shaky voice.
How to stop your voice from shaking: the science
Just like opera singers whose voices can get shakier as they age, inconsistencies in muscle tone around your vocal cords lead to more wobble in your voice. Relaxing vocal muscles (so you’re not squeezing or straining them) is especially important for preventing a shaky, squeaky, or tight voice. Experts at the University of Pittsburgh suggest stress can lead to tightening of the muscles that control the voice box, something researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia have supported.
“Your voice quality is partly nature – the shape of the resonators (your larynx, pharynx and soft palate), and partly nurture – specific habits you’ve learned from family and the world around you. But voices are more flexible than fixed as there are so many moving parts.”
- Caroline Goyder, Find Your Voice
How to stop your voice from shaking: the tools
1) Vocal warm-ups
In her Ted talk on the voice, speech language pathologist Jackie Gartner-Schmidt suggests a ‘spooky’’ speaking warmup to loosen the muscles. Holding your index finger parallel to your mouth (like you’re going to shush someone), exhale steadily while making a ‘woooOOOOooo’ noise like you’re imitating a ghost. Doing this 5-10 times before speaking relaxes your vocal folds, helping you keep your air flow and voice stable. This helps you speak with a strong, clear voice.
2) Gentle massage
Speech-language pathologists also use laryngeal massage. Just like tight muscles in your body, you can relax tight muscles in your throat with techniques like massages or heat. They recommend a 2-3 minute massage of the larynx and hyoid bone. This helps ease tension and get your voice ready for speaking. Anecdotally, many people also use warm drinks (like a cup of tea) to loosen and relax the muscles powering your voice - the same way you would use a hot compress on a sore muscle.
3) Somatic release
Another tool commonly used by professionals is audible somatic release techniques. Somatic therapy focuses on the way stress manifests itself in the body. Audible releases include making vibrations in the vocal folds with sounds like ‘ommm’ ‘voooo’ or deep exhales on a ‘haaa’ sound.
Of course, practice helps too! Like any aspect of targeting anxiety around public speaking, learning to loosen up and stop the wobbles in your voice is a skill you can improve over time.. Joining a group workshop or participating in one-on-one sessions to develop your public speaking self-confidence are great ways to learn this skill and start speaking up!
Footnote: a vocal cord Case Study
One way to think about the impact of stress on your voice is by understanding the muscle behaviours behind it. Spasmodic dysphonia is a medical condition related to a shaky voice that can be directly caused by stress, such as the loss of a loved one or an accident. Although it’s different from the voice shaking associated with public speaking anxiety, it can help you understand what stress is doing to the muscles in your throat.
In spasmodic dysphonia, the elastic structures of the vocal cords tighten and spasm. This interferes with the normal vibrations associated with speaking and makes the voice shaky or strained (like pulling the strings too tight on a guitar, or trying to play it while the strings jitter and shake). In the case of spasmodic dysphonia, a common treatment is Botox injections into these muscles, which halts the link between your muscles and your brain, making them unable to contract. By literally forcing these muscles to relax, Botox can temporarily stop the spasms the way it stops your forehead from wrinkling when you frown. Of course, Botox isn’t necessary for public speaking (nor is it recommended!). However, it does highlight what’s going on in your voice box during the physiological process of stress. Stress = tightness. Tightness = shake.