FOR SURE.

HAVE YOU ever heard how your voice sounds to others? If not, go to a corner of the room. Face closely into the corner, cup your ears and speak a few words. That stranger you hear talking is you.

It is this voice which has been labelling you in people's minds. It labels you every time you meet someone at a party, greet a new customer, express an opinion at a meeting or talk on the telephone.

Is it a voice that gives warmth and assurance, that helps you make the right impression?

There is no one who cannot make his or her voice more appealing. In acting as voice counsellor to thousands of people, I have found five major vocal shortcomings. To check up on them in yourself, ask yourself these questions:

"Is my speech slurred rather than clear?"

Do people frequently misunderstand you or ask you to repeat? Say this sentence aloud several times:"Leaves, frost�crisped, break from the trees and fall." If it makes you feel a little tongue-tied you are probably lip lazy. Vowels are easy to say, but we get power and clarity into our speech with consonants. To pronounce these properly you must use the tongue, lips and teeth energetically.

A father asked me to help his 19-year-old daughter, whose speech was listless and mumbling. She was moody and unhappy. I encouraged her to spend 30 minutes each day in front of a mirror energetically repeating the alphabet, and five minutes whistling. Whistling is a good corrective for lip laziness. Within two months people began noticing a change in her.

If you need to make your enunciation clearer, practice talking like Gary Cooper, through clenched teeth. This makes you work your tongue and lips harder. With teeth closed tightly, read aloud, slowly at first, then rapidly. Repeat such phrases as, "He thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb." You'll find you have to exert more power in your breath, and your speech will be more energetic.

"Is my voice harsh rather than agreeable?"

Shrill, grating or brassy voices stem from tension in the throat and jaw. Foreigners often comment on the harsh voices of American women. (Tension shows up more in a woman's voice.)

To relax your throat muscles, slump forward in your chair. Let your head drop, your jaw sag and your arms flop. Slowly and gently roll your head in a circle. Continue circling three minutes. Then yawn a few times, opening your mouth wide and then say such words as "clock," "squaw," "gong," "claw."

For at least a few minutes every day concentrate on talking slowly and gently to people--as if talking to a baby or a puppy. Gradually, gentleness will pervade all your talk.

"Is my voice weak?"

Your diaphragm, the band of muscle a few inches above your midriff, is the bellows that blows fire into your speech and adds oomph to your personality. If your diaphragm is weak you probably have a thin, uncertain, shy voice. People don't pay much attention when you talk.

A young research expert with a wispy voice said to me, "In a group I rarely get a chance to finish a sentence. Someone always butts in." I put my hand on his diaphragm and asked him to say loudly, "Boomlay, boomlay, boomlay, boom!" His diaphragm muscle barely fluttered. A well-developed diaphragm will really bounce when you say "boom."

To give him a vigorous diaphragm I prescribed boxing lessons and daily "deep-breathing walks." I also told him to lie on the floor breathing deeply, with a heavy book on his diaphragm. Then to shout several times, "Hay! he! ha! hi! ho! who!" Then to sit up, inhale and blow out through a tiny hole formed by pursed lips.

After these exercises he was to pick up a newspaper and see how long he could read aloud with one breath. As his diaphragm strengthened he was able to read for 15, and later 20, seconds in one breath (25 is excellent).

But it is breath control, not mere lung capacity, that gives you an outstanding voice. To check your breath control, hold a lighted candle four inches from your mouth and say, "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers." If you blow out the flame you have poor breath control.

Whispering aloud is an excellent way to develop breath control and voice power. Have a friend stand across the room, then whisper loudly to him. As soon as he can hear you clearly, have him move into another room, and then go as far away as your whisper can reach him.

"Is my voice flat rather than colourful?"

Many persons talk in a droning, boring monotone. A prim New England woman with a cold, listless voice came to me. I asked her if she knew anyone who got a big kick out of life. She said, "Yes, the Italian who helps with our gardening." She envied his exuberance. To help bring warmth to her voice, I suggested she spend a few hours each week working along with him. I also instructed her to laugh out loud, up and down the musical scale-- first using "ho," then "ha," "he " and "hoo." She was to do it slowly at first and then faster and faster. In two months her voice took on warmth and feeling.

A widespread cause of flatness is "talking through the nose" in a twangy manner, a common quality in American speech. To check for this defect, hold your nose and say "meaning." Notice how strangely muffled it sounds. Feel the vibration. That is because the sounds, "m," "n," and "ng" (and only those three basic sounds) are resonated mainly in the nose. Say, "Father Manning." You should feel vibration in your nose only when you say "Manning." If any other letters sound muffled, you are probably nasal in your speech.

To stop talking through your nose and add richness to your voice, use your mouth, throat and chest. The farther you open your mouth, the richer, fuller and lower your tones will be. Try saying "olive" by opening your lips only slightly. Now repeat it while really opening your mouth and see the difference. To add vibrancy to your voice, hum your favourite songs at odd moments every day.

"Is my voice high-pitched?"

You cannot actually "lower" your voice, but you can increase the use of your lower register by practising sounds that can be resonated in the chest, such as, "Alone, alone, all alone. Alone, alone on a wide, wide sea."

Say, "Hello, how are you?" The first time, put your hand on your forehead and pitch your voice toward your hand. Now put your hand on your chest and low-pitch your words to the chest. Notice the greater depth and richness? You also can develop the warm lower tones of your voice by breathing more deeply as you talk and striving to speak softly, even when under stress.

A few general suggestions:Join in group singing. Read aloud classics such as the Bible. This will challenge and improve your articulation and rhythm. After a month or so of regular practice, your new way of speaking will begin to be automatic. When you sound better you can't help feeling better, and you will not only enjoy increased self-respect but people will look at you in a new way(#).