Monotone reading voice.

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i recently, and rather painfully, became aware just HOW monotone my reading voice is. when i ahve to read out loud, it's so flat, deeper than usual, and its uncomfortable. it feels like, its hard for me to read, actually physically uncomfy as well as mentally. and my throat hurts after.
oh yeah and i always pause in the wrong spots, get the intonation wrong, and mispronounce words. i never have these problems in my head.

anyone else get this? why is it?

Yes, I do that as well at times. Although I used to do it 100% of the time. It's been explained to me that some people were read too as a child and as a result are excellent processing emotions along with words. Maybe just a coincidence, but it has been asked several times whether I was read too as a child. My answer is always no, and they always seem to have the response "well that makes sense". even though they don't say it.

Thing is now, I still have a problem injecting emotional expressions while reading aloud. But what I have noticed is that I am perfectly capable of giving a very dramatic interpretation of a chapter I have read two or three times before hand. Kinda like a rehearsal I guess.

I heard myself on an echoing phone the other day and i sounded awful

Yes, i do. I read to my kids and if it is too long, i sound horrible. Shorter stories i put more emotion into it.

I had to help my son get over this. He use to talk and read like this and i would model to him how it should sound. He does a lot better when talking and reading, but still not up to where his peers are. My daughter isn't reading yet and she already talks like this a lot.

my parents never really read to me as a kid. i wonde rif that's partially why?
i can sound emotional if yeah s someone said, it is rehearsed. also, i sound quite good in my head. XD

Yes, I have a very hard time reading out loud. It's very uncomfortable.

Everyone always points out how monotone I am, even when I'm not reading. They say I have the best Ben Stein impression, which I try to smile and laugh at, but I can't help but get a little upset over it. I'm a 23 year old female for crying out loud! I'm not supposed to sound like this!

I realized my voice was monotone and unusually deep (for a girl) back when I was a teenager watching home video. It was a bit unsettling, can't stand hearing a recording of my voice now.

same. its outgoing sometimes, but often quite monotone and deep when i am uncomfortable.

When I was producing radio commercials and absolutely HAD to use an outside voice for a part, whenever I got someone who read everything in a monotone (and its actually very common), I would encourage them to read the copy and imagine themselves in a television laundry detergent ad. Those always feature housewives and their families wildly over-emoting about how WONDERFUL and FABULOUS the product is, with WHITER WHITES and BRIGHTER COLORS!

Just inject a jolt of that into your reading and practice doing it for awhile. Of course, once you get the hang of it, you'll want to tune it back to a more realistic level, but its a good exercise. And smile while you read - believe it or not, your voice sounds different when you smile while you're speaking. You may not notice much difference, but (even subconsciously) listeners will.


Other tips for developing the speaking voice: Stand. You won't get as much resonance from the diaphragm if you're bent folded sitting down - cuts the flow of your breath in half.

Bring the sound up from your chest. If you can feel vibrations in your head while you talk, you're 'talking through your nose' - resonating your voice through your sinus cavities which will make it sound flat and tinny. That's the most common cause of 'Ben Stein' monotone (that and lack of inflection - see step one).


Don't mimic professional announcers, whatever you do! They're mostly hams who exaggerate enunciation to the point of 'puking'. Ideally, you want more smoothness than that. The tendency to flat inflection and monotone can work for you if you develop it right - give it a little soft rumble from the diaphragm, keep the volume low and don't forget to emote - you'll get a very throaty, sexy effect. This is true for both males and females.

Rotsa Ruck!

wow, informative reply! perhaps it was so hard because i always lean over due to being uncomfortable?

Every so often I have to edit audio that has my voice in it as well as other peoples, and I really don't like hearing my voice. It's frustrating because even as I'm speaking out loud my voice sounds more expressive in my head than it actually is. I sound boring and disinterested but know that in reality I am not. I also stumble over words I know I can read perfectly well, which irritates me quite a bit sometimes.