Shadow
03-15-2012, 08:41 AM
If there were a "Saturday Night Live" skit that sums up Kevin Roberts' life, it would have to be The Loud Family (http://snltranscripts.jt.org/78/78floud.phtml).
"My family (http://www.debatepolicy.com/#) is full of loud talkers," says the 42-year-old author and educational consultant from Detroit. He jokes, "My mother sneezes so loudly that children in the neighborhood congregate around the house waiting for one.
"I do a lot of public speaking and don't use a microphone, even if I'm talking to 400 people. And whenever I get together with my brother, we're out of hand. Everybody shushes us. We just have booming voices."
Roberts' sister, on the other hand, has her volume set to low. My older sister compensates," he says. "She has a first grade subdued teacher voice. She's more of a soft talker."
While loud talkers and soft talkers may seem like the stuff of "Seinfeld," researchers have actually pinpointed why some of us are constantly shushed while others struggle to be heard.
"There are four different factors," says Dr. Amee Shah, director of the speech acoustics and perception laboratory at Cleveland State University. "There's a biological component, a pathological component, a personality component and a cultural component."
http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/14/10673717-loud-talkers-why-do-some-voices-seem-to-be-set-at-top-volume
Made me think of a girl I work with. Deep booming voice...that can make you jump sometimes if she is behind you when she starts talking. Makes me wonder if she has control of that or not.
"My family (http://www.debatepolicy.com/#) is full of loud talkers," says the 42-year-old author and educational consultant from Detroit. He jokes, "My mother sneezes so loudly that children in the neighborhood congregate around the house waiting for one.
"I do a lot of public speaking and don't use a microphone, even if I'm talking to 400 people. And whenever I get together with my brother, we're out of hand. Everybody shushes us. We just have booming voices."
Roberts' sister, on the other hand, has her volume set to low. My older sister compensates," he says. "She has a first grade subdued teacher voice. She's more of a soft talker."
While loud talkers and soft talkers may seem like the stuff of "Seinfeld," researchers have actually pinpointed why some of us are constantly shushed while others struggle to be heard.
"There are four different factors," says Dr. Amee Shah, director of the speech acoustics and perception laboratory at Cleveland State University. "There's a biological component, a pathological component, a personality component and a cultural component."
http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/14/10673717-loud-talkers-why-do-some-voices-seem-to-be-set-at-top-volume
Made me think of a girl I work with. Deep booming voice...that can make you jump sometimes if she is behind you when she starts talking. Makes me wonder if she has control of that or not.