There are some vocal sounds that totally give people the wrong impression about you and apart
from that they can also be super annoying. One of them is this... "maybe the dingo ate your baby"
Yep it's a very common sound that people call a nasally voice. So if you've ever been told that
you have a nasal sound or a nasally voice then this video is for you. I'll be sharing with you
the reasons why people sound nasal when they speak and help you fix it in just a few steps.
So whether you sound nasal due to an actual breathing issue. [sneeze] Or you sound nasal
due to learning bad habits... "What is it my voice? Did I blow the deal?" Don't despair
because there are ways that you can fix this issue, let's get to it!
[Music]
Hi, I'm Eisa James professional voice coach and the founder of the voice of confidence public
speaker training course and i'm here to help you sound more confident on camera on stage
and in the boardroom. Today we're going to look at three things around nasality,
one is health issues that affect the way that we sound. Two is muscle habits that can be adjusted
and three are exercises to correct a nasal tone. Now first of all let's find out whether your
problem is actually a health problem or a vocal habit. Let's look at health issues first, if you
have a deviated septum it means that the bridge in the middle of the nose is actually crooked
and blocking one of the nasal passages and when you have this issue you can sound a little bit
more blocked up than normal this can be corrected by surgery but it may not work for some people.
I actually had this issue and had a horrendous surgery to correct it but unfortunately the
surgery didn't really help me much at all so I ended up fixing my breathing issues
holistically. Now other problems affecting breathing include allergy asthma and sinus issues
and this can be a huge problem for some people the best thing you can really do for your body and
your voice is to balance your health as much as you can so your immune system can heal the issues
naturally and as someone who's suffered from all of those very problems much of my life I can tell
you there is a way to fix them because I did and I know that you can too but that is for another
video. If you're interested in that please comment below and i will make sure I shoot a video telling
you exactly how I fix those issues using all natural remedies. Number two is bad muscle habits
here is a quick nasality test to see if you're actually using your nasal cavity unnecessarily
when you speak and the nasal sound is caused very simply from allowing the air to flow into the nose
for sounds that are actually meant to be oral not nasal. Let me give you an example
an R vowel is an oral sound not a nasal sound. The only three sounds in the english language that are
meant to use the nasal passage for airflow and vibration are these M, N and NG, the rest of the
sounds are actually oral so let's do a little test and see where you're going wrong. I want
you to place your hands gently on your nose don't block it gently on your nose and hum and "mmmmmm"
sound do you feel the air flowing into the nasal cavity and making your nose vibrate?
That's right because an M is actually a nasal sound but now let's add an R
to the end of the M sound like this "hhhuuummmrrrr"
If you're doing that correctly you'll feel the vibration in the nose for the M sound only then
the vibration will disappear on the open vowel R sound. That's if you're doing it correctly "It's
my voice damn" If you think that you feel and sound nasally all the way through both of those
sounds let's fix it now. Number three, exercises to correct a nasal sound. Step one, place your
hands on your nose and check the vibration we're going to vocalize the sound of an UM "NG"
Now feel the vibration in the nose and then we're going to quickly open the jaw and dip the tongue
down into an R sound but we're going to place an H at the front of the vowel like this. "hung NG, HAH
the second sound is hung the first sound is NG hung HAH the second sound is
HAH. Now we're blowing air out of the mouth on purpose on the vowel to make sure it's an oral
sound you can even hold your nose closed AH completely when you're making the vowel
so you cannot use the nose at all HA Let's try it a few times together HUNG HA HUNG HA
By now you should have much more conscious control
over whether the airflow is actually coming out of the mouth or the nose.
Remember awareness is the very first step towards change. Now that you have more awareness you can
start to read out loud and practice speaking with airflow coming out of the cavity that is meant to
come out of. Vowel sounds are oral and most of our sounds in the english language are oral.
Now you know that there are three sounds only that are actually meant to vibrate in the nose
M N and NG If you found that helpful today i know you will find tons of value in my other
videos on my channel as well so dive in go and watch and i'll see you on the next video, bye!