The other day, I overheard a conversation between the lady of the house and Little Bean, which ended with my daughter explaining that there was little she could do about the noise she was making since she has a “naturally loud voice!” She said this loudly.
I’ve been puzzling over this ever since, in particular the difference between conscious projection and naturally loud. I mean, kids are loud, right?
And yet, for whatever reason, if I walk into a room full of talking kids that includes mine, I can easily pick out her voice. This may have something to do with my own learned experience in recognizing the sound of her voice.
Then again, she could just be loud.
As it happens, there are genetic paths to a louder voice like larger vocal chords or bigger lungs. But knowing the family from which she comes, I suspect her ‘naturally loud voice’ is more of a learned skill than anything accidental.
I’ve been accused of having a loud voice myself, but that has nothing to do with vocal chords. People with hearing loss often speak louder to compensate for not hearing themselves clearly. And put me in a room with a lot of background noise, and I tend to just get louder without even realizing it.
So maybe it’s just a learned thing for her. Or maybe we’ve taught her enough about not being quiet, either literally or figuratively, in getting what she wants. Sometimes that requires raising her voice. I do want her to be heard.
At least she’s not shy!
Tomorrow, Chapter Eight of “Where There’s Smoke” will drop! We hope you’ve been enjoying this hiking memoir so far, with a new chapter coming out each Wednesday. Can you guess what Fire Tower we’re hiking to tomorrow based on this picture?
I love when young women make themselves heard! I hope she sticks with that, and that it's never knocked out of her in any way. I spent a lot of years trying to unlearn the need to be silent (my mother, a nurse, worked the night shift and slept during the day, so I had to be quiet while she slept). It took a number of years of voice lessons before I tapped into the natural strength of my own voice. Most of the folks I know with naturally loud voices come from large families where being loud is a survival technique. :)
I have been told I'm talking loudly so many times. I think for me, when I get excited (or agitated, or mad, or just emotional) my voice immediately begins to ramp up to "the neighborhood can hear" levels. I've tried to learn how to reduce the volume: I'll let you know if I ever find success! 😆