Today we acknowledge World Speech Day, celebrating the transformative power of speech-making to shape change, unite communities and build world citizenship.
From birthday toasts to graduation days; weddings to funerals; leaving parties to welcoming addresses, speeches are a ritual to mark momentous occasions. They bring audience and speaker together in thought and laughter, commemoration and motivation.
Voice is our primary means of communication (Zhang, 2016) and language is ‘the medium in and through which social life is talked into existence (Humă, Stokoe, and Sikveland, 2020).
We feel voice in the womb (Jauniaux, et al., 2022) and sound carries beyond the breath that made it, passing from particle to particle (Villaneuva-Rivera et al., 2011) and through memory across time as we recognise voices even without other cues (Kreiman and Sidtis, 2011).
Listening to the human voice creates stronger bonds than any artificially created acoustic (Kumar and Epley, 2021).
Here at the Voice Study Centre, we encourage our community to craft and present their thoughts, find their voice and help to shape the world. From kitchen table to theatre stage, research presentation to political rally, your voice matters.
What speech might you make today?
Henriques, J., Jauniaux, E., de Maisieres, A. T., Gelat, P. (2022). ‘Sound Before Birth: Foetal Hearing and the Auditory Environment of the Womb’, in Aural Diversity, Routledge. 1:27-41.
Humăa, B., Stokoe, E., and Sikveland, R. O. (2020). Putting persuasion (back) in its interactional context. Research in Psychology 2020, Vol. 17, No. 3, 357–371 https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2020.1725947© 2020 Taylor & Francis.
Kreiman, J., & Sidtis, D. (2011). Foundations of voice studies: An interdisciplinary approach to voice production and perception. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Kumar, E and Epley, N. (2021). It’s surprisingly nice to hear you: Misunderstanding the impact of communication media can lead to suboptimal choices of how to connect with others. Journal of Experimental Psychology. General, 150(3), 595–607.
Viallanueva-Rivera, Luis J., Pijanowski, Bryan C., Doucette, Jarrod, Pekin, Burak. (2011). A Primer of acoustic analysis for landscape ecologistsLandscape Ecol 26:1233–1246.
Zhang, Z. (2016) ‘Mechanics of human voice production and control’. Journal of Acoustical Society of America. 140(4), 2614.
Recent Posts
After The Session
After The Session: Pop Pedagogy - an Overview with Kim Chandler
Voice Study Centre
Wednesday 28th October 2026A recap of our recent session with Kim Chandler, broadcast live from a recording studio in Marbella, southern Spain. When a session singer, industry vocal coach and academic walks into one room, you get a very particular kind of masterclass. Kim brought all three hats to our latest short course, a two-hour "whistle-stop tour" of the 15 areas she believes a pop-specific vocal pedagogy should cover. Fittingly, she taught it from the very room where the vocals for Kung Fu Fighting in Kung Fu Panda 3 were recorded.
Read More...
Student Interviews
Negotiating Authenticity: Tre Cooper Explores Cross-Genre Singing and Stylistic Decision-Making
Voice Study Centre
Friday 23rd October 2026What does it mean for a singer to sound authentic when performing in a genre outside their usual style? And how can voice teachers help singers develop stylistic versatility without losing their individual artistic identity?
Read More...
After The Session
After The Session: Practical Magic*: The Art & Science of Balancing Voices with SOVTs and VFEs with Melanie Tapson
Voice Study Centre
Thursday 22nd October 2026What makes a vocal exercise effective? Is it the tool itself, the way we use it, or our understanding of what happens when we put it into practice? In Practical Magic: The Art & Science of Balancing Voices with SOVTs and VFEs, voice teacher and professional singer Melanie Tapson explored the science behind two widely used approaches to voice training: Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract Exercises (SOVTs) and Vocal Function Exercises (VFEs). Combining scientific explanations with practical demonstrations and interactive activities, the session examined how these techniques can support vocal efficiency, stamina and sustainable voice use.
Read More...