If your voice goes off the rails when you speak in public, it could be due to brain activations caused by stress, reveals a new American study.
Glossophobia or fear of public speaking is a phenomenon that affects many people. If the degree of anxiety obviously varies from one individual to another, on a global scale, 75% of the population would dread speaking in public. But for people who really panic, this phobia is accompanied by many debilitating symptoms such as cluttering, the feeling that one has frogs in the throat, excessive sweating or even nausea. According to American researchers, in such situations, voice problems are due to brain activation caused by stress. The results of their study were published in the journal Brain Imaging and Behavior.
Maria Dietrich, language specialist at the University of Missouri (USA), used the often used Trait Theory of Voice Disorders to understand functional disorders of the voice. She and her team asked young women to prepare a five-minute speech explaining why they were the best candidates for the job. This served as a stress factor as participants had to read sentences without ever being asked to declaim their speech.
The researchers then collected saliva samples to study the stress hormone cortisol before the test and then about 50 minutes after. During the study, the participants had to answer a series of questions about their emotional state. Meanwhile, the researchers studied their brains using MRI to analyze their brain activity and see how it impacted speech with and without stressful speech preparation.
“The most introverted are more likely to have stress-related reactions when they talk”
Result: the researchers observed differences in the brain activities induced by speech-related stress. Participants who had the highest cortisol levels also had brain activity that impacted the larynx region. They also had lower extraversion scores. Thus, brain activities induced by stress could lead to vocal problems such as muscle tension dysphonia, a disorder resulting from excessive or altered muscle tension in and around the voice box changing the sound or perception of the voice. .
“For many, speaking in public can be a stressful situation (…) We know that stress can trigger physiological changes such as muscle tension and that this can impact our speech. These new findings will help researchers better understand the relationship between stress and voice control and will allow us to pinpoint the brain activations that impact voices in order to identify better treatments for these disorders,” says Dietrich.
“Our findings fit with theories that vocal characteristics are linked to personality,” she continues. And to clarify: “Those who are more introverted are more likely to have stress-related reactions when they speak and their brain registers this stress, which could impact the control of their voice”.
Sophrology or CBT to help anxious people
If you’re one of those people, the researcher has some advice for you. First, don’t panic if the audience doesn’t smile or laugh at your jokes. Just because people don’t react doesn’t mean they’re judging you. Smile from within and remember to breathe: a deep breath can help calm the nerves. Finally, do not feel guilty because you feel nervous. It’s natural and it can happen to anyone. Even the greatest actors and the best speakers have felt this before. Remember, 75% of the population fear public speaking.
This is why many international organizations exist such as Toastmasters International, POWERtalk International Where Association of Speakers Clubs to help people improve their speaking. In France, many public speaking courses are offered by institutions such as the Cours Florent where the CFPJ (communication and media). The Emotional Freedom Technique, a psycho-corporal practice founded in the United States in 1993, sophrology, psychotherapy or even cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can also be effective alternatives.
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