Deepen voice like Thatcher to sound more commanding

IF YOUR voice is more the high-pitched and squeaky type, you might want to emulate former PM Margaret Thatcher, who famously changed the way she spoke: becoming slower and more deliberate, and lowering the pitch, in order, it’s said, to be taken more seriously.

And now a study has shown speaking in a deeper voice really does make you appear more commanding. Researchers at Penn State University in the U.S. recorded two men and two women saying the same sentence, then edited the recordings to produce a higher-pitched and a lowerpitched version of each. They then asked more than 3,000 people across 22 countries to listen to these voices. Results showed that both men and women went for the lowerpitched voices when asked ‘who would you prefer to be in a longterm relationship, such as marriage, with’, and regarded a lowerpitched voice as being ‘more formidable’. They also thought women with higherpitched voices sounded more flirtatious and men found them ‘more attractive for a short-term relationship’. If you want to deepen your voice, stand upright, with a straight back and chin raised — this helps open up your diaphragm, allowing you to exercise better vocal control.

And if you’re about to make a speech, or ask for a pay rise, try deep belly breathing first: this will keep you calm and mean you speak in a deeper, more authoritative voice (again, by freeing up your diaphragm). Put one hand on your chest and the other on your stomach: your lower hand should rise as you breathe in slowly.

Or do what Margaret Thatcher did: hire a voice coach.