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Glossophobia, or the fear of speaking in public, often appears on the lists of the greatest fears. Such anxiety can often have an impact on voice control, causing a stammering or "frog in the throat" feeling. A researcher from the University of Missouri discovered that vocal problems were not limited to the mere sensation of nervousness and that stress-induced brain activation could be implicated.
Maria Dietrich, Associate Professor of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences at the MU School of Health Professions, is studying voice disorders. In a pilot study, Dietrich developed the theory of voice disorders, often used to understand functional voice disorders. She discovered that stress-induced brain activations could lead to voice disorders such as dysphonia of muscle tension, a disorder resulting from excessive or impaired muscle tension in and around the box voice, thus modifying the sound or the sensation of the voice.
"For many, talking in public can be a stressful situation," Dietrich said. "We know that stress can trigger physiological changes, such as muscle tension and consequences on our language, and the new findings will help researchers better understand the relationship between stress and voice control and help us identify activations. that influence the voices to better identify treatments for disorders. "
For the study, young women shortlisted to participate were informed that they needed to prepare for an impromptu five-minute speech on why they were the best candidates for a job. The speech preparation test was a stress factor, while participants were invited to read sentences but were never invited to deliver their speeches. The researchers took saliva samples to look for cortisol, the body's main stress hormone, at intervals before stress until about 50 minutes later.
During the study, participants were asked a series of questions to badess their emotional state. Throughout the experiment, participants were examined by MRI to allow researchers to see brain activations and their impact on speech with and without stressful preparation.
Dietrich discovered that there were differences in stress-induced cerebral activation in relation to speech. Participants who had higher cortisol responses also exhibited brain activity impacting the laryngeal region in the brain and lower scores for some aspects of extraversion.
"Our findings are consistent with the theories of personality-related vocal traits," Dietrich said. "Those who are more introverted are more likely to have speech-related stress responses and their brains record this stress, which could affect their vocal control."
Dietrich offers the following tips for those who feel stressed about speaking in public:
- Do not worry about the public who does not smile. The fact that people do not react to your public address does not mean that they are judging you.
- Present with an inner smile and remember to breathe. Taking a deep breath can do a lot to calm the nerves.
- Recognize that feeling nervous is normal.
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Material provided by University of Missouri-Columbia. Note: Content can be changed for style and length.
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