Words Tend to Be Inadequate

Humans are verbal creatures and we tend to over-rely on language as our main form of communication. With our increasingly digital world, so many words are texted without the benefit of a human voice and accompanying body-language to help decipher meaning.

Prosody is the rhythm and sounds of language. A dull monotone, for example, does little to engage us. A voice rich in intonation and rhythm will engage us much more.

Some people may not have this ability and their interpersonal relationships could suffer.

A person who lacks prosody may not be aware of this deficit and could feel perplexed as to why people turn away (literally or metaphorically) when they are talking. It’s not so much what this person may be saying as how they say it.

For example, if people connect on social media and decide to meet up face to face, their meeting could end in tears if they are unable to fully express themselves with a voice that matches their written language.

Relationship counselling could address this as an aspect of communication. A person sufficiently troubled by their speech can seek help through a speech pathologist or perhaps by asking their partner to help them put greater inflection into their speech so as to keep their partner engaged.

There are many possible reasons for why a person’s voice lacks prosody.  For example, a person who grew up never feeling confident about what they had to say may keep a low profile with their voice as an adaption to avoid criticism.