Finally Speaking Up

Being soft-spoken is an obstacle that can be overcome with some time and understanding

Kana Chung, Copy Editor|February 7, 2020

Many people struggle with, quite literally, being heard. It’s not to any fail of their peers, some people are naturally soft-spoken.

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“Hahaha, that reminds me of the time I –”

Cut off.

“Yeah, remember when –”

Interrupted.

“I mean, I think that maybe…”

Ignored.

A voice that has an opinion, but no volume. A person that speaks, but is never heard. As the saying goes: out of sight, out of mind. But what about out of earshot?

I know that I am not alone when I say that having a soft speaking voice, kind of sucks. Everyone has their own rhyme and reason for why they don’t speak up. A habit, a fear, a physical incapability to exceed a certain volume; these are all ways that the voices of many are overlooked.

The way it was presented in the dialogue you read just a few moments ago, makes it seem kind of dismal. But for someone who naturally has a quiet voice, it’s part of the daily routine. It’s a desensitized episode that has almost become a character trait.

Being asked to constantly speak up becomes redundant after a while. The effort is nice, it really is. We appreciate it. But sometimes it’s not much use. No matter how many times we repeat the sentence, our standards of what “loud” is will never match yours. As a matter of fact, we may feel like we’re shouting, but to you, it’s hardly above speaking volume.

Don’t feel bad though, we’ve come to accept it. With a hodgepodge jumble of improvised techniques and learned detours, we’ve found ways to work around our hurdle. It gets to a point where, if we really have something important to say, we’ll find a way to make it heard.

That being said, it is important to note that a shy person and a soft-spoken person are two very different things. A shy person has the ability to be loud, but chooses not to for their own respective reasons. A soft-spoken person has some type of physical or mental blockade that keeps them from speaking up. So don’t wait on a soft-spoken person expecting their volume to increase over time. You’ll be able to see more clearly how they express themselves, but they won’t get a whole lot louder.

I’m not asking you to develop super-hearing, or be able to read our lips, but I do ask that you be patient with us, take the time to get to know us. Trust me, it gets easier to understand with the passage of time. For us, simple communication is a process.