Did your parents or teachers ever tell you to speak more clearly? If it was good advice then, it’s even more important today when we work and speak virtually, and when we are live, often speak through masks. Today let’s focus enunciation so that we can be more easily understood.

Breathe. If you are speaking without breath support, your voice may be soft, shaky, or you may find yourself speaking more rapidly and with less vocal inflection. Enunciation and emphasis both suffer. Breathing to support your voice will give you more clarity and volume.

Open your mouth wider. When we clench our jaws (tension anyone?) and fail to open our mouths we seem like we are mumbling, and it is hard to understand us. Try speaking while looking in the mirror and see if your mouth really opens—it should!

Work it. If you have tension in your face your words may struggle to come out clearly. Speaking clearly requires us to use our lips, tongue and jaw to form our words. It is more work than we sometimes realize.

Slow down. When we speak too fast enunciation often suffers, and we are hard to understand. Don’t slow to a crawl, just pace yourself enough to allow a slight pause between words and sentences. This gives you and your audience space to hear and understand. And gives you time for a breath.

Seek feedback. Record your next Zoom call and listen to it. Use your phone’s recording app to record and listen to a rehearsal. Listen to your outgoing phone messages before you send them. Ask someone to give you feedback. Only then will you be able to assess how well you are using your voice and enunciation.

Clear speech sets you apart from the crowd, makes you sound more confident, and can be obtained with practice and feedback.