It refers to how you control your voice when speaking. When we speak, we are able to change the message by varying the: tone, stress on words, pitch, and changing rate of speech. Effective voice modulation can mean the difference between a boring speech, and an audience-captivating speech. 

Tips to Improve Voice Modulation in Public Speaking 

Tip #01: Warm Up Your Voice Before You Speak Just like athletes warm up their bodies before a game or competition, singers, voice actors, and speakers warm up their voices before a presentation. Warm-ups help to loosen your vocal cords, improve your voice projection, and increase your range. There are many different warm-up exercises that you can do depending on what works best for you. Some common warm-up exercises include humming, vowel sounds, scales, and lip trills. Check out the article "The 8 Best Warm Up Activities for Public Speaking" for more detailed information on vocal warm-ups. 

Tip #02: Speak From Your Diaphragm When you speak from your diaphragm, you are using your abdominal muscles and lungs to produce voice instead of just your throat and mouth. This results in a fuller, richer-sounding voice with more resonance. To speak from your diaphragm, take a deep breath in and say “ah”. You should feel your stomach expand as you breathe in and your voice will sound more powerful. It\'s important to avoid vocal fry. Vocal fry is a voice sound that occurs when the voice box becomes loose and produces creaking, popping, or rattling sounds in between words as air passes through it during speech. This type of voice production can be quite irritating to listen to – not just for your audience but also for yourself! When you use vocal fry, you are putting unnecessary pressure on your throat muscles which puts strain on them throughout speaking situations without providing any benefit at all….in other words - why do something that doesn\'t improve voice modulation?! Another problem with using vocal fry frequently is that if done too often over time, it can cause physical damage to your vocal cords resulting in chronic hoarseness (a voice disorder) or voice loss. Avoid vocal fry by keeping your voice box (larynx) relaxed throughout the entire speech and not pushing on it too hard while speaking. 

Tip #03: Project your voice It is important to project your voice when speaking in public so that everyone can hear you. To do this, imagine that you are speaking to someone in the back row of a large auditorium. You should aim to speak in a clear, loud voice that is easy to understand. If you are having trouble projecting your voice, try speaking slightly louder than normal and enunciating each word clearly. When you are in a group of people, keep your voice at a conversational level so that everyone can hear what you\'re saying without having to strain their ears or lean forward to listen closely! However, when giving individual presentations - especially if they require more detailed information than just an overview - project your voice attentively so that everyone in the room is able to follow along with ease! Don\\'t get caught whispering during an important presentation…you won\'t be taken seriously even though there may only be one person listening! The voice volume level you choose depends on the situation. 

Tip #04: Use inflection to express emotion Inflection is the rise and fall of your voice when you speak. It can be used to convey different emotions such as happiness, sadness, excitement, and surprise. When you use inflection in public speaking or voice acting it helps your audience better understand what you are trying to say so that they can follow along with the meaning of your words. Also as a caution- avoid monotone voice. When you speak, vary your intonation, and don\'t stick to a single tone throughout the speech. Monotone is often associated with boredom or disinterest in what someone else has to say – which does not make it an effective voice modulation technique! Vary your voice\'s pitch, loudness, duration, and quality depending on how excited you are about what you\'re saying. Think of a comedian who uses different tones when talking directly to the audience as opposed to discussing something with his friends from school that he doesn\'t find very interesting…you can probably see why one would have varying voice modulations than the other! In addition, be sure to project your voice using proper voice projection techniques.