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WHAT IS NOISE?

Have you ever tried to talk on the phone with someone in a noisy room? Or, have you ever tried to have a quiet conversation with someone in a loud restaurant? It’s difficult to focus on someone’s speech when there is a lot of noise around you. The same thing happens when you add extra or unnecessary words or sounds to your language. It creates noise. Look at this speech:

A. Uh, Good afternoon. Um, thanks for coming to this uh meeting. Um, I’d like to uh begin by uh letting you know that um it’s uh very important that uh we get this um project finished uh by the uh end of the quarter.

Compare it with this speech:

B. Good afternoon. Thanks for coming to this meeting. I’d like to begin by letting you know that it’s very important that we get this project finished by the end of the quarter.

Speech “B” is much clearer, and the speaker sounds more confident and trustworthy.

WHY IS NOISE BAD FOR CLEAR SPEECH?

Noise makes it difficult for people to hear your important words. Sometimes, people focus more on your noise than on your key words. These extra words also make you sound like you are nervous or unsure of your topic.