At times we have a tendency to become so focused on our websites’ presence, authority, rankings and profit that we totally overlook the human voice element. While appearing organizational does have its merits, it is not the type of human touch the public derives as much satisfaction from or positive feedback on, compared to oral communication obtained from human delivered interpretive reading. In a recent study from the University of Missouri entitled “The Use of Human Voice as a Relationship Building Strategy on Social Networking Sites”, it was proven that the human voice was the number one factor in producing more favorable results regarding social media and websites among consumers.
“Applying a personal human voice when communicating via social media leads to much higher user satisfaction ratings than impersonal communication from businesses and nonprofits.” These findings point to the value of using a human voice as an important factor in communicating and developing good relationships with the public. The most sure-fire method to accomplish positive word of mouth referrals is by utilizing a professional voice over artist to convey your message through a dramatic reading of your material.
Now that we have established the social business aspects of utilizing spoken word, let us now take it further into the personal social dimension that calls upon our human kindness, compassion and respect for our fellow human beings who battle visual disabilities and impairments every single day. Unfortunately, this segment of society is overlooked far too often in the online world. Yes, the text to speech software did indeed bring a tremendous aid to the visually impaired as they no longer had to rely on continual implementation of screen magnification and Braille programs. They could actually listen to information being communicated on many websites through text to speech voice overs.
Webmasters who utilized these text to speech programs were surely commended as it was a giant step forward for those suffering from low visual acuity. But, where is the personal human touch, the human voice in that type of oral communication? Computer generated voices cannot convey the spoken word in a manner that equates to an interpretive reading given by a trained human voice actor.
Take the small phrase “stop it” for example. It can be spoken softly within an intimate playful conversation, in a teasing manner with a tone of flirtation when verbalized. Or it can be stated angrily and shouted emphatically with the unmistakable intentions of, “Knock it off, you’re making me want to pound you!” The truth of the matter is that no text to speech software can communicate the emotional impact of your message. Without the proper tone, pace, emphasis and voice inflection accomplished via a real life human voice, you simply are missing the mark on that coveted human voice and personal human interaction that oral communication brings.
The approximate 45 million visually impaired consumers make up about 30 percent of the internet market. Isn’t it time we manifest some human compassion and provide them some common courtesy? Isn’t it time we supplied this over looked segment of society oral communication delivered by the personal human voice that the entire public craves?
