What effect does your voice have on others? Does it persuade or irritate, attract or repel? Unfortunately, few of us are sensitive to the sounds we make. One of the worst voice qualities is harshness. If you ever get the feeling that people are uncomfortable when you speak, it may be that your harsh tones are jarring their eardrums. Your voice will sound unpleasant if it is shrill, grating, hard, piercing, brassy, too loud, or too nasal. Harsh voice qualities usually come from too much tension in the throat and jaw. Tension tightens muscles and blocks the relaxed voice tones essential to a pleasing impression. Because tension shows up more in higher-pitched voices, women tend to be more shrill than men.

Q. Write the word from the paragraph which should alert a person to the fact that his voice is unpleasant.