Problem: People on cell phones speaking loudly in public settings.

Face It!  People in the United States and the world over, are speaking too loudly on their cell phones.  We have all experienced “loud talkers” and we have all been the “loud talker” ourselves.  What causes us to speak so loudly on our cell phones and what are the ramifications?

What you cannot see can hurt you!  We speak loudly because we cannot see to whom we are speaking and ongoing loud talking can lead to vocal problems.  While there are many reasons why speakers raise their voices, the most common being to overcome competing background noise, a new phenomenon has arisen through cell phone use in public environments. 

Specifically, in public arenas, such as doctors' offices, restaurants, grocery stores, state building lobbies, taxi cabs and more, loud talkers have been evidenced in high numbers.  Cell phone speakers raise their voices far above conversational levels in relatively quiet public environments.  When we are speaking conversationally with someone 3 to 5 feet away, as in an office environment, the average volume of a speaker’s voice is 55 decibels. At a closer distance of 1 to 2 feet, vocal volume drops to 30 decibels. If the person we are speaking with is across the room, 10 or more feet away, the volume of our voice increases to up to 90 decibels or more. This is the same volume we would use to shout, cheer on our favorite sport team, or scream for help!  Clearly such high volumes are unnecessary in most environments.

For example, when cell phone speakers enter a coffee shop, they will speak out into the café among an environment that may be relatively quiet, with people reading newspapers or having more intimate one on one conversations, either among themselves or at the counter, which are typically at or below the average volume for conversational speech.  Interestingly, the cell phone speaker is speaking at a volume above a conversational level and more in keeping with the projection a speaker giving a speech uses to speak to a sizable audience.  In contrast, the “audience” which is not really an audience at all, but rather the patrons of the coffee shop, was in a quieter environment, most likely less than conversational level, making the volume of the entering cell phone user seem even louder.  The “audience,” which is not a true audience, is nonetheless alerted by the volume of the incoming cell phone speaker, and correspondingly they look up only to find that they are not being spoken to at all.  Consequently they experience the incoming cell phone speaker as rude or interruptive.  The dynamics at play here, are, to some extent, the difference between psychological perception and the corresponding measurable reality.  Loudness is a psychological perception and volume is the measurable reality.  The cell phone speaker has an exact measurable volume that we can measure in decibels.  However, whether or not the speaker is perceived as loud will be based on the perceptions of the listeners in the context of their environment at the time.

For example, an audible whisper will be perceived as too loud in a library.  Another part of the problem is the psychological affect created by cell phone use in and of itself, resulting in the speakers not being able to gauge the distance across which they are sending their voices, projecting their voices to a seemingly distant location that they cannot determine visually.  While some may assert that the speaker may be speaking loudly because of poor speakers and receivers inherent in the cell phone itself, the overall audio system of most cell phones currently is quite advanced.  Upon observation across a variety of settings, it appears, the speaker is lacking the appropriate feedback needed to regulate his volume.

It's all about our perception! When we do not physically see the person we are talking to via cell phone we cannot properly perceive how to alter the volume of our voice. Knowing that we don't need to speak loudly via cell phone just isn't enough, although increased awareness does help.  People need a visual target to provide a psychological cue in order for them to be able to spatially judge the adequate loudness level needed when projecting their voices.  Without being able to see and judge the distance of our listener we tend to assume they are far away and we speak loudly so that they can hear us from "far away."

While each decibel level has its place in daily life, louder levels are not always appropriate in many public settings. In addition to being considered rude, speaking loudly on an on-going basis may easily result in a voice disorder or problem. Vocal misuse, overuse, and abuse can result in hoarseness and even vocal nodules. Vocal nodules are a serious problem that occurs when calluses form on the vocal cords and may require surgery to remedy. These calluses form on the anterior third of the vocal cord and result in the loss of the high frequency vocal range (i.e.: high pitch sounds). Once a problem mainly encountered by people who use their voice professionally, vocal nodules are most likely being seen more frequently in the mainstream population due to over use and high volume of the voice secondary to cell phone use.  A problem worth studying in greater depth!

As a first effort on my part, I am presenting the problem by way of a public service announcement, with a simple promotional item, a fan. The promotional fan serves to draw obvious attention to the dynamics of cell phone speakers and their listeners as well as having a therapeutic affect.  Simply becoming aware of the situation will have the result of creating a conscious awareness on the part of the speaker, which in turn, helps the speaker decrease his volume.  Further, the fan has a face on it, which, when held up before one’s face, gives a temporary illusion of the distance across which you need to project your voice in order to have adequate volume for the listener on the other end of the phone.  It incidentally also gives the speaker a sense of privacy behind the fan.  Naturally it is not expected that cell phone speakers will use fans while speaking on their cell phones, it is simply a vehicle to gain consciousness and information regarding the dilemma.  Finally, the fan has a fisted hand puppet on one side of it, similar to those we may remember drawing on our hands in grade school, leading to a new concept awareness around a familiar saying “Talk to the Hand!”  Again, the distance at which a speaker would put up his fisted hand to look at the puppet creates the adequate distance at which the speaker’s voice should be projected when speaking on the cell phone.

The "Face It!" and “Talk to the Hand” fan project concept serves not only as a fun way to remind all of us to lower our speaking voice when on our cell phones, but is also a way to prevent serious vocal injury. By directing our voice at a target in close proximity, such as the fan or your hand, we can psychologically visualize the person on the other end of the phone line and correctly lower our voice to a polite and respectful volume. Not only do we achieve greater privacy this way but we raise awareness of a problem affecting our daily lives: "loud talkers."

The goal is to appeal to your interest in this dynamic and universal phenomenon, to help facilitate discussion among professionals and the community at large and perhaps especially among the community of speech and language pathologists and audiologists, to consider sharing the matter, discussing the matter, studying the matter and investigating solutions to the problem.  Please join me!

Please contact me ASAP at (925) 255-4382 to discuss how we might work together to bring attention to the problem of cell phone users and its ramifications for speakers and listeners alike.  I am interested in generating awareness in our community and in the general population, as well as considering collaborative efforts with cell phone makers on feedback systems for vocal volume modulation.

Together we can affect both awareness and change as well as respectfully “team-treat” and ultimately prevent our nation (and others) from the ramifications of “loud talker” syndrome caused by steadily increasing cell phone use.

To invite me to speak at an event or to simply order fans to share the news, please contact me at (925) 255-4382!