Dear Jesus: please refer very recently posted thread on the almost same topic initiated by our friend, Prof.Mahfuz Judeh..

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Is_body_language_more_effective_than_spoken_language

presently this thread has more than 60 answers and 66 followers. Everybody agree the same concept too...

Cheers

Lijo

It's probably much more than 38 %. Actually, it depends on the type and aim of communication as well as personal characteristics. Some people are bad actors, others are absolutely unable to hear, let alone interpret messages and sometimes we are not tuned to the message (we are not concentrated or prepared to hear it) which is a psychological dimension.

I believe that sound is more important than vision in terms of getting the right message (mind that the human voice is unique) but overall we tend to judge holistically - our brains calculate all signals we are able to receive. The biggest problem is interpretation which is influenced by our current mental state and our presumed set of beliefs rather than a realistic observation of events as they unfold.

Dear Lijo.

I am one of the followers of that thread. As it mainly referred to body language, I thought it would be very interesting to add another one specifically referred to the voice.

Regards.

Jesús

An experiment you should try is to 'replace' the voice of someone you know with a different one (just imagine that) or to 'match' a voice to people you haven't met (for instance on TV) and then check what their real voice is - you will see how the sound (all elements including pitch, timbre, intonation, articulation) changes your perception of the person in question.

Some factors to consider regarding the importance of voice elements in communication - how tuned a brain/person is to music (different brain centers activate responses to instrumental and vocal music); where speech is located - according to recent studies it uses both hemispheres http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140115132635.htm

but there are many other theories (left vs right handed, specific medical conditions and personal combinations)

music (speech is related) is one of the few activities which uses the whole brain ;

the nature of sound which is not very well explored yet

http://jonlieffmd.com/blog/unique-effects-of-music-on-the-brain

Dear Jesus

When we face a good communicator does not need to make effort to understand it or to maintain attention to what he says.

The way to talk influences the personal relationships, relationships in business and career development. Great leaders impress others with your speech, captivate and gain public sympathy.

It is possible to know the age of a person by his voice, the socio-cultural level and even personality traits. Generally the most energetic people usually speak with a stronger, more effective, with a faster speed and even a tone of voice more gravelly voice.

According to Albert Mehrabian, verbal communication is important 7% and non-verbal, 93%, ie, the fact that the content of speech is fundamental, but it is not enough if you do not have a corresponding vocal and body expression

Dear all.

Your answers sound quite interesting.

Hrsitina, do you think that voice could be even more important than body language?

Certainly, at least to me. For instance, we should distinguish between a joke which has been rehearsed/ pre-planned and instantaneous humour where there is improvisation. But how would you know how to evaluate a person's reactions if you have no previous knowledge of their habits, what's common/standard for them? You need to have gathered a lot of information in order to evaluate body language while voice is (relatively) more universal (or maybe that is only my feeling).

Both could be interpreted within a cultural context. In order to weigh the importance of both voice and body language, it matters how we communicate (seated or not, whether we gesticulate a lot or not as a culture - e.g. Italy - and as individuals), the circumstances as well as what affects us personally (how sensitive we are to speech and music vs sports/motor skills, introverts vs extroverts, etc).

From the point of view of physics, body language could be related to vision or spatial representation while voice would fall within auditory perception, that is visual vs auditory processing or spatial vs temporal perception. In other words, they don't belong in the same category although senses are somehow integrated and our brains give us a whole picture of what's happening throughout communication.

It's interesting to see how these types of communication are related to each other. For instance, auditory clues often unlock body language (a smile or eye contact as an instantaneous reaction to what we have heard)

Hi Hristina,

According to the results of my doctoral thesis (Soto Sanfiel, 2000), voice (pitch, text, speed) is more influential on credibility and some other factors than the face of speaker in communicative contexts. Audiences attribute credibility of professional and non professional male and female speakers from voice. Face perception helps to define those not very clear judgements of non-professional female speakers during non-formal discourses. Interesting, isn't it?

Yes, it is. I am not surprised. However, this confirms my feeling rather than any science foundations for the simple fact that being sensitive to music, I attach a lot of importance to sound, articulations and all cognitive aspects. I feel voice is a carrier of information incl. emotions and character traits.

I would like to read your work.

Thanks everybody for your answers. All of them are quite interesting.

Only now I came across this debate and I would like to add some information. When dealing with Merahbian formula one must be aware of Merahbian's own comments. You can find them here: http://www.speakingaboutpresenting.com/presentation-myths/mehrabian-nonverbal-communication-research/.

In his own words: "Please note that this and other equations regarding relative importance of verbal and nonverbal messages were derived from experiments dealing with communications of feelings and attitudes (i.e., like-dislike). Unless a communicator is talking about their feelings or attitudes, these equations are not applicable."

@Vasco, many thanks for your answer.

It is a very interesting point. However, I would say that the voice and nonverbal communication are more important than verbal communication. (Of course, I agree that Merahbian´s formula is not always applicable).

Voice really bring the emotion to the statement which both Language and Body language may not. Hence a crucial component of the communication process for effective delivery,

Hope this was helpful.

Cheers.

Azhar