Barack Obama’s voice, measured

The read

Strip out the words and a fifth of this address is pure silence. Obama stops fifty-eight times in just over three minutes — roughly once every three seconds — and never lingers: his longest stop lasts barely more than a second. Here’s the twist the numbers add to the pause-master reputation: take the silences away and this is an almost ordinary voice. Average depth for an adult man, no boom — and the least carrying voice in the library so far. The instrument’s verdict: it was never about the sound. It’s about knowing exactly when to stop making it.

Pitch contour · every voiced frame

Pitch & melody

Average pitch128Hz

in the zoneoptimal 100–150 Hz

Pitch variability3.37st

in the zoneoptimal 3–6.5 st

Pitch range8.27st

in the zoneoptimal 7–12 st

Pitch dynamism (PDQ)0.22

in the zoneoptimal 0.15–0.38

Pacing & pauses

Pause ratio21.2%

in the zoneoptimal 18–35 %

Average pause length0.71s

in the zoneoptimal 0.4–1 s

Syllable rate4.1syl/s

in the zoneoptimal 4–5.5 syl/s

Dynamics

Volume dynamics23.1dB

above the zoneoptimal 8–18 dB

Loudness variability6.98dB

in the zoneoptimal 3.5–8 dB

Voice quality

Voice clarity (HNR)9.75dB

below the zoneoptimal 12–30 dB

Pitch steadiness (jitter)2.42%

in the zoneoptimal 0–2.5 %

Volume steadiness (shimmer)13.5%

above the zoneoptimal 0–9 %

Vocal fry (creak)1.2%

in the zoneoptimal 0–8 %

Spectral balance

Presence band (2-4 kHz)1.27%

below the zoneoptimal 6–20 %

Chest band (0-500 Hz)47.6%

in the zoneoptimal 35–75 %

Spectral tilt (alpha ratio)-7.82dB

above the zoneoptimal -22–-8 dB

Energy by band

Low (0–500 Hz)47.6%Mid (0.5–2 kHz)49.5%Presence (2–4 kHz)1.3%Brilliance (4 kHz+)1.6%

The presence band (2–4 kHz, red) is what carries a voice to the back of a room.

Steal this

the held pause

What the measurements actually endorse is the stopping. Every pacing reading — how often he pauses, how long each one lasts, how quickly the words come between them — sits inside the optimal band. And it’s trainable: make your point, then count “one-and-two” silently before the next sentence. The urge to keep talking is the thing to train away — a held pause reads as confidence, and gives listeners the two seconds they need to actually absorb your point.

From the training library: The full stop

Same instrument · same scale

You’ve just read Obama’s voice. Now read your own.

Measure my voice

Free · about twenty seconds · no signup. The same six scores on the same scale — and the recording is deleted the moment it’s analysed.