Oliver Niebuhr
The Real Fingerprint of Charismatic Speech: Revisiting Phonetic Statements In Traditional Rhetorical Practice
Speaker
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Oliver Niebuhr
Oliver Niebuhr
Oliver Niebuhr earned his doctorate in Phonetics and Digital Speech Processing from Kiel University and worked afterwards as a post-doc researcher at linguistic and psychological institutes in Aix-en-Provence and York. In 2009, he was appointed Junior Professor of Spoken Language Analysis and returned to Kiel University, where he also headed the Kiel research center on “Speech & Emotion.” Since 2015, he is Associate Professor of Communication and Innovation at SDU and leads the Acoustics-in-Production group at the Centre of Industrial Electronics. His research focuses on the interrelations between prosody and sound segments in both speech production (incl. pronunciation) and speech perception
Specifically, Oliver Niebuhr is interested in rhetoric and charismatic speech. What is it in the phonetic signal that creates the impression of a charismatic speaker, and how can we assess and train charismatic public speaking? For example, how do stress, rhythm, and changes between a clear and a reduced pronunciation interact in making a speaker sound charismatic? Pursuing these and similar questions, Oliver Niebuhr developed the patent-pending and award winning PICSA System (Perception-Integrated Charismatic Speech Analysis) and the related concept of Acoustic Voice Profiling®. In the latter context, he also experimentally explores new ways of visualizing prosody that help speakers learn the right speech melodies. With respect to digital rhetoric, ING.dk just referred to Oliver Niebuhr as “Denmark’s and Europe’s leading specialist in the field“.
Over and above his R&D activities, Oliver Niebuhr is Associate Editor of two major international scientific journals: Phonetica and the Journal of the International Phonetic Association (JIPA). He also works as a regular reviewer for Journal of Phonetics and Laboratory Phonology. In his additional role as Secretary of the Permanent Council of the International Phonetic Association (IPA), he is co-organizer of the worldwide largest phonetics event, the International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Since 2019 Oliver Niebuhr is scientific advisor for a German bestseller (#1) thriller book series on forensic acoustics (Auris, by V. Kliesch & S. Fitzeck).
Finally, Oliver Niebuhr co-founded the German consultancy company Saphire Solutions, and the Danish speech-technology start-up company AllGoodSpeakers ApS.
Further information concerning rhetorical training:
• Certified education (Weiterbildung) in rhetoric (2 ECTS), 2018 at SDU
• Certified education (Weiterbildung) in adult-related pedagogical tools & techniques (10 ECTS), 2016-2018 at SDU
• Leading developer of the “PItcher”, a software tool for real-time visualization, feedback and training of charismatic speech; the “Pitcher” outperforms other software tools in the market by more than 20% according to experimental research
• Leading developer of further patent-pending hardware and software tools for articulation, public-speaking anxiety, virtual reality, and body language training
• Design, head, and lecturer of the 5-ECTS course “Persuasive Communication and Negotiation”, mandatory for all business engineers and entrepreneurs at SDU since 2016
• Regular trainer for entrepreneurs within the SDU talent programme
• Key presentation coach within the industry-based entrepreneurship contest “Race to the moon” (since2019)
• Courses in acoustic voice profiling and rhetorical/charisma training in entrepreneurial study programmes at Leuphana University (Lüneburg), Technical University (Munich), FAU (Erlangen-Nürnberg) and FH Westküste (Heide)
• Presentation coach for female entrepreneurs, WomenVentures BerlinSelected testimonials:
• “One of best Talent Programme workshops: entertaining, fun, very interesting and incredibly useful!”, Andreia Onofre, Coordinator of the SDU Talent Programme in Entrepreneurship
• “The classes taught by Mr Niebuhr have taken our level of insight to a whole new level – adding a layer of strong academic knowledge – to our toolbox”, Ken Madsen, CEO DXTR-Labs (Entrepreneur)
• “I strongly believe that the concepts and techniques I learned during the training will greatly contribute to bringing my rhetoric skills to the next level! Thank you very much!”, Thomas Paternoster, Operational Excellence Head at Novartis
• “Oliver’s class had a big impact on my student and future work life and influenced not inly my way of speaking, but also my way of listening to people”, Julia Bertels, Entrepreneur at SDU
• “The Course was a whole new experience for me. […] The skills mediated by Oliver Niebuhr are of exceptional value” Julius Born, Entrepreneur at SDUOliver Niebuhr
Associate Professor of Communication and Innovation
Centre for Industrial Electronics, Mads Clausen Institute, SDU
oniebuhr@mci.sdu.dk
http://physics.sdu.dk/people/olnih-index: 24 (Google scholar)
citations: 1632 (Google scholar)
publications: 145Relevant publications:
Niebuhr O., Voße J., and Brem, A. (2016). What makes a charismatic speaker? A computer-based acoustic prosodic analysis of Steve Jobs tone of voice. Computers and Human Behavior 64, pp. 366–382.Niebuhr, O., Alm, M. H., Schümchen, N. & Fischer, K. (2017). Comparing Visualization Techniques for Learning Second Language Prosody: First Results. International Journal of Learner Corpus Research 3, 250-277.
Niebuhr, O., Tegtmeier, S., & Schweisfurth, T. (2019) Female Speakers Benefit More Than Male Speakers From Prosodic Charisma Training—A Before-After Analysis of 12-Weeks and 4-h Courses. Front. Commun. 4:12. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2019.00012.
Niebuhr, O. & K. Fischer (2019). Do not hesitate! – Unless you do it shortly or nasally: How the phonetics of filled pauses determine their subjective frequency and perceived speaker performance. Proc. 20th International Interspeech Conference, Graz, Austria, 1-5.
Niebuhr, O., Gonzalez, S. (2019). Do sound segments contribute to sounding charismatic? Evidence from acoustic vowel space analyses of Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg. International Journal of Acoustics and Vibration 24, 343-355.
Abstract →
Oliver Niebuhr
The Real Fingerprint of Charismatic Speech: Revisiting Phonetic Statements In Traditional Rhetorical Practice
We live in a world in which an attention-attracting social media presence, virtual meetings, and work in continuously changing teams and countries are an essential part of daily business. In addition, the funding and legitimizing activities of entrepreneurs have become a central pillar of modern economies. To succeed in such a world requires, perhaps more than ever before, persuasive, motivating, and inspiring leadership and presentation skills or, in short, speaker charisma. Speaker charisma is an underestimated make-or-break factor in job interviews, and it also determines career opportunities, salary level, and job performance significantly thereafter. It is therefore not surprising that “oral communication” is consistently among the top 5 sought-after soft skills on the job market worldwide, making rhetorical training a rapidly growing multi-billion dollar business. Phonetic advice plays an important role in rhetorical practice. But hardly any of the underlying supposed phonetic facts and mechanisms have ever been questioned empirically. Instead, they are passed on from textbook to textbook and from trainer to trainer. Against this background, my lecture starts with summarizing recent experimental findings about the contribution of phonetic patterns to a speaker’s charismatic impact. On this basis, we will revisit some of the most prominent phonetic statements in traditional rhetoric and see that not all of these statements stand up to scientific scrunity. For some statements there is no evidence. Rather, their effects even seem to be counterproductive for charisma. Other statements are supported by empirical data, but need to be refined. The addressed phonetic statements include, for example, the status of a low-pitched voice, the assumed critical role of abdominal “belly” breathing, the demand for a clear articulation and a loud voice, the harmful effect of disfluencies, and the view that a small glass of (sparkling) wine is conducive to a speaker’s performance on stage. Finally, my lecture concludes with a brief presentation of Acoustic Voice Profiling®, i.e. a new combination of assessment algorithm and training tools for speaker charisma that the author developed with many other colleagues, companies and universities around the world.