QUALITY OF VOICE.
Reading edition
There are certain characteristics of voice which are denominated “qualities.” Among these are: Color, Form and Equilibrium. By color of voice I mean that quality which affects us when we hear it, just as color affects us when we see it; so that color as applied to voice is really the name of the feeling it produces, which is the same as that produced by color received through the sense of sight.
We judge of form of voice as we judge of color of voice, that is, by its effect upon the feelings. There are certain tones which affect us as certain forms do.
When we see objects in equilibrium, we speak of them as being well poised, or centered; they give us the feeling of certainty; right tones affect us in the same way. Other tones which lack center give us the same kind of mental pain which things do when we perceive they are not in equilibrium.
Color appeals to the feelings; form appeals to the intellect; equilibrium appeals to the will, so that color, form and equilibrium appeal to the mind as a unit.