2023.09.15 – 0988 – The Diction-ary of Voice – H

**H

Haemorrhage (‘vocal cord bruise’, ‘hematoma’) - a collection of blood in the vocal fold that develops after considerable voice use and leads to severe hoarseness

Hand signals – gestured directions given to a presenter to, for example, start or stop

Handling noise - undesired sounds picked up on a recording caused by touching or moving the microphone

Hard copy – a script that is printed out

Hard sell commercial – a script that is presented in a loud, urgent and emphatic style

Headphones (also ‘cans’, ‘earphones’, ‘headset’) – worn over the ears so a presenter can hear themselves, the mix of output and any direction given to them while their microphone is live

Headroom - a recording volume range in decibels (dB). It’s the difference between the typical operating level, and the maximum operating level when the audio will start to sound ‘clipped’. So, giving yourself “10db of headroom” means that you set your recording levels so your voice frequently peaks at -10db, and if it gets unexpectedly louder it won’t distort

High Pass Filter – an audio filter that cuts out any frequency below a specified point (letting the higher frequencies pass through) and can help prevent plosives and wind noise

Hindenburg - a DAW

Hit hot - to begin playing at full volume

Hit warm - to begin playing at medium volume

Hoarse – a raw, scratchy voice (not necessarily low in pitch) which may signify overuse (such as shouting or talking loudly), abuse (such as drinking and smoking) or both (a late-night party for example). At its worst it may be a signifier of a more serious condition

Hold / maintain - to keep the volume at the existing level

Hook – a line or statement at the start of a commercial designed to ‘hook’ the listener or viewer in by catching their attention, often by using a question: “have you booked your holiday yet?”

Husky voice – a lower-pitched speaking sound

Hypercardioid - a microphone pick-up pattern that is most sensitive to sounds directly in front of the microphone, even more so than a supercardioid

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