monotone voice
Unvarying vocal pitch
A monotone voice lacks variation in pitch, staying on a single note rather than rising and falling naturally.
It often signals boredom, fatigue, or deliberate emotional detachment: He read the safety instructions in a monotone voice.
Teachers and speakers are warned against it because listeners tune out.
The effect can be comedic or unsettling—robots and bored teenagers alike are stereotyped as speaking this way.
- flatLacking vertical variation
- flat affectDiminished emotional expressiveness
- droningSustained monotonous sound
- drone onTalk tediously at length
- dullLacking edge or interest
robotic · text to speech · lifeless · boring · deadpan · Ben Stein · expressionless · lecturer · reading aloud · mumble · drone · humdrum · sleepy · put to sleep · hypnotic · sleep aid · nasal · drawl
- presentation mistakesstage fright, nervousness, forgetting lines, rushing, mumbling
- teaching mistakesplaying favorites, unclear instructions, lack of feedback, public shaming, losing control
- boredomboredom, ennui, tedium, dullness, listlessness
- singing problemsoff-key singing, tin ear
- ParkinsonismParkinson disease, tremor, bradykinesia, rigidity, deep brain stimulation