Hand Gestures and Voice: The Surprising Science of Presence (and How to Use It)

2 days ago
4 min read

A businesswoman using hand gestures to illustrate her point

In my Make Your Mark framework, hand gestures sit in Pillar 2: Physical Presence. Your voice sits in Pillar 4: Vocal Presence

Make Your Mark with Susan Room® Framework and tools

Most people treat these as separate skills:

“I need to do something with my hands.”
“I need to sort out my voice.”

But here’s the interesting thing: hands and voice don’t operate separately. When you change one, the other often changes too.

This blog isn’t about using “perfect gestures” or becoming more animated. There’s no right or wrong. It’s about building awareness and range, so you can choose what works for this audience, this message, this moment.

Quick takeaway 👇

Your hands can communicate your thinking. And your movement can influence your voice. That’s useful to know - not to perform… but to communicate with more ease and impact.

Why your hands move when you think

A lot of people get self-conscious about gesturing (using their hands), especially in meetings. So they clasp them tightly, hold them still, even sit on them (not recommended, because in English, “sitting on your hands” is a metaphor for inaction).

Gesturing isn’t incidental. Research suggests gestures can help us organise ideas while we speak.

One classic study tested this in a clever way. Adults and children were asked to remember a list of items while explaining how they solved a maths problem. They remembered more when they were allowed to gesture than when they had to keep their hands still - suggesting gesture can reduce mental load.

Two work colleagues explaining using hand gestures

So if your hands move more when you’re explaining something complex, that doesn’t mean you’re “messy.”

It can simply mean your brain is working hard, and your hands are helping.

The fascinating link: movement can nudge the voice

Here’s where Pillar 2 and Pillar 4 meet.

A growing body of research suggests that upper-limb movement can subtly affect airflow and pressure, which can show up as changes in vocal energy (like loudness peaks).

This doesn’t mean, “Wave your arms and your voice will magically improve.”

It means something more practical:

When people lock their hands down, their voice may shrink, get smaller and flatter.
When the hands are allowed to move more naturally, the voice often lifts, releasing more vocal energy and variety.

Not always. Not for everyone. But often enough that it’s worth paying attention to because it could give you more choice.

Hand gestures don’t just add expression - they help people “get it”

Hand gestures being used in the workplace to illustrate a point

Now let’s talk outcomes.

In research on entrepreneurial pitching, the authors found that variation in language type had limited effects, but gestures that depicted or symbolised the idea (known as iconic gestures) had a strong positive impact on investors’ willingness to invest.

Their explanation: iconic gestures helped investors mentally simulate the venture and picture it more clearly.

Harvard Business Review later summarised this research with a punchy headline (“gestures matter more than words”) and while that’s an oversimplification for everyday leadership, the point is valid in high-stakes communication: clear, meaningful gestures can make an idea feel more tangible.

“More” isn’t always better: the real skill is calibration

If you’ve ever watched someone with huge gestures and a very animated voice and thought, “I’m exhausted just looking at them,” you’re not alone.

One study tested different combinations of pitch variation and gesture intensity in public speaking, and found that participants rated medium pitch variation and medium gesture intensity as the most effective and attractive overall (with a medium-pitch + strong-gesture combo producing the strongest physiological arousal).

The useful takeaway isn’t “medium is best.” It’s this: Start with balance, then adjust.

Because how you use your hands and voice will depend on

the room (board meeting vs. town hall)
the culture (some environments prefer restraint)
the message (bad news vs. rallying call)
the audience (technical vs. non-technical)

Three “hand + voice” pairings to experiment with.

Think of these as dials you can turn, not rules you must follow.

Calm authority
Use when you want to signal steadiness and credibility. Hands: precise, iconic gestures; less frequent; visible and relaxed Voice: slower pace, grounded tone, crisp pauses
Warm connection
Use when you want to encourage trust and openness. Hands: open palms; inclusive “sharing” gestures; more movement Voice: matched pacing, warmer tone, more questions
Momentum and mobilisation
Use when you want to stimulate energy and action. Hands: rhythmic “beat” gestures to land key words Voice: clear emphasis on key words; slightly quicker pace; more vocal variety.