Picture a college professor standing at the front of a crowded auditorium and speaking to a group of three hundred students. The speaker, sharp-eyed and astute, has a glass of water and stands tall and mighty behind a podium. He projects a series of sounds toward the dreary-eyed students – a mouthful of verbs, adjectives and nouns, all carrying different meanings. The speaker’s information may be fascinating and well organized, but one MU researcher doesn’t ask why someone is speaking. He’s more interested in studying how the speaker is communicating.

During the school year, Radhakrishnan teaches a professional voice course offered to all MU students. Many of the students who sign up for this course are aspiring performers and professional voice users like broadcasters and education majors.

After several years of studying voice, Radhakrishnan even assesses professional broadcasters. He says many TV and radio anchors get carried away in front of a microphone, and as a result they lose their breath support.