The still small voice is not barely audible to the receptive soul. When the Lord communicates this way, the still small voice penetrates every fiber of the individual's being. This is taught in 3 Nephi when the survivors of the destructions which attended Christ's crucifixion gathered at the temple, they heard a voice:
and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn.
In a letter to W.W. Phelps, the prophet Joseph Smith said, Yea, thus saith the still small voice, which whispereth through and pierceth all things, and often times it maketh my bones to quake (DC 85:6).
Gordon B. Hinckley
President Hinkley "told of his recent interview with CBS News reporter Mike Wallace, which is scheduled to air on 60 Minutes in February.
"When asked by Mr. Wallace, 'How does Jesus speak to you?' President Hinckley said he told him the voice of the Lord doesn't come in dramatic fashion, but as with the prophet Elijah 'through the still, small voice.'
"'It is the voice of the Spirit which speaks, and which will speak to you concerning your own problems, if you will seek for wisdom and understanding in prayer. There is no doubt in my mind that that voice speaks and is heard.'" (LDS Church News, Deseret News, Jan. 20, 1996)
Boyd K. Packer
"We do not have the words (even the scriptures do not have words) which perfectly describe the Spirit," he told new mission presidents and their wives at a seminar on 19 June 1991. "The scriptures usually use the word voice, which does not exactly fit. These delicate, refined spiritual communications are not seen with our eyes nor heard with our ears.… It is a voice that one feels more than one hears.
"Once I came to understand this, one verse in the Book of Mormon took on profound meaning and my testimony of the book became fixed. The verse had to do with Laman and Lemuel, who rebelled against Nephi. Nephi rebuked them and said: 'Ye have seen an angel, and he spake unto you; yea, ye have heard his voice from time to time; and he hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words' (1 Nephi 17:45)."
"I have come to know that inspiration comes more as a feeling than as a sound," Elder Packer repeated in general conference, October 1979. He then counseled: "Ponder and pray quietly and persistently.… The answer may not come as a lightning bolt. It may come as a little inspiration here and a little there, 'line upon line, precept upon precept' (D&C 98:12).
"Some answers will come from reading the scriptures, some from hearing speakers. And, occasionally, when it is important, some will come by very direct and powerful inspiration. The promptings will be clear and unmistakable."
"He recalled what the Prophet Joseph Smith said:
'A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the spirit of revelation; for instance, when you feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas.… And thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may grow into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in Christ Jesus. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 151).'"
(Lucile C. Tate, Boyd K. Packer, A Watchman on the Tower, p. 280)
Bruce R. McConkie
"We have a testimony when we have managed to attune our souls to God so that the Holy Spirit speaks to the spirit that is within us. We must hear the still, small voice. When that witness is given, then we know of ourselves that the work is true, and on appropriate occasions we stand up and bear that record to the world. All the missionaries who succeed, do so because they are testifying missionaries. They bear witness to what they of themselves know of the divinity of the work. We have a little formula that we follow in order to gain a testimony: We desire in our hearts to know if the work is true; we study the principles that are involved; we practice them in our lives; and we pray to God and ask him to reveal the truth to us, on the same basis that the Prophet used when he read in the book of James:
"'If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.'" (BYU Speeches, Sept. 29, 1964, p. 7)