If the neutral tones had been designed to show off what was on the walls, they worked.

I managed to keep a neutral tone to my voice and said, "Good evening."

She said in that same casually neutral tone, "It's just like old times."

"I thought you were going to," he said, his tone carefully neutral.

When all three talked together, the vessel used a neutral male tone.

She finally looked up and continued her question in a neutral tone.

"The model is unharmed," said the woman in her neutral tone.

After a moment, he added in the same neutral tone of voice, "That is an order."

"I'm fine," he said in a clipped, neutral tone that she knew meant something serious was on his mind.

But when the crisis passed, news coverage resumed a more neutral tone.