The pitch, tone, inflection, decibel, and timbre of your vocal chords when they deliver your personal sound become richer with age. When you speak with a six-year-old, her voice is like a flute with soprano qualities. It’s so high, no adult can mimic it.
Even pre-teens have that kid-like quality to their voice that denotes youth, and it’s precious just before they reach puberty.
For young women, especially, the quality of their voices and how they elect to deliver the syllables of inflection in a professional setting can often be their downfall.
There have been many different coming from teens and 20-somethings. Most notable is the Valley Girl delivery popular in the ‘80s and still evident in this decade. Today, there’s something called where the end of a sentence is twanged with a vibrato of the vocal chord to hang on to a syllable longer than usual. The Kardashians are notorious for this.
For an example of what I’m talking about, hit this video monologue by and you’ll see a variety of sounds resonating from this woman as she imitates a range of sound delivery.
Young Professionals
Have you ever listened to your own voice via recording? I encourage you to record your voice on your iPhone and listen to it. Or, make a video and interview someone as you stand behind the camera. Listen to how you sound when you’re in a professional interview.
One of my fave (hilarious) videos with Gini Dietrich, of SpinSucks fame, in has me guffawing and inflecting strangely all over the place not to mention the too-fast speaking, but I had tons of fun laughing through the three minutes. I knew I was inflecting for laughs, and it was purposeful. Would you be able to switch it up yourself?
Listen To Your Voice
When you are cold pitching someone as you look for a job or try to snare earned media, think about how your voice comes across on the phone. It’s your asset, and you should regard it as such. There’s a maturity consideration for voice intonation via the phone.
It’s imperative you lower the timbre of your voice as much as you can and never inflect up at the end of a sentence as this becomes a question where there is none. If your delivery is nasally, and Americans are notorious for speaking through their nose, it sounds like you’re in a tunnel or you have a cold.
Your voice needs to signify confidence and positive self-esteem, and how you elect to impress someone on the other end of a phone line depends a lot on your delivery (and of course what you say).
If you have a nervous giggle or speak too fast, you can easily adjust these habits. If you have serious inflection or timber issues perhaps you may want to consider a voice coach to help you adjust your tone to be more professional versus not yet seasoned.
Not all young people come across as light and airy on the phone, and when I encounter them I know immediately they have a command of professional delivery with a firm hand shake.
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As mentioned in the CBS video, there are actually some linguists who defend vocal fry. I’ve even read defenders of “upspeak.” As with any issue, you’ll find people on both sides, but as with grammar, it’s probably best not to risk it since it will definitely annoy/offend some people.
RobBiesenbach I admire anyone who lives by this technique; apparently, it has puzzled the scientists (your point) and they are intrigued. From a professional viewpoint, you don’t think about voice tonality until you meet something like this and then that’s all you hear. I wonder if folks who speak like this can turn it off? Thanks for coming over, Rob.
Hey Jayme,
This is really timely post. I don’t use vocal fry. I’ve always been very careful with my voice because I have always worked in jobs where speaking to groups, and really connecting with people through speaking was a major component. I made my living as a singer-songwriter for several years as well.
This month I started being treated for a vocal disorder. I’ve noticed over time that my voice was lower and when I sing, I have less range. For some time I thought that was just a natural consequence of aging and not singing full time anymore.
However, things got worse and I finally sought out the advice of Speech Language Pathologist. I have a vocal disorder brought on by stress and fatigue etc. I’m now seeing her weekly and doing all kinds of exercises daily to improve my vocal quality.
I had never heard of vocal fry but besides being annoying, in the long-term, I would think it will do damage to those precious cords. And for those of us who use our voice as an instrument for communication in our jobs, that could be career-altering.
What a great topic Jayme. Thanks for writing it.
Cheers,
Sharon
Sharon Gilmour Glover Wow, Sharon! Stress has affected your voice?? I’m so sad about that. Do you think b/c you were a singer and that’s how stress affected the chords — stress of use or stress of anxiety?
I think there are some folks interested in what happens with the fry…can’t be good for the chords and the vibration or something.
Soulati | Hybrid PR Sharon Gilmour Glover Stress caused the muscles in my neck and upper body to tense. I clench my teeth when I’m stressed.And the more tired we are, the more work we have to do to speak.
I had WAY too much on my plate for an extended period of time (growing my business, working on a master’s, chairing the board of a charity that was changing significantly,trying to figure out the whole social media/marketing/sales process connection). All of that took a toll on me but not in any spectacular way so I’d notice. Just gradually over time.
I am definitely not an expert but I would think that using the Fry over prolonged period of time would definitely impact the vocal cords. Happily for me, my cords are healthy. So I anticipate regaining my vocal range and full singing voice.
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KDillabough yes, received — I believe this is not the first time Michelle Quillin has had issues posting to Livefyre. I wonder if she’s on mobile, doesn’t have a Livefyre account, or something else.
New England Multimedia KDillabough Hey! Nice to finally see you, Michelle! Sorry you had challenges leaving your comment, and I appreciate your diligence trying to make it happen.
Meanwhile, I’m no vocal coach; however, if you’re concerned about it, then set up a phone meeting with someone and get some tips.
Coming from someone who always has had an alto singing voice with some tenor abilities, I don’t have this issue; however, what I can say is that when I listen to women (more often) who lack confidence in meetings or elsewhere, they can tend to inflect up at the end of a sentence which becomes a question; and, their pitch also squeaks or gets higher.
Is this something you do?
To command attention and authority, consider your body language, too. If you sit forward, and pierce them in their eyes and keep your thoughts shorter, you’ll keep attention longer and people won’t have time to judge your vocal tendency or inflections.
Others have a bad habit of saying, “you know what I mean?” or “got it” or “right?” at the end of a sentence trying to earn consensus and agreement when in fact they’re nervous about their confidence.
I have heard you speak and you’re nothing but sweet and personable. If you’re trying to make change happen with teens, perhaps you’ll need to adopt some body language strength to be more empowered. But, I’m not sure. This is all just stream of conscious.
Does any of it make sense? Oh, wow. That’s another one — “make sense?” I hate that.