It also coincides with the empowerment of the younger generation relative to the older generation. Write an article and join a growing community of more than 113,600 academics and researchers from 3,705 institutions.

Stream Male vocal fry by Olga Khazan from desktop or your mobile device This fact coincides with a greater participation in the workforce and overall empowerment of women in modern societies in the same timeframe. Anecdotally, it is also being observed by speech pathologists more commonly in young women in Brazil, but is not reported as a phenomenon in Europe. This parallels the findings in other research that women are judged on their physical attributes more than men.

So who has the problem?

So why is vocal fry, a commonly occurring phenomenon across all speakers, becoming the focus of commentary and criticism of young women in Australia, the UK and the US?

Thus, young women may be unconsciously signalling their own sense of personal power using this voice quality. Traditionally, older people are attributed more power than younger people and men are attributed more power than women. University of Sydney provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.

It’s hard not to conclude that all this commentary about vocal fry is not actually about the voice, but about power and status, and who is allowed to have it. For those who don’t know, the term refers to the lowest vocal register, where the vocal cords are tightly closed for a very long time in the vibration pattern, resulting in a low pitched, creaky voice. Women who had clear voices were perceived as being less neurotic than men with clear voices. As women participate more in verbal–based activities, and as their profile rises in the media, we are hearing women’s “voices” more and more. It occurs in everyone (men and women) at some time, usually momentarily, and most commonly when we wake up in the morning, before we are fully conscious; when we are tired or de-energised; at the en…

Let’s compare the fry of the last two prime ministers.

Vocal, or glottal, fry is a description of voice quality (not pitch or loudness). Cate Madill is owner of Cate Madill Voice and Speech, a speech pathology practice based in Sydney, NSW and Director of Voicecraft International Pty Ltd. She is a member of Speech Pathology Australia, the Australian Voice Association, the Australian Society for Performing Arts Healthcare and the Laryngology Society of Australasia. Some of the most recent commentary has focused on how women who use vocal fry are perceived, with detractors and champions, researchers and social commentators weighing in on what is a growing phenomenon. But what does it mean and what attributions do people make when they hear it? Voice quality can also be an identifier of tribal belonging. 2) The second possible hypothesis relates to the solidarity attribution we have observed in previous voice research.

It is caused by a more flaccid, thicker vocal cord movement and the recruitment of the false vocal cords (the muscles that sit above the vocal cords that we use to hold our breath and cough). Vocal fry may be the new voice for young upwardly mobile American women.

We all know of the phenomenon whereby we unconsciously mimic a communication partner’s physical movements, accent or verbal style as a means of improving the effectiveness and sense of ease of communication. It occurs in everyone (men and women) at some time, usually momentarily, and most commonly when we wake up in the morning, before we are fully conscious; when we are tired or de-energised; at the end of phrases, specifically on the last word or syllable; and when we are stressed or anxious. Also, continued use of vocal fry is more likely to lead to a voice problem in women that can limit communicative effectiveness and reduced vocal capability.

2) An older woman (see the video of Angela Catterns above) This is a less likely hypothesis given the prevalence of vocal fry in social communication settings, where it likely that young women feel more at ease with each other. The meaning or attribution given to voice quality has been investigated in many studies – the most rigorous research was conducted by Jeffry Pittam and Cindy Gallois in Queensland in the 1980s. It has been reported that vocal fry as a vocal phenomenon is occurring more frequently in young women (in their 20s and 30s) in the US, the UK and Australia. We may be hearing the sound of women under pressure. This type of vocal cord vibration results in increased collision force of the true vocal folds (remember the true vocal folds are the only muscles in the body that hit each other). Vocal fry is a distinct, easily identified vocal feature (unlike many other less obvious features of resonance or vocal clarity) and may be used as an identifier of a gender generation – young women living in a democracy who may have a similar value system and sense of belonging in that tribe. This increase in force during vibration of the vocal folds can be traumatic and cause injury to the vocal folds if it occurs a lot – injuries such as laryngitis, vocal fold swelling, and vocal nodules, to name just a few. In my (unpublished) PhD, undertaken at the University of Sydney, women with croaky voices were perceived as being more neurotic than men with croaky voices. There are numerous blogs on vocal fry – with commentary, opinion and current media and YouTube examples. or status (are they more or less powerful than me). a news reader (see the videos of Leigh Sales and Chris Bath above). They found that people attribute meaning to the sound of the voice, specifically: solidarity (is this person like me or like-able; are they one of my tribe?) 3) A person in a position of status, e.g. Comment on Julia Gillard’s voice was common when she was the prime minister, yet she used fry at the end of her phrases in her maiden speech in Parliament without any ensuing commentary on her voice. Unfortunately though, we know that both male and female listeners will perceive women more negatively if they use a hoarse, rough, creaky tone. The only problem is that when women are in their twenties and thirties, their pitch is still relatively high due to the anatomy and physiology of the voice (pitch naturally lowers in women over time due to changes in cartilage, muscle tone and hormones). Director of the University of Sydney Voice Research Laboratory, University of Sydney. Male vocal fry vs female vocal fry. Stream Male vocal fry by Olga Khazan from desktop or your mobile device It is also called glottalisation, and is considered a normally occurring feature in many tonal languages, such as Vietnamese, Wu Chinese and Burmese. A person’s accent and/ or native language identifies them as being part of a common tribe. Vocal, or glottal, fry is a description of voice quality (not pitch or loudness).

The voice box responds to the “fight and flight” response (in which anxiety is only the continuum) by tightening (holding the breath) in preparation to stabilise the thoracic region to provide greater strength to the limbs for fleeing or fighting. It is also called glottalisation, and is considered a normally occurring feature in many tonal languages, such as Vietnamese, Wu Chinese and Burmese.

A lower pitch is perceived almost universally as the speaker (male or female) having more authority and/ or greater status.

Vocal fry has the effect of perceptually lowering pitch, even though it is not clear sounding. In any case, it’s hard to ignore the fact that it’s fine to fry if you’re: 1) A man Clearly not the young, empowered women in question. Vocal fry is perceived as “creaky” or “croaky” and low-pitched as it is the result of very slow and somewhat uneven vibration of the true vocal cords. We know that the average pitch of women in Australia has dropped since the 1950s. There are three likely hypothesis for the increase in vocal fry in young women in modern, western society: 1) A lower pitch is a sign of empowerment, and we know young women are generically feeling more empowered in these societies; therefore, they may be unconsciously signalling this empowerment by lowering the pitch. Much has been written about vocal fry in recent years, with the focus on what it is, where it comes from and what it means. It is a descriptor of the lowest part of the vocal range, a symptom of a voice disorder, and currently, a cultural phenomenon related to gender, age and geography. Copyright © 2010–2020, The Conversation US, Inc.