Vocal fry, the lowest register of your voice, often compared to a creaky sound, is a hot-button topic. While it’s frequently discussed, most people don’t know what it is or why it happens. Let’s dissect vocal fry to help you better understand it.
Why Does Vocal Fry Happen?
When you talk, the two muscular bands inside your voice box, called vocal cords, meet in the middle and vibrate. These vibrations produce sound.
When you breathe, your vocal cords relax to let air through. Because they don’t touch, they don’t produce any sound. Vocal fry happens when you relax your vocal cords, as if breathing, but do not increase the air output. The result is a slower vibration that presents as the lower, creaking vocal fry.
Vocal fry is either intentional or a learned habit. For example, you might be more likely to employ vocal fry if your peers or family use it.
Is Vocal Fry Dangerous?
Vocal fry isn’t dangerous, but it can quickly turn habitual, meaning it could be hard to stop once you’ve started.
While vocal fry isn’t dangerous, it can have social implications.
How Does Vocal Fry Impact Me Socially?
Many actors, radio hosts and internet personalities use vocal fry to sound more relaxed or commanding. While vocal fry is a communication technique, it can come off as uninterested.
What if I Can’t Stop Using Vocal Fry?
Choosing to stop using vocal fry is a personal choice. Because vocal fry is habitual, you may find it hard to get back to your natural voice once you’ve started altering it. If this is the case, a speech-language pathologist can help you retrain the sound of your voice.
Sometimes, a rougher quality to your voice isn’t the result of intentional vocal fry but is an indicator of vocal cord damage.
How Do I Damage My Vocal Cords?
Laryngitis, an inflammation of the vocal cords, can produce a raspy, breathy or hoarse quality. While most laryngitis is temporary, often cropping up after overuse, other cases have an underlying cause. If you notice a raspy quality to your voice that you can’t attribute to a night of singing your favorite lyrics at Aggie Theatre, there’s likely another cause, including but not limited to:
- Benign growths like vocal cord nodules, polyps and cysts
- Excess coughing
- Smoking
- Acid reflux
- Frequent sinus infections
- Bacterial infections
If you’ve noticed an unintentional rough or creaky sound in your voice, schedule an appointment with one of our throat specialists at Alpine Ear Nose & Throat PC today. We can help identify the underlying cause of your voice changes and find the appropriate path forward.