What's in a Voice?

For anyone who has never been concerned with how their voice functions and/or conveys their identity, it may seem trivial to hear someone complain of how their voice sounds.  After all, it's just a voice--there's much more to a person than how they sound.  Have a cough drop and carry on. 

Well, ask someone who feels insecure about their voice how much how they sound to others matters.  To many people, their voice sounds "bad", whether too high, low, raspy, quiet, harsh, strangled, nasally--a whole plethora of adjectives--and trying to describe or identify the quality that's "bad" is hard enough, let alone try to fix it!  And many of us don't really know where to begin to "fix" the dilemma.

A Voice Problem?

So how do we decide if something is wrong?  Sometimes voice problems stem from an organic source, where something is physically wrong with the vocal tract or within the connections from the brain to the voice box (or larynx as it's called).  Other times voice problems are from a functional source, or misuse of the vocal mechanism that causes damage (usually reversible!) to the vocal folds.  

You might be tempted to self-diagnose, but I encourage you to consider an appointment with a healthcare provider to discuss the possibilities and options.  Often you will be referred to an Ear, Nose, & Throat doctor (or ENT) who can evaluate you from a medical standpoint and help identify organic causes.  You might then be referred to a Speech-Language Pathologist who can work with you on strategies to work toward the voice you want.

Sometimes, the structure and function of the vocal tract is normal, but the sound that is produced doesn't align with our sense of self--what we wish to project to the world.  This is a problem encountered often by professional voice users (singers, announcers, broadcast anchors, etc.), working professionals who depend on their voice for success in their jobs, and especially transgender individuals whose anatomy impacts the desired gender they wish to convey.

Our Voice is Our Identity

And herein likes the reality--our voice is not just a voice; it is a projection of our identity as much as our personality, facial features, or height.  By it, many judgments are made about us--from gender, to size, to health, to personality.  Often, it is the only cue used by the listener to make judgments (during a telephone call, for instance).  Depending on the qualities of our voice, that assessment may be accurate or it may be worlds away from reality, or at least the reality we want to convey.

Try an experiment.  Use a sound recorder on your computer, or record yourself with your phone reading a passage.  You have a representation in your mind of how you sound, and possibly a separate representation of how you want to sound.  When you play back the recording, think about the qualities of the voice that make you you.  Do you think it's a good representation of your identity?  Or does it sound foreign?  Often we dislike the sound of our own voice heard from recordings (more on that in another post).  What qualities about your recorded voice make you cringe?  What qualities do you like?

Now try this experiment while listening to someone speak in a conversation with you.  What characteristics of their voice make it unique from everyone else, so that without seeing them you could recognize them by their voice alone?  We're quite good at this--identifying people from only verbal cues.  And there are many cues we pick up on that help us in this identification, including pitch, resonance, timbre, articulation, and vocabulary use.  Thus, there are many ways to alter the voice and speech and change the judgements made by the listener.  

More to Come

We will continue with a discussion of methods to alter the voice later.  Next, we'll be talking a little bit about the anatomy, physiology, and science of the vocal tract to give us an idea of what we're working with.  This blog will be dedicated to discussing both the "normal" and "abnormal" voice, a little of the science behind it, how the voice conveys our identity (to the good or detriment of our well-being!), physical characteristics, health, and attitudes.  Hope to see you again for the next installment!