Written by: Dain Hong / Voice Therapy / February 2020

While the term vocal fry may be new, you have definitely heard it in action. It’s in movies, our favourite shows, among colleagues, and friend groups. In fact, we may be using it ourselves! 

Vocal, or glottal, fry is a register of voice that sounds low in pitch, creaky, and breathy. The way our voice works is that air comes up

from the lungs to vibrate the vocal folds at the level of our neck. Vocal folds are muscle flaps that work like strings on a guitar, allowing us to control the pitch and quality of our voice. When our voice is frying, the vocal folds are extremely loose—like a loosely tuned guitar, and does not achieve the clarity it is capable of. 

Our voice can be used in three different registers—or levels. First, there is the modal voice which we use most commonly. In this case, the vocal folds draw near to midline, allowing the folds to vibrate fully and effectively. In fact, speech language pathologists have discovered this voice to be the most efficient considering its sustainability and clarity. 

The second type of register is one that is higher than the modal—the falsetto. You may have seen this word in the context of music, when singers are “singing in their head” or striving to reach a particularly high note. Falsetto also refers to a voice usage – both in song and speech—characterized by higher pitches, or frequencies. This is the kind of voice that mothers use to their children (“motherese”) or we may use when talking to babies or puppies. Physiologically, the vocal folds are pulled tight, allowing only the edges to vibrate, compared to the modal where the entire folds vibrate. There is generally less range and flexibility that can be achieved in the falsetto register. 

The final register is the fry—or precisely, the glottal or vocal fry—that is seen in a growing number of high school, college and professional-aged individuals. This voice is produced when the vocal folds are pressed together but not stretching longitudinally, creating a loosely closed gap. This results in involuntary pulses coming out as the folds rattle against each other. Such a voice cannot maintain a consistent volume or pitch, but rather is made of bursts of creakiness among occasional instances of the voicelessness. 

Current research has found that glottal fry is more prevalent in females than in males. Kim and Kourtney Kardashian are two examples, as well as Zooey Deschanel, Lady Gaga, and Paris Hilton. By the physiology of voice production, it makes sense that glottal fry is more common in females. This is because women tend to have shorter vocal folds (leading to their higher pitch) that make the voice muscles easier to bunch up. This bunching up leads to more loosening, and thus to glottal fry. 

Interestingly enough, this “creaky voice” used to be seen in males more than females, particularly in Europe. As their voice was lower to begin with, the loosening of the folds did not lead to a dramatically different sound, while it did remove some of the clarity. When women entered the workforce in the 1960s, they were criticized for their high pitch. This may have influenced them to speak in a low-pitched voice, as such a voice was associated with power and authority. As women’s speaking voices were generally higher, speaking in a lower pitch did not allow for much control and it would quickly slip into vocal fry. As well, the naturally higher pitch of female voices exaggerated the frying, in contrast to the naturally lower pitch of males, leading women to receive greater criticism for this voice usage. 

Vocal fry can be seen in American female roles where women have greater control over the conversation, as observed in roles played by Reese Witherspoon, Renee Zellweger, and Gwyneth Paltrow. In such situations, the fry projects them as “casual, educated, genuine and compliant.” A contrasting view of this voice usage, as revealed in a research paper by Anderson et al. (2014), describes that vocal fry in females makes them seem “less competent, educated, trustworthy, attractive and hirable.”

Despite the side you take on vocal fry, there are strategies you can learn to use your voice in the modal range—the range identified to be the most effective and efficient. 

To speak with one of the speech-language pathologists at Well Said: Toronto Speech Therapy, schedule an initial consultation by clicking the link below or calling (647) 795-5277.