Men's voices often deepen up to an octave, while women's voices usually move about three tones lower. After puberty and well into older adulthood, some people's voices may change, but not everyone's. Men's voices tend to go up in pitch. Women's voices tend to go down.
The biggest changes to your voice will happen during puberty and will usually end by the age of 18. Your adult pitch is then reached 2 or 3 years later. But your voice won't completely stabilise until early adulthood. Your voice can carry on changing through your 20's, and even into your 30's.
In most cases, the voice begins to change between the ages of 12 and 13. The voice change in boys occurs between the ages of 15 and 18. If your son's voice hasn't changed, that's a red flag! A boy must have a deep male voice by the age of 18.
In the early 20s, a healthy voice — like the rest of the body — typically shows a thrilling combination of strength and flexibility. Sadly, this peak of range and agility typically declines slightly by the later 20s to early30s, when the voice is considered to be fully mature at a biological level.
Puberphonia (also known as mutational falsetto, functional falsetto, incomplete mutation, adolescent falsetto, or pubescent falsetto) is a functional voice disorder that is characterized by the habitual use of a high-pitched voice after puberty, hence why many refer to the disorder as resulting in a 'falsetto' voice.
When you go through puberty, your voice deepens. Men's voices often deepen up to an octave, while women's voices usually move about three tones lower. After puberty and well into older adulthood, some people's voices may change, but not everyone's. Men's voices tend to go up in pitch.
Between the ages of 18 and 21, your voice stabilizes because the vocal folds and larynx have reached their full growth. While there can be some changes into your 30s, most people's voices are finished with physical changes due to hormones by the age of 21 or so.
Puts' Scientific Reports study found that men with lower formant frequencies—a deeper resonance in their voices—tended to be taller, larger, and stronger. (That's partly because longer vocal tracts and larger vocal folds generate lower, more resonant voices.)
The age at which voice changes begin varies widely between boys. Most often it begins between the ages of 12 and 13 and the changes are mostly complete after ages 15 to 18.
Your voice during puberty
In boys, this happens between ages 12 and 16; in girls, between ages 10 and 14. The first sign of puberty in girls is breast development, while in boys it's an increase in the size of the testicles. As this is happening, the voice tends to change as well.
Cavities in the sinuses, the nose, and the back of the throat grow bigger, creating more space in the face — which gives the voice more room to resonate. As a boy's body adjusts to this changing equipment, his voice may "crack" or "break." This process lasts only a few months.
“We're good at estimating a speaker's age because of physiological changes that happen to all of us irrespective of our first language,” Dr Gnevsheva says. “That is, the deepening pitch of our voices as we age.”
Stress: In addition to headaches, stomachaches, and tight muscles, stress may also affect the way your voice sounds. Overuse: If you've been talking or singing much more than normal, you could be straining your vocal cords. Polyps or Cysts: Growths on your vocal cords could change your voice.
Study says men find women with a lower voice more attractive.
“Women like lower-pitched voices because of human evolutionary history. Men who have lower-pitched voices have higher testosterone, they're more likely to be healthy, dominant, attain high social status. These are all things women find really attractive,” O'Connor told Global News.
It used to be thought that voice pitch in mammals relates to body size, but that is no longer believed top be the case. McElligott pointed out that you can have big men with higher-pitched voices, or smaller men with lower-pitched voices, so pitch is not always an indication of body size.
As people get older, the larynx (voice box), vocal folds (cords), and voice-producing mechanism age along with the rest of the body. Age-related voice changes develop as muscle and other tissues in the larynx and vocal cords shrink, thin, and stiffen.
Testosterone will cause a thickening of the vocal chords, which will result in a more male-sounding voice. Not all trans men will experience a full deepening of the pitch of their voice with testosterone, however.
Keep in mind: There is no upper age limit for contestants on “The Voice”—artists of all ages over 13 are encouraged to apply. Don't audition if you're running for public office. Candidates for public office aren't eligible to audition for The Voice.
As a person goes through puberty, the larynx grows, and the vocal cords lengthen and thicken, so the voice deepens. As adults age, the vocal cords become thinner, and the cartilage of the larynx becomes harder and less flexible, altering the voice.
Cavities in the sinuses, the nose, and the back of the throat grow bigger, creating more space in the face and giving the voice more room to resonate. Each child develops at a different pace, so a boy's voice might change anywhere between ages 11 and 14½, usually just after the major growth spurt.
Making Your Voice Deeper
Just being conscious of your pitch can help you drop your voice to a lower range. It also may help to speak slow and steady, so you don't rush and make your pitch go higher. Work on chest resonance. More manly voices tend to have more chest resonance.