'During menopause, the amount of oestrogen diminishes and affects the vocal cords, sometimes leading to a decrease in the pitch of the voice. That's why you'll often hear women in their 50s and 60s whose voices sound lower than they used to in their 20s and 30s. '
As your larynx grows, your vocal cords grow longer and thicker. Also, your facial bones begin to grow. Cavities in the sinuses, the nose, and the back of the throat grow bigger, creating more space in the face that gives your voice more room to echo. All of these factors cause your voice to get deeper.
So it tickled me to discover my voice was referenced in a recent dating study from the University of Sussex which found that men find a lower tone more attractive.
As adults age, the vocal cords become thinner, and the cartilage of the larynx becomes harder and less flexible, altering the voice. Aging often changes the pitch of the voice, causing it to become higher in older men and lower in older women.
"When a woman naturally lowers her voice, it may be perceived as her attempt to sound more seductive or attractive, and therefore serves as a signal of her romantic interest," she adds. Their research also measured people's awareness of the changes in others' voices.
Research confirms that deep voices give men an aura of power and sexual allure. Men with low, resonant voices are more likely to be perceived as attractive, masculine, respectable, and dominant.
Symptoms of Aging Voice
An aging voice shows signs that often include: Higher pitch in men. Lower pitch in women. Loss of projection and resonance.
The most common reported symptoms are dryness, frequent throat clearing, vocal fatigue, roughness, loss of range, and deepening of the voice.
Certain medical conditions can affect the nerves that control the vocal cords. These can include multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, Parkinson disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Huntington disease. Nerves can also be injured from surgery or chronic inflammation of the larynx (laryngitis). Hormones.
Perversely enough, women who receive too much testosterone replenishment may find that their voices change to a lower timbre, which is thought to be permanent. Both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism also cause voice disturbances. Low thyroid produces hoarseness and a lack of range.
Contralto: this is the lowest female voice, ranging from F3 below the central C to F5. It is exceedingly rare, and often contralto roles are given to mezzos with dark tones.
Singing is also thought to be genetic because gender can affect your voice; differences in the size of the larynx mean men have deeper voices while women have higher, breathier tones. The natural timbre of your voice is determined by genetics, but you can learn how to train and develop your voice.
For women with a voice that sounds like a man, it could be because of the size and thickness of their vocal cords, in which case, they'll need to develop full resonance too, to make their voice sound warmer, an essential quality of a female voice.
Practice raising your larynx and resonating from your throat instead of your chest. When you speak you should feel it vibrate more in your throat than your chest.
Transfeminine people can use methods like vocal therapy and vocal training apps to make their voices sound more feminine. This process can transform the voice by changing pitch, volume, resonance, articulation, and melodic intonation.
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.
Voice changes may occur even in the cases of mild thyroid failure since thyroid hormone receptors have been found in the larynx, which proves that the thyroid hormone acts on the laryngeal tissue [6]. Hypothyroidism can cause notable voice changes, such as low voice, roughness, reduced range, and vocal fatigue [7].
However primary pulmonary hypertension presenting as hoarseness of voice is rare occurring most likely due to compression of left recurrent laryngeal nerve between normal aorta and dilated tense pulmonary artery.
Changes in hormone levels have been associated with decreased fundamental frequency (pitch) hoarseness, decreased vocal range, and difficulty with complex motor tasks (Boone, 1997; Emerich. et aI., 1996). Estrogen therapy has been helpful in forestalling the typical voice changes that follow menopause.
This is illustrated by the changes that occur during male and female puberty: In the female, the impact of estrogens at puberty, in concert with progesterone, produces the characteristics of the female voice, with a fundamental frequency one third lower than that of a child.
There is laryngeal edema due to the high estrogenic state before the ovulation. However, the relative excess of androgens after menopause may lead to a slight drop in the pitch of the voice. Other voice changes observed after menopause include huskiness, vocal fatigue, and inability to reach high harmonics.
On the flip side, losing weight may lighten your voice if you're a female and deepen your voice if you're a male. If you're not losing a dramatic amount of weight, likely, you won't notice a difference at all in your voice. If you were severely obese before the weight loss, you might notice more clarity in your tone.
Girls' voices typically change (much less drastically) between the ages of 10 and 14. Between the ages of 18 and 21, your voice stabilizes because the vocal folds and larynx have reached their full growth.