What is it with the vocal fry!! Just stop!!

[usedcars11]

I manage a girl less than half my age and she is driving me insane.

She has this low, croaky vocal fry voice where she drawwwwwssss ouuuut every syllable, It must hurt her throat to talk like it!.

She also sniffs constantly, I sit right next to her and have thought about offering a tissue but I dont want to offend her.

On the other hand she is genuinely driving me insane with the dopey, drawling voice and the sniffing.

Is it ok to speak to her about it? I suspect the sniffing I can address but I dont feel I can ask her to just bloody speak properly!

ARGHH

I detest it.
Some men’s (and occasionally women’s) voices naturally have this quality at the lower end of their register, eg when speech shifts totally during normal speaking. that is not the same as deliberately shifting your voice into vf as in this clip.

This is a constant low pitched drawl. She is on the phone to customers and because she's reading out loud something to the customer she's reading every word as a long, slow drawl while her brain catches up with her reading.
She speaks like it in the office too. Its definitely an affectation and something she she's picked up - we have a very distinctive 'local' accent and shes nothing like it despite being brought up here. Its like a low, American drawl.

I've read this before but still have no idea what a vocal fry is. Are there any famous people who have it to give me a clue?

Watch the video in MabelAnderson's post a few above for a good example.

Personally, I don't do vocal fry myself I think but don't mind the way it sounds at all. We had a young trainee recently at work with very pronounced vocal fry and I noticed it but didn't mind one bit. I think it's on you OP to learn to deal with it - there's nothing objectively wrong with it 🤷🏻‍♀️

I can't bear it. It sounds as though people have a permanent ball of phlegm in their throat. It must be such hard work to change your way of speaking every single time you open your mouth.

I want to say 'just clear your bloody throat so I don't have to listen to phlegm vibrate every time you speak'. I don't of course, I just avoid people who do it and think they're idiots.

OP. Could you quietly put a box of tissues on her desk with a post it note saying 'Stop sniffing'?

The King is an older man though with a much deeper voice generally than most young women have. It might happen naturally to him occasionally but when a young woman does it permanently it's an affectation.

It's as annoying when anyone puts this on as it is in young women.

Whether it's her choice or not, the problem lies with the OP.

I have colleagues who do the vocal fry thing and I find it hard to concentrate on what they're saying and the message they're trying to get across.

As for the sniffy nose - had this constantly with one colleague who had a coke addiction.

No, shes full of a cold. Has sneezed repeatedly into her hand all day. Then touched all the doors and surfaces in the office......

The Kardashians absolutely did not start it. Paris Hilton had a vocal fry before Kim was even famous…. It’s been a thing in the Valley of California for decades

So ask her not to do that. Ask her to wash her hands or use hand gel

It's just another way to police the way women talk.

Maybe try listening to what she's saying rather than the current vocal mannerisms that are "on trend" to disparage.

If you don't like hearing women speak then maybe look at your own internalised misogyny.

@User478 I think that's a stretch. I mean, you could argue women using an affected voice is their way of dealing with misogyny...as in Margaret Thatcher lowering her voice on purpose to be more masculine and be taken seriously.

I definitely have misophonia. I'm menopausal, have tinnitus and noise sensitivity issues from a medical condition. My Dad definitely had issues with certain sounds and I think perhaps I got this from him in some way too, just like kids can pick up phobias from parents.

I think other people and their habits just get on my tits these days 😆 Still a me problem but god they are so fecking annoying.

The wife of Patrick Clancy former husband of Lindsey Clancy has pronounced vocal fry. Dr. Rachel Danis. I couldn’t even listen to her interview because of the vocal fry.

Vocal fry is infuriating. I have noise cancelling headphones I wear in the office. I literally can't stand it. There is an absolutely lovely woman who sits across from me who has the worst/most consistent vocal fry I have ever heard. It is so common now though. I sometimes have to turn the radio off when it is really bothering me.

I do have misophonia anyway and I know this is my problem. I really wish there was good evidence based interventions for misophonia, it really is a difficult thing to live with for all involved.

😂

It truly is a horrible condition. Annoying voices really, really give me the rage.

This thread is very timely because it's something I'm really noticing in podcasts recently. Particularly news related ones. It's so distracting. All I can hear is the gravelly voice getting more and more croaky. I'm afraid I think it's an affectation. Meghan Markle has adopted it too.

Internalised misogyny 🙄
Behave yersel wuman 😂

Ok watched that. It is an odd way of talking rather like they have swallowed a stylophone if anyone remembers that abomination. Never come across anyone who does this though so far.

It’s an Americanism I think. Like the Aussie voice going up at the end? Like a question?

I am strongly perimenopausal so my nerves are about as thin as fag papers. I think that’s a lot to do with it, so yeah it’s probably meeeee….

Oh come off it, it’s bloody ridiculous. Nothing to do with misogyny ffs

But you are not alone ❤️

I have an on site work day tomorrow. I will be fuming approximately 5 mins after setting off due to tailgaters, then it'll be disgusting perfume, sniffers, coughers, general noisy twats and a billion other things .. If I make it to lunchtime without hurling myself out of a window...I may have to do some meditation with noise cancelling earbuds in. 😖

If it’s vocal fry it’s not her natural voice. It’s an affectation.