to fucking hate, and I mean hate, vocal fry.

[merdde]

I'm watching a documentary and everyone in it speaks with vocal fry probably 85/90% of the time and it's so moronic. Why why is this a thing?

I wasn't making a dig at Australians, that's genuinely what the inflection is named. Also nobody is saying that any one nationality all use it, however it was very common among a particular demographic (young, female Aussies on a working visa in London) that I worked with in the 90's and 00's. Sometimes I genuinely struggled to know if they were telling me or asking me and had to ask for clarification.

I stand by finding it annoying though, but tbh that has continued to be true of all the new vocal styles and vocabulary of young people. I have a feeling that part of the attraction of them is that they are annoying to the older generation.

Thank god it’s not just me. I. HATE. IT. Strikes me it’s young men/women ‘trying’ to sound alluring 🤯

Never noticed it and don't care how people speak.

But there does seems to be a celebration of the male voice and a general dislike, even among some women, of a 'female' voice.

Men do vocal fry and uptalk too!

It's more of an age and class cutoff than gender ime.

Yes, it's really annoying one you notice it. I listen to My Favourite Murder podcast, which I love but the vocal fry can drive me crackers if I notice it too much.

@merdde It wasn’t “Free Solo”, was it? I watched that last night and thought the exact same thing!

@americandream Whaaat?! I had it wrong too

@Calixtine YES IT WAS!!! How on earth did you guess!!!

So fucking annoying, I hoped it fall off the fucking cliff.

This has been an enlightening thread. I think that I have more the usual amount of vocal fry in voice (not sure how / why / where I acquired it) and so will make a conscious effort to work on my breathing.

As an amateur singer who tries to take care of her vocal chords, I find it really sets my teeth on edge. I get almost a sympathetic sore throat just listening to it. It makes me want to offer them a lempsip and a swig of cough syrup and say "that's not doing your voice any good, you know."

Yes, yes, yes, you are so right! I thought it was just me.

I absolutely love This American Life but I have had to stop listening to some of them as the vocal fry is SO ANNOYING.

I teach in a university and it’s a huge problem amongst my students who regular need to use their voices in assessments. They have no idea they are doing it and I have some students who, like Kim K, are 90% vocal fry. It’s very lazy and annoying!

regularly

I was in my late teens when Neighbours hit our shores and the change in how people spoke was extremely marked, I had never heard the upwards vocal inflection and now it is absolutely everywhere - I remember my parents commenting on it at the time, how we all started to talk like this? When we weren’t asking a question? I still do it 30 years on!

It’s also not dangerous or harmful to the vocal folds at all by the way, for those that worry it is. In a previous life, I trained classically and then worked professionally in Musical Theatre and still sing professionally. It’s a great exercise for re-setting the larynx to a neutral position after having it in a low or high position. It’s also very helpful for beginning singers or those with poor technique to learn what good vocal fold closure feels like. It’s just a bad habit when it’s constantly used when speaking.

And I’ll probably piss people off by referring to vocal folds but that is the terminology that is used and encouraged now in training and amongst other professionals, professional voice users, teachers and medical specialists/therapists alike.

The vocal fry. Perfect for those who prefer to sound like an idiot.

I think it's often used as a front for the well-heeled and ambitious to pretend they are surfers/ snowboarders and veeeerrrry laaiiid baaaaack.

I remember as a teen being told I was creaking "in a way that was fashionable for young girls" in the 90s already, though, when taking a course on verbal communication. I was told to train myself out of it. I don't think I do it in the way it sounds in the videos, but my voice does go a bit croaky sometimes due to the long time I've spent having bulimia. (I nearly typed out I was sorry to annoy, but realised I really don't care.)

I have never noticed anyone speaking like this, ever might try to pay more attention

I’ll probably piss people off by referring to vocal folds

Not at all. Yours is one of the few constructive posts in this thread and so is much appreciated.

It’s also very helpful for beginning singers or those with poor technique to learn what good vocal fold closure feels like.

Is there a way to learn this or do you have to go to someone to be taught the technique?

Thanks!

@Luggsaysnotawoman fry isn’t damaging to the vocal folds actually. It’s

Hit enter too soon! It’s simply a lack of breath support that causes it and is really easily rectified if you wish too.

This American Life did a response to complaints about this a couple of years ago, where they basically made out that anyone who had a problem with vocal fry was being sexist. But I don't agree - a lot of their male journalists do it too: Ira Glass himself, Brian Reed (who did S-Town too).

It does seem to be an affectation though - I was listening to the most recent TAL episode last night and I noticed the vocal fry was only evident in the journalist's monologues (and was becoming ridiculous - not just fry at the end of sentences but almost all the way through) - when she was interviewing people she spoke in a regular voice with hardly any fry at all.

Katharine Ryan is a prime example.

Many people do it on the last vowel sound of the last word of their sentence to buy themselves more time to think before starting their next sentence. It's annoying but seen to be a step up from an "um" or an "er".

Next time you see people are speaking in public (Work presentations, lecturers, conferences, House of Commons, politicians) watch out for it.

It's very common.