Vocal Fry: Why I’m Not Getting A Voice Coach

Vocal fry has been around for ages. So why are people suddenly so bothered by it?

cute green frog looking straight at camera with its mouth wide open and green background
Credit: Shutterstock

design of typewriter with text 'science diction'Science Diction is a bite-sized podcast about words—and the science stories behind them. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and sign up for our newsletter.


logo that says listen on apple podcastsbadge that says 'listen on stitcher'

a designed, painted circle with text inside that reads "best of 2021"

For decades, vocal fry lived a relatively quiet existence. It was known to linguists, speech pathologists and voice coaches, but everyday people didn’t pay much attention to it.

But then in 2011, people started noticing it everywhere. So what happened? What is vocal fry anyway? Why does host Johanna Mayer use it? What’s her problem? And is it really that bad?

Guest:

Lisa Davidson is the chair of the Linguistics Department at NYU.

Footnotes & Further Reading:

Credits:

This episode was produced with Kevin McLean, along with Johanna Mayer. Elah Feder is our Editor and Senior Producer. D Peterschmidt is our Composer, and they sound designed and mastered the episode. Nadja Oertelt is our Chief Content Officer.


Meet the Writers

About Kevin McLean

Kevin McLean is a science media producer based in Davis, California.

About Johanna Mayer

Johanna Mayer is a podcast producer and hosted Science Diction from Science Friday. When she’s not working, she’s probably baking a fruit pie. Cherry’s her specialty, but she whips up a mean rhubarb streusel as well.

About Elah Feder

Elah Feder is the former senior producer for podcasts at Science Friday. She produced the Science Diction podcast, and co-hosted and produced the Undiscovered podcast.

Explore More

Jargon: We Love To Hate It

Most people despise it. So why do we use it? And is all jargon bad?

Read More

Juggernaut: Indian Temple Or Unstoppable Force?

Jagannath Temple in India gave rise to the word “juggernaut.” But the ancient story of Jagannath is rather delightful.

Read More