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?
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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:
- Check out this article on young women as linguistic trendsetters.
- Read the full study from 2011.
- Learn more about people’s negative reactions to vocal fry.
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
@yohannamayerJohanna 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
@ElahFederElah 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.