Everything you need to know about Vocal Fry!

What is Vocal Fry?

Vocal “fry” refers to a crackly voice sound often produced towards the end of a sentence or word. It occurs when less air flows through the vocal cords, causing a slow, irregular vibration pattern, it is the lowest pitch of sound we can produce vocally.

Here’s an exaggerated example of “normal” speech vs. vocal fry:  

Vocal Fry Example.m4a.zip

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You’ll notice the pitch dropped and the voice took on a “crackly” quality on the second example. Try to recreate this in your own voice - what does it feel like? Is it more relaxed or more effortful when compared to your “natural” speaking voice? 

Vocal fry is not bad, or good, it is just a way of speaking. Some individuals attend Speech Therapy to increase their vocal fry, others to decrease - it is all personal preference! 

Over the past several years there has been significant discussion about vocal fry, following a series of studies that demonstrated individuals (particularly women) were less likely to be selected for a job, if they spoke with vocal fry. Additionally, you may come across sources that indicate speaking with vocal fry is causes long-term damage to the voice. While this has never been directly demonstrated in a legitimate study it is true that excessive vocal fry may indicate an underlying issue, if/when there are additional voice or breathing symptoms present. 

So… what now?

At Beyond Speech we believe that everyone should communicate however is most comfortable and functional for them. 

Speech-Language Pathologists can help individuals modify the presence of vocal fry (increasing or decreasing) by safely educating and guiding the client through different exercises coordinating breath and voice. 

Rather than eliminating vocal fry from the voice entirely, we often work towards code switching - empowering the client to modify their voice and communication based on the specific situation. For example, you probably speak to your Grandma differently than you speak to your Best Friends, that’s code-switching! Learning to control different aspects of your language use and voice production can allow you to adapt to any situation, confidently producing sound that best represents you in that situation.  

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If you have any additional questions, please contact us @info@beyondspeech.ca

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Book an assessment session with one of our Speech-Language Pathologists!