Vocal Fry isn’t a Crime
How to stop using vocal fry.
- Relax your throat & larynx.
- Use sufficient airflow from the beginning to the end of your utterance.
- Shorten your statements into chunks.
I’ll give you specific details for each step further along in this article. Also, check out the vocal fry video below.
You just want to stop using vocal fry, and all anyone can talk about is a low register.
A relaxed, non-glottal fry voice is associated with confidence. And it’s something you can achieve. A confident voice makes people relax & trust you. A voice riddled with glottal fry not only makes you hard to follow, but it makes it hard for people to trust you.
If you don’t need people to trust you, carry on! As you were! But if you need to get ahead at work then read on.
So not only can you eliminate the use of vocal fry in your voice, but you can end up with a voice that’s dripping with poise and presence.
9 Secret Steps to Influencing Others
Want to be more influential? We all want to communicate our most important messages in a way that encourages others to take action. Whether that action is voting for our candidate or picking up milk from the store, the words we use and how we speak play a huge role in getting the job done.
Smart people improve themselves.
Because they want to be more successful.
You’re reading this article, so you’re obviously brilliant and like to continue to improve yourself to gain success in your career and with your relationships.
You’re not the person who says, “Like, that’s just how I talk, so take it or leave it.” (Read in a strong vocal fry voice, hanging on to the last word for a few seconds. Think Kim Kardashian.)
We aren’t victims here. There’s nothing that you’re good at that you haven’t worked on. Why should communication be any different? It’s the one thing that helps you achieve success, more than almost anything else.
Those folks that you know (or know of) who have full, resonant, magnetic voices and an authoritative way about them? They’ve worked on their voice and speech. Most of them aren’t telling you about it. They’re getting ahead in the world and they don’t want to give away their secret sauce.
We can debate all day about how annoying vocal fry is, but that's a waste of time.
Nearly everything people tell you about vocal/glottal fry is wrong. And at least unhelpful. The big word on the street is that vocal fry is your lowest register–that it’s your lowest pitch. That’s untrue. We cannot equate a low pitch with vocal fry.
And you can have a full, relaxed pitch without using vocal fry.
Vocal fry is what happens when your vocal mechanism is too tense.
Don’t waste your time.
If you’re serious about having a compelling, magnetic voice that gets you to the top of your career ladder, take The Voice Spa video course right now!
You have an accountant do your taxes, right? You have an IT person, a lawyer, a dentist, a hairdresser, heck, you may even have a golf pro! Because if it’s not in your wheelhouse, you hire someone who has it as their wheelhouse. When it comes to matters of communication, that person is me. 🙂
But if you don’t want to treat yourself and try to go it alone, carry on reading.
Vocal fry comes from tension in your throat and not using enough air.
That’s why at the end of your utterances, as you’ve used the last bit of air, vocal fry happens more frequently, even to people who don’t typically use glottal fry.
If you’re listening to yourself on the recorder & you’re hearing glottal fry throughout your speech, it’s time to get started making improvements.
I’m here for you, whatever way you want to do it! 🙂
How to Be a Great Conversationalist, Even if You’re an Introvert
One way is the take The Voice Spa online video course. It will teach you to eliminate the tension in your throat, how to use air for your speech, and even how to be more concise & persuasive 🙂
Another is to treat yourself & let me teach you!
How has vocal fry impacted your life?
I’ve worked with clients who ‘e used vocal fry for the past 25 years of my career. Every single time it’s been easy to eliminate!
And all of my clients have said that they were overlooked for jobs, treated as if they were “mean” or generally misunderstood. That’s the trouble with vocal fry–you aren’t genuinely represented!
Please let me know in the comments your opinions, feelings & experiences. I want to hear from you!
Relax & open up your vocal mechanism.
Glottal fry happens when you repeatedly slam your vocal cords together. It sounds like popping. Now get this, we don’t need to slam our vocal folds (fancy Speech Pathology talk) together. In fact, it’s discouraged. We don’t use our vocal cords for every sound either.
So you want to make sure that you’re vocal mechanism is relaxed and open. Picture your throat being cushioned with beautiful, comfortable pillows. 🙂
Use sufficient air from the beginning to the end of your utterance.
Speech is air molecules vibrating. The more air you use, the clearer and more compelling you’ll sound.
Also, you’ll want to make sure that you’re not using shallow breathing. The air should come from the bottom of your lungs. It’s called abdominal breathing and it helps you remain relaxed and helps you use a full, resonant voice. You know, the kind people with executive presence use?
An Introduction to Accent Reduction
This brief introduction will get you started on the road to speaking Standard American English.
Shorten your statements into chunks
You don’t have to get your whole, carefully constructed, highly informative sentence out in one breath! Separate your sentence into clauses or phrases, being sure not to separate in between words that have to stay together.
(If you started The Voice Spa or hired me to help you, you’d have this done already :))
Ok, pretend this is your sentence: I’m the Director of Operations at JPMorgan Chase. You’re not going to want to stop after “at.” The “at” has to be glued to JPMChase. You’ll want to pause after “operations.”
Chunking your speech gives you a chance to take another breath and makes it easier for your listener to process the information.
Yes, you’ll often see glottal fry with upspeak.
You know what upspeak is, right? It’s when you go up in pitch at the end of your statements—essentially turning them into a question. The problem with upspeak is that people’s brains are busy trying to figure out if the answer is yes or no and not able to process your message.
Every time you use upspeak you confuse your listener a little bit and you hand over your power. You are essentially saying, “Is what I’m saying correct?”
How vocal fry hurts your career.
You can’t close the deal with people you’ve confused. We need people to find us credible for us to be hired or even to get people to buy into our ideas.
How many times have you spoken at a meeting, only to be overlooked; your brilliant ideas not getting through to people? Then Ashley says pretty much the same thing and everyone thinks it’s the best idea they’ve ever heard?
Fortunately, the solution is very simple. Just a few relaxation exercises and retraining your breathing and vocal fry is a thing of the past!
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I have this!!! But I didn’t know what it was called! Every time I have a presentation or whenever I’m explaining things in a professional setting to a group of people, my voice gives away that I’m nervous! I thought it was because my heart was beating too fast.
How are your sessions carried out? via Zoom? Skype?
Hi Leah! I’m here for you! Yes, I usually do Zoom but I also do Skype. Whatever works for you 🙂
I hate this! I hate listening to it! I think it started with the Kardashians. Ugh! Please don’t do this vocal fry thing! It’s so unattractive!
Ugh! I can relate this article very much. Sometimes same things happen with me too but after reading this, I hope it will get less and yes it won’t affect my career! Useful article
So much new to be learned from this blog. You have scientifically broken it down into an understandable manner. I was really sick of me giving away my nervousness with my voice in a professional setting. But, now I know what I need to do in order to look confident.
So this what it is called ‘a vocal fry’. That’s kind of new to me. I have this condition but didn’t know it has so much to do with the physiology of my throat. You have broken it down into an understandable manner. I was really sick of me giving away my nervousness with my voice in a professional setting. But, now I know what I need to do like relaxing my throat aka larynx, breathing and breaking down my conversation into chunks. You are a life savior.
Now I know what that sound I hear people do is. It is a bit annoying if I say so myself. I hope I don’t do it!
But I will say I didn’t know about breathing and speaking. I didn’t even realize they were related! LOL