Voice Modification: Pitch
What do Susanne Pleshette, Marline Detrich, Cher, and Bea Arthur have in common? They all have VERY low voices! In fact, they have voice LOWER in pitch than most of the male population. However, we would never mistake them for men! In fact at least three of the four are generally considered rather sexy. When women have low voices they are not considered masculine. Rather, their voices are referred to as “husky”.
How can they get away with that? Because the difference between the average male voice and the average female voice is only about 1/2 octave. That’s right! Just 1/2 octave! It is not the pitch that makes them sound female, but the Resonance!
Because each of us has at least a 1 1/2 octave range to their voice and most of us have two octaves or more, there is a lot of overlap between the pitches of the two sexes if there is only a 1/2 octave AVERAGE difference. That means there is just half an octave higher that some women can go that no men can and only a half an octave lower that some men can go that no women can.
Marc Mitnick, MS, CCC-SLP is a certified and his practice is specifically treatment oriented to the transgender community of South Florida [Ft. Lauderdale to West Palm Beach, FL.
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Category: Transgender Body & Soul
About the Author (Author Profile)
Marc Mitnick, MS, CCC-SLP, Board certified and licensed Speech, Language and Voice Pathologist, Director, Your Speech Therapist, Inc.Subscribe
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