New Study Reveals Men Use Raspy Vocal Fry More Than Women

Move aside Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton, for a new study reveals that men are actually more likely to use vocal fry to sound sexy. This raspy, low voice, often associated with celebrities like Julia Fox, is not a hallmark of young women's speech as previously assumed. Researchers have successfully challenged the long-held belief that creaky voices define female vocal styles, arguing instead that the opposite is true. Jeanne Brown from McGill University noted that the media narrative solidified in the early 2010s when articles framed this sound as a rising affectation among young women. Her research asked listeners to rate voice creakiness, discovering that low pitch is the main driver rather than gender. Consequently, men and older speakers exhibit significantly more creak than young women do. Brown explained that the conflict between this finding and everyday perception suggests the bias is socially constructed rather than grounded in how women actually sound. While vocal fry has been linked to a lack of confidence and intelligence in recent decades, Ms Brown played recordings for listeners to prove the sound depends on pitch. Famous female examples include Britney Spears opening her song Baby One More Time with the line 'Oh baby, baby' and Sia's heavy use of the technique in Chandelier. However, male icons like David Bowie in Let's Dance and Right Said Fred in I'm Too Sexy rely heavily on this creaky-style voice. Sean Connery's iconic line 'Bond, James Bond' remains exceptionally creaky, serving as the ultimate cultural example of masculine vocal fry. Even Morgan Freeman, the gold standard for narration, depends on consistent vocal fry throughout his legendary recordings.

Morgan Freeman, often cited as the benchmark for narration, also utilizes consistent vocal fry. Ms Brown stated her intention to continue researching social biases in vocal perceptions. "I hope it shifts the central question from 'Why do young women creak so much?' to 'Why do we perceive and judge creak the way we do?' she said. She added: 'Advice telling women to avoid vocal fry to protect their careers [and] social perception puts the burden on speakers rather than challenging listeners' biases, and that framing does real harm.'"

The study was presented at the 190th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America. Its abstract notes: "Acoustic analyses reveal that men and older speakers exhibit more creak than young women." Ms Brown argued that, combined with previous work on gender and creak, these results provide little empirical support for the notion that young women are creakier than other speakers—contrary to popular belief. "Capturing the complexity of creak requires an integrative approach that considers interactions between acoustic, perceptual, and social factors, rather than treating any single dimension or demographic as explanatory."

In a separate finding regarding marine biology, experts have previously discovered that whales and dolphins also employ a type of vocal fry to catch prey. The study revealed that marine mammals such as the sperm whale, killer whale, oceanic dolphins, and porpoises have evolved an air-driven nasal sound with distinct similarities to a certain American drawl. Until now, it remained a mystery how these toothed whales produce sound capable of traveling far and fast in murky, dark waters up to 2km deep. Scientists from Denmark recorded sounds made by both trained dolphins and animals in the wild. They discovered that these animals, like humans, possess at least three vocal registers—the vocal fry register, also known as creaky voice, which produces the lowest tones; the chest register, which is similar to our normal speaking voice; and the falsetto register, which produces even higher frequencies.