August 2023
By Richard Fleming
Photo courtesy of Hannah Wei
The aging process affects every part of our body. No organ remains immune to the slowing down and stiffening up which progresses with every turn of the calendar’s page. Old folks can register many valid complaints about the serious problems we experience from our aging hearts, minds, joints, and other organs. But there is at least one body part where aging is more an annoyance than life-constricting.
I’m referring to the aging of our voices.
Most of us don’t have a good sense of how our voices sound to others. And we don’t appreciate how our voices change over time. I came face to face with this phenomenon recently when I recorded my voice to get a callback from a customer service department: “Speak your voice after the tone, then hit any key to disconnect and you will be called back in the order your call was received.” An hour later, the phone rings and I hear a disembodied voice say, “This is the callback you requested. When … Richard Fleming … is on the phone, hit 1.” When my name was spoken, it allegedly was the recording I had made. But it didn’t sound like me. Instead I heard some old guy’s voice stating my name. I initially thought there must be a technological glitch in the recording since my voice certainly didn’t sound that old.
After the callback concluded, I contemplated a bit. Do I really sound like an old guy when I open my mouth? Was that recorded voice I just heard mine? It hadn’t previously occurred to me that my voice betrayed my status as a senior. But after recording a brief voice memo on my phone and listening to it play back, I heard an old guy’s voice. Denial was no longer an option.
I thought back to when I was young – you know, 10 or 20 years ago. In those days I always knew when I was talking to an old person on the phone from the timbre and quality of their voice. And when speaking with seniors in person, their voices sounded, well… old. You know what I mean? A mite thin. A bit raspy. Lacking resonance.
Then I reflected on the fact that when I’m talking with someone on the phone, I may not know from their voice if they are Gen X or Millennial. But I know for sure they’re not old. The vocal characteristics of these middle generations do not distinguish one age from another. But they are very different from the voices of the elderly. Our speech provides audible confirmation that we have traveled far, far down the road.
Voices change as we grow old because of our aging anatomy. Our vocal cords become thinner and less flexible. The muscles controlling them lose strength. Our lung volumes contract and our chest muscles weaken, reducing the volume and force of air we push through our vocal cords when we speak. All these factors combine to change the sound of our voices.
How fast our voices change with age varies from person to person. Some 60-year-olds have voices that sound young. Others sound like they’ve already reached 80. But eventually “old person’s voice” comes for us all. By the time we reach our 70s, there’s no way we can pass for Millennial when we call the cable company to get our service working. Our voices unmistakably declare we are in the Social Security generation. (Of course, there’s also the reality that few people under age 50 even have cable, so the customer rep knows up front the caller is most likely an older person.)
While I’m on the subject of aging voices, I would be remiss if I didn’t touch on what happens to vocalists as they grow old. I have no personal experience with this phenomenon since I cannot carry a tune to save my soul. (Trust me, my abstention from singing made the world a better place.) But for people who love to sing, the changing of their voice can be difficult. Vocalists can and hopefully will continue singing well into old age, since music enriches our lives in ways that speech cannot. But the quality of their singing voice will inevitably evolve as the years pass.
Whether we communicate through speech or through song – or both – the timbre of our ideas and the pitch of our feelings inevitably matures over time. And hopefully this chorus of voices growing old resonates across the generations.
In the general scheme of things, aging voices are far down on the list of concerns that seniors must spend time on. While I wouldn’t object if my voice of yore returned, there are twelve other phenomena of aging which are higher priority to address. Of course, I will never see improvements in any of them. So I’ll simply settle for using my old guy’s voice to complain about growing old. But I’ll also use that voice to cherish the many wonderful elements of aging. And my good fortune to still be able to experience both.
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Interesting… I can identify. I recall a while back that one time when I spoke, I thought “I sound like Grandma.” Her voice was a bit “wobbly” and as you say, thin. I used to be able to sing pretty well, but now, not so much. My ability sort of comes and goes; I don’t have much opportunity to sing in groups any more. But my speaking voice has definitely become a bit shaky, it seems. However, as you say, this is not a particularly worrisome symptom of aging for me. At least, not yet!
Another great post, Richard.
I’ll agree with not sounding how we think we sound, but from a different angle. As a native New Yorker, I have a distinctive NYC accent – not the sweetest sounding of sounds. I keep forgetting about that accent until someone reminds me. But if that’s the price I pay for hailing from NYC, a place I love, then so be it.
Good post. When you couple the voice changes with the hearing changes, its no wonder I am guessing at what I am hearing most of the time.
I thought my croakiness would just go away, but it’s with me every day. Just another sign, I suppose. 🐸
Thank you for your insightful blogs. They always hit home with me.
Doc Richard, Since you have brought up an important common aging problem are you going to make suggestions or websites for preventative exercises we can do to maintain our voices? I think of Tony Bennett who held his lovely voice into his 90s and Joni Mitchell held hers after a stroke! Once again enjoyed your writings.
Well, since you brought up the voice …
My voice turned raspy in the 80s when I was in my 40s. Often times my voice wouldn’t phonate at all, especially after a period of not using it. I went to 3 different otolaryngologist who said there was nothing wrong. Then I was sent to a speech therapist. Then to a hypnotherapist who told me it was all due to issues about my father. Nothing worked. Then I thought maybe I had spasmodic dysphonia, a nerve issue and seeked a doctor specializing in that. All these doctors and hypnotist were Kaiser doctors by the way. I found a doctor in Oakland who had a strobe scan done on my voice. He found that one vocal cord, besides being a lot thinner than the other one, seemed to be failing. Then off to an otolaryngologist in Santa Clara who tested my vocal cords and the nerves leading to them. He found that the nerve to my left vocal cord was barely working. No one knows why or how that happened. To improve my voice, I had a small operation that put a shim behind that left vocal cord so it could better connect to the right vocal cord. Now, about 40 years later, my voice is still better than it was before that shim was put in, but it’s not as good as it was in the first decade after that operation. I guess now that I’m old (78 until tomorrow), my voice sounds appropriate for my age.
Rich,
Another good one. At age 80 I note a softer voice, and a bit airy. It takes a bit of effort – and intention – to raise up the “command voice” I took for granted in my younger Navy days.
Preach!!
Interesting that both Sting and James Taylor are on the road this year, singing with their quite “aged” voices! Thanks for the thoughts, Richard.
Older but wiser. I’m lucky enough to have a few dollars in my pocket. Went fishing this morning on Milford Reservoir just north of Junction City here in Kansas got quite a few fish. I had a good guide. He knew where to go and how to catch them. One of the benefits of old age.
And, I had a good boat ride with a beautiful sunrise and a beautiful sky. What’s not to like?