Little girl voice



Question:

I am a 50-year-old, intelligent woman. I find I am not taken seriously because of my high, little-girl voice; it gets even higher as I lose confidence when others hear me. Can you help?

Answer:

First let me say that changing the range of the voice can be taxing; you need to work slowly, over time, and ideally with a coach. You will need to determine what is causing the voice to be so high: Does your laryx (voice box) raise up when you speak? Is it also nasal sounding? If so, does your tongue raise up in the back when you speak? Do you have difficulty getting a strong clear sound lower in the voice? If you make a descending siren can you get your voice to go lower? 

If you sigh do muscles relax and allow the pitch to deepen? Can you moan on an open OH sound and then try to speak in that same way? There are exercises in the answers to other questions regarding lowering the voice. The Vocal Tune-Up CD which can be downloaded from the products page also has practices that will help you if you want to work with it.