Vocal Images Associated with Pitch

The sound of your voice, especially the pitch, can create a positive or negative image.  Whether we like it or not, different types of voices are associated with different stereotypes.  What stereotypes or word descriptors do you use when you hear these voices?

Male low pitch

Male high pitch

Female high pitch

Female low pitch

You might use adjectives like strong, masculine or powerful to describe the male low pitched voice and effeminate to describe the male high pitched voice. 

You might use adjectives like secure, sophisticated or intelligent to describe the female low pitch and shrill or childlike to describe the female high pitched voice.

Your pitch is one of those areas that you may not be able to do anything about.  The sound you have is dependent on the physical characteristics and structure of your vocal cords.  Now, I will say that we all speak at a optimal place on our vocal pitch range.  If you were to make your voice go from the lowest pitch point to the highest pitch point, this would be your vocal pitch range.  We could measure that on a piano. Our speaking voice is about ¼ of the way up from the bottom of the range.  This is where our vocal cords operate optimally so that we don’t get hoarse.  We vary around this place a bit to make our voices interesting but we stay at this place on the range for optimal effectiveness. 

There are a few people though who have developed bad habits and habitually speak at a place in their vocal range that isn’t good for the vocal cords and may even cause strain and vocal fatigue.  If they speak above or below that optimal place on the range on a consistent basis, learning to speak higher or lower can occur.  Another problem that might affect pitch is when nervousness manifests itself in the voice.  Some people who have to get up and speak or present are so nervous that their voice sounds shrill. 

The way you sound can be altered by changing the size of the vocal tract by opening your mouth wider when you speak.  Or learning to breathe correctly will sustain a stronger sound.  Finally, maintaining relaxed muscles when you speak will also keep the pitch at an appropriate level.   Most people want a lower pitched voice but obtaining that is not necessarily possible or recommended.  If you need help determining your optimal pitch for conversational speech, get some professional help.  You will learn to manipulate other elements of speech and voice to create a richer vocal sound.