Is Vocal Fry Bad for a Strained Voice?

Is vocal fry bad or not? Can vocal fry or a creaky door sound be useful for people with a strained voice? Let me share my take on it as well as my experiences with vocal fry.

In recent years, we’ve heard a lot of criticism about using vocal fry in your speaking voice. And it may be true that when you use vocal fry in communication with other people they may consider you lazy or untrained. And some people go as far as saying that it’s not safe to use vocal fry.

The Truth

However, latest research tells us that vocal fry type of voicing is not harmful for healthy voices at all, but what is even more interesting is that vocal fry is also very useful for people with vocal issues. Members of our voice coaching program have been using vocal fry for many purposes very successfully, for example to release tension from their strained voice, for building a stronger voice without tension or for finding a better vocal fold closure. Vocal fry is a wonderful tool for improving vocal function.

There are some research studies that are looking at vocal fry as a therapeutic technique. The biggest benefit so far seems to be its ability to separate the vocal fold closure from other muscle action when speaking. When your voice is strained, it means that too many muscles are being used for vocal tasks, muscles that don’t need to work. Vocal fry can teach you how to separate the action of the muscles responsible for vocal fold closure from other laryngeal muscles. Isn’t that neat?

What is vocal fry?

Vocal fry is a type of voicing that is very different. There are a lot of good things happening when we produce vocal fry. The vocal folds are coming together in a gentle manner so that there is no squeezing or pushing the vocal folds together. For people with some breathiness in their voices, vocal fry can optimize the glottal closure pattern. Because the closure is gentle, it reduces the need for compression or tension of the laryngeal muscles. Therefore, this sound is wonderful for people who usually push their voice or use too much vocal effort when speaking or singing.

Another benefit of vocal fry is that it uses very little breath pressures under the vocal folds. If the pressures are minimal, there is no stress put on the vocal folds. Vocal fry is basically the most relaxing sound you can make. But I am not suggesting that now you should start talking using a lot of vocal fry. No. That is absolutely not what I am saying. What I am suggesting here is that you can use vocal fry as a tool to release tension from your voice or re-build a healthier way of speaking without tension. 

If you are experiencing vocal strain, tension or even pain when speaking, and you are ready to work towards a free, strong and confident voice, you can apply to our Vocal Freedom System coaching program. Click here to schedule a chat with me. 

It is important to know that there is a good way to produce vocal fry and a not so healthy way to produce vocal fry. Actually, it may be challenging to produce a really relaxed vocal fry for people who hold a lot of tension in their voices. In our coaching group, many members who just join the program have difficulties making this relaxing sound. But with time, they learn how to relax the muscles and produce vocal fry. It almost becomes a measure of how tight their muscles are.

So, here are three steps to make your vocal fry sound as relaxing as possible (watch the video below for demonstrations):

Step #1: Use very little air

Vocal fry is possible only when you use very little or no breath pressure under the vocal folds. To achieve that, you can blow out most of the air from your lungs to decrease the pressures. Only then, start the vocal fry sound. Do not push air through the vocal folds. If you do, you will invite more tension, which is exactly the opposite of what we are trying to achieve.

Step #2 Start at the bottom of the range

It’s much easier to find your healthy vocal fry at the bottom of your range. It is possible to produce vocal fry higher in your range but it is not as relaxing. If you want you can use a descending scale to find the bottom of your range.

Step #3 Use vocal fry without a tone

To keep the vocal fry relaxing, do not add tone to the sound. For our purposes, try to just make a gentle popping sound. To me, it sounds like air bubbles coming through the vocal folds. 

Once you know how to safely produce a vocal fry sound that is relaxing and beneficial for your voice, you can use it daily to release tension from your strained voice. For example, at the end of the day, you can do vocal fry for a few minutes as part of your de-compressing vocal routine. Or you can even say some words and sentences with a healthy vocal fry. This can actually be a fun exercise. Just be careful around small kids, they may not like you speaking this way.

Vocal fry has many benefits when used in this way. It improves the way how the vocal folds come together, it improves ease of sound production, it decreases compensatory pushing or straining muscle activity in strained or tired voices, it helps to shape the vocal tract into a more optimal position. And once you develop these good habits with vocal fry, you can then transfer them to other modes of phonation or sound production. 

Link to the video: https://youtu.be/7Ff-_dzRVus