Why is our voice lower when we wake up than when we go to sleep?
In: Biology
Pitch (frequency) is determined by the thickness and length of the vibrating body, and also, in the case of vocal sound, by the shape of the resonating chamber attached to the source of vibration (in this case, the vocal folds). It is true that your muscles relax during the night as you sleep, and it is also true that the mucus in your throat will thicken overnight (in part because your salivary glands shut down while you’re sleeping). However, the biggest factor in morning voice is probably the thickening of the vocal folds overnight due to fluid retention. When you lie down, fluid collects in some tissues in your body (your spine is another place where this happens, which is why getting out of bed is the worst part of the day if you have a disc injury), and when you move around, it redistributes. Surprisingly enough, if you’re more well-hydrated overall, this happens less. But remember, hydration for vocal tissue is systemic rather than direct (when you drink a glass of water, none of it actually touches your larynx…or if it does, you’ve just inhaled water & that’s not good), so the water has to be absorbed via your digestive tract to reach your vocal folds. This means you have to consistently hydrate over time to keep your folds limber.
So what is it about smoking that gives someone a deeper gravely voice?
Your voice goes higher when you’re stressed. You’re less stressed when you wake up than when you’ve dealt with an entire day of stresses.
In the morning, when you wake up, your vocal cords, like the rest of you, are relaxed. This lowers the pitch of your voice. During the day, under normal stress, your body tenses up and so do your vocal cords, resulting in a higher pitch.
If you get a good massage, you can notice the same effect. When your body and vocal cords are relaxed, the pitch of your voice will also be lower.
I assumed it was because my throat is more dry overnight that it has had less water to drink
Its because your sympathetic nervous system has low activity and your ventral nervous system is active. This can also be translated to: you feel relaxed and safe.
That’s why when you are scared your voice becomes tiny because your muscle tense up (also the ones surrounding your throat) and it becomes hard to relax because of the overactive sympathetic nervous system.
Read about the polyvagal theory if you wish to learn how to understand and better control these systems. Eg. become relaxed and have a deeper voice.
Might not be universal? Mines always “forgot the balls dropped” high pitched.
Unless I speak English. Then I’m a man.
Hola.
I literally had this question last night and woke up to seeing this, how funny! If anyone else is reading this then, could you explain why then if you stay up late enough your voice starts to get worn out?
Well, it’s the acoustics. It’s all about diffusion. It keeps the sound waves from grouping. You see when the sound waves, they propogate, then it’s like harmonic reinforcement.
I’m not a biologist, but I was told by a dating expert that it’s not entirely implausible that it is to entice sexual partners and temporarily increase sexual attraction for a “morning mating session”. I like this theory because it also explains why morning wood is a thing. Maybe we are meant to be humping in the morning and not at night?
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