What is "Vocal Fry" and How Does it Impact Job Interview Success?

Vocal Fry. You’ve probably heard this method of speaking, but did you know it has a name? Vocal or verbal fry has been around for a very long time, but seems to have become mainstream in the past 10 years. If you are unfamiliar with the term, think Kim Kardashian. That low, guttural growl of a voice that ends with an extended downward cadence.

Here is an example of vocal fry.

Linguistically speaking, the human voice contains four registers. Whistle, falsetto, modal and finally, fry. Vocal fry uses the lowest register. As a person speaks with vocal fry, the vocal-cords are slammed shut, allowing bubbles of air to pass through, resulting in a popping or growl-like sound.

Both men and women are guilty of using vocal fry. It usually isn’t noticed in men unless their voice is very low and wobbly. Most men who speak with vocal fry do not use the downward tonal spiral to end a sentence like women do, but there are some that do (a perfect example is Thurston Howell III from the Gilligan’s Island TV show in the 1960s). Men who possess a lower voice are thought to represent strength and authority. In fact, in 2013, Business Insider reported a study of 800 CEOs of public companies finding that men with deeper voices tend to make more money and have longer tenure. Wow, let’s all use our lower vocal register!

It’s an entirely different story, however, when it comes to women and vocal fry. For the most part, this speech pattern is identified negatively in women. Most listeners find it very annoying. It can cause the woman to sound stupid, insincere, emotional, or bored with the conversation they are participating in. The listener can’t be sure they are even interested in what is being said.

A very small study from Long Island University reported that ⅔ of women use vocal fry. Most young women don’t even realize they are speaking in this manner. Women are not born speaking with this lowest vocal register unless there is some type of vocal-cord issue. Vocal fry seems to be a learned behavior. If your friend group, work colleagues, or persons you surround yourself with are using it, then you probably will also. It insidiously sneaks into your speech pattern before you even realize it. It’s contagious and passed around like the flu.

In the early days of its use, some wealthy women used vocal fry in order to be considered “cultured,” but instead just sounded pretentious. At the peak of her career in the 1920s and 1930s, Mae West was probably the first female actress who utilized vocal fry to her advantage in her risque, double-entendre laden shows. In recent years, as an abundance of reality TV became more and more popular featuring reality stars like Paris Hilton and the Kardashians, vocal fry has exploded. Today it is impossible to watch any reality television without hearing young women “frrrrryyy-ing” away!

So why are women instead of men being picked on for utilizing vocal fry, especially since young people, especially women, are usually at the forefront of any vocal changes within a culture? Why it tends to be young women leading the way is less clear. Some linguists believe young women tend to be more sensitive in their social interactions, thus more likely to detect and utilize different vocal cues. As they repeat these different vocal cues during daily contact with their social community, others repeat them and incorporate them into their daily speech and the chain continues. Carmen Fought, a professor of Linguistics at Pitzer College in Claremont, CA says, “The truth is this:  Young women take linguistic features and use them as power tools for building relationships.” This may be why there are young women who feel using vocal fry makes them sound more authoritative and powerful. Of course, if everyone in your daily life is using vocal fry, it won’t be obvious that your method of speech is, in fact, an outlier!

The jury is still out on whether professional corporate entities agree that young women speaking with vocal fry makes them sound authoritative or powerful. In 2014, PLOS ONE wrote, “Vocal fry may undermine the success of young women in the labor market.” This is probably due to the whiney, disinterested, unprofessional quality of this type of speech.

Interestingly enough, during my research of this topic, there seems to be an age cutoff as to whether hearing vocal fry from a job candidate is like listening to nails on a chalkboard or whether it really doesn’t matter. That cutoff seems to be around the age of 40. Those over 40 years old never want to hear it and those under 40 are indifferent. Now, there are always the exceptions of highly professional jobs where how you speak is paramount. It is rare to hear a newscaster or state department spokesperson use this type of speech.

If you have a scheduled job interview and suspect that you use this particular linguistic twist, have an honest friend really listen to you speak. If you do indeed use vocal fry, you can rid yourself of it. Tape yourself speaking and start making a concerted effort to speak in the proper register. It may simply be a matter of not breathing correctly while you speak, but with intentional monitoring of your speech, you can stop. A diction coach or even an expert interview coach can assist you in ridding your speech of this affliction.

After you have learned how to turn the “fry” off and on, I would encourage you to “read the room” when you go into a job interview. If your interviewer is a stoggy, older, very professional person and you let your “fry” fly during the interview, it’s almost a sure thing that the interviewer won’t even hear what you are saying. What you may see is a very annoyed face! For some interviewers, listening to prolonged vocal fry is like Chinese water torture. If you are interviewing for a hip, up-and-coming start-up business, again, read the room. A little vocal fry may be okay for some younger interviewers. Being able to assess the atmosphere in the interview room is an essential quality to possess for any job interview.

Remember that a job interviewer is forced to use “snap” judgments simply due to the time constraints involved in a job interview. This is a true, although harsh, reality in any job interview. The sound of our voice translates our communicative power that is crucial to our job interview success. Our voice is an essential component to the first impression we make. Choose to express yourself as the unique, authentic person you are rather than a reality TV personality. Genuine authenticity is very powerful and speaks for itself!

I offer a free ½ hour introductory job interview coaching session. Contact me today to prepare for your tomorrow!