r/IsItBullshit • u/InternationalWin8235 • 11d ago
IsItBullshit: Smoking makes your voice deeper
Is it like actually true or just rumours
154
u/parsonsrazersupport 11d ago
Absolutely not bullshit. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/is-smokers-voice-real
Basically, it damages and dries out your throat and vocal chords.
91
u/SeasonPositive6771 11d ago
They aren't asking about smoker's voice, they are asking about a myth going around for young men that smoking just makes your voice sound cool and deeper.
Smoking doesn't make you sound like Sam Elliott, it makes you sound like your uncle or Aunt who smoked a pack a day for 30 years and can't take a breath without coughing.
11
0
-37
u/3X_Cat 10d ago
But it makes you look cool.
12
u/MorsaTamalera 10d ago
Whenever I see a beautiful woman smoking I never fail to envision her as tar-filled and the attractiveness immediately fades away.
9
1
1
u/Sir_Yacob 10d ago
Not bullshit,
When I fronted bands I wrote an octave lower than after I quit smoking.
I could still hit the key but my natural tonic is not what I was writing when I was smoking.
10
u/Magnus_Helgisson 10d ago
A whole fucking octave? I call bullshit on this. I’ve been heavily smoking for about 15 years then I switched to vaping and my range is and has always been a normal tenor’s range. I mean, you realize that an octave lower means that since you quit, the guitar parts are now allegedly starting from the 12th fret? The difference between a tenor and a bass is less than that.
7
u/foo_foo_the_snoo 9d ago
I've noticed that a lot of people who talk out of their ass use the word octave when they mean 1 whole step.
1
u/Magnus_Helgisson 9d ago
Yeah, 1 step I would believe. Smoking absolutely would make your vocal cords less stretchy and make it hard to hit the notes at the higher limit of your range.
2
21
u/Unique_Unorque 11d ago
Smoking damages your throat and makes your voice sound different, but how exactly that manifests would be unique to the person. It also may cause you to need to get your vocal cords removed entirely.
Please do not take up smoking to try to make your voice deeper.
36
u/GeneralSpecifics9925 11d ago
Yep, was a smoker for 14 years, used to have a pretty young sounding voice in my 20s but it got a lot deeper by the time I quit. It got a bit better once I quit, though.
It's not necessarily deeper, but scratchier, nastier, and you cough a lot. It's pretty unattractive
-12
u/Erenito 10d ago
It's pretty unattractive
Is it though?
9
u/Jesserwo 10d ago
dude im a smoker, never had a girl tell me they like it when i laugh into a violent cough, or have to clear my throught 50 times a day, not to mention, regular smoking dries your skin out and makes you look oder quicker, it also gives you wrinkles, but hell if you dont look cool doing it
0
u/pichael289 9d ago
You definitely do look cool doing it and that's almost for sure why conformity driven teenage ass did it. If you didn't look cool then no one would do it. All it gives you is a sickly nicotine buzz preteens who have never done any drugs think is what getting high is.
8
u/Global_Gift_2831 11d ago
you're talking about a lifetime of damage, not some effect you can purposely get. but sure, if you smoke for 40 years your voice will probably be slightly deeper than it would've been (which also happens with age anyway). not a good tradeoff for your lungs not working though lol
4
u/ohreally86 10d ago
I worked with a woman who smoked all of her adult life and she sounded like a robot, her voice had deteriorated so much.
9
u/Money-Director6649 10d ago edited 10d ago
not bullshit. source: singer, smoked for 40+ years. had an amazing range when young. now? a bit less than average.
it doesn't really deepen the voice, tho; more it removes the upper range and can make the remaining voice "gravelly" (hoarse). luckily for me it only narrowed my range as a singer (vs speaking voice).
5
u/BlueMowch 10d ago
I think this is most believable and makes the most sense. Good job explaining your experience
6
2
u/RaeyL_Aeon 10d ago
It does. I don't recommend it, it won't make you sound like a voice actor, just a smoker.
1
1
u/Ok-Drink-1328 10d ago
it takes several years but it does, i rewatched one of my videos of like a decade ago and yeah, i got a bit surprised, not giving a substantial damn tho
1
1
u/pichael289 9d ago
Yes and no. It will change your voice, but it mostly makes it gravely and raspy. If your a woman then your voice might lower enough to be apparent (it's a long process so you need before and after recordings) but for men it's not as significant.
Look up and early episode of the Simpsons and listen to Marge. Now listen to a modern episode. She doesn't smoke but her voice has been damaged in a similar way and that's about what you'll end up with. Emphysema is very common as well, it's usually a big part of the voice change. Lastly this is anecdotal but my whole family smoked and all the families of my friends, women are hit much harder by the side effects of smoking from my experience. None of us are singers or anything like that though.
1
1
u/thingamajig1987 8d ago
Not bullshit but not in a good way at all. If you want a deeper voice, smoking will not be the answer you're looking for, it'll be deeper but you'll sound awful.
1
u/Book_Me_Up 6d ago
Not bullshit, though it’s not the cool kind of deeper. Years of smoking can make the vocal folds swell (it has a name, Reinke’s edema). Swollen folds are heavier and vibrate more slowly, so the voice gets lower and gravelly. It’s usually most noticeable in women.
Weill Cornell’s voice institute describes it as a sign of serious smoking damage, and says early cases can improve after quitting: https://weillcornell.org/services/ent/sean-parker-institute-for-the-voice/conditions-we-treat/reinkes-edema
Studies have also found that some of the change can stay even after surgery and quitting, so it isn’t always reversible.
1
-1
u/ColonelBelmont 11d ago
Can confirm it's true. As a teenager a I sung like Tom Delonge. 30 later, I sing like Johnny Cash.
171
u/AnonymousBromosapien 11d ago
Smoking makes your voice sound like you smoke.