Problem with voice changing

[johnbb]

Im 15 and my voice started cracking 4 months ago. Every since then i started noticing that i have trouble talking loud in loud enviroments such as the lunch room or locker room or if everybodys talking in the class room. I can talk fine just about every where else thats not loud. This month i went to a concert and no one could hear me even if i was yelling. Before puberty i talked very loud and clear. My friends at lunch have trouble hearing me but they still can hear what im saying. So im guessing its either hormones or i am not using my voice corectly which im not sure how to tell? Has any one else had/has this problem? Will it go away after my voice finishes out? I dont talk as much because my voice is so quiet but i like talking so this is messing me up. What should i do?

[SethfromMI]

just have to live with it man, we all go through that voice changing thing. it is something which will pass in time. everyone goes through it though so it is not the end of the world

[NZPerson]

Sorry mate there isn't much you can do i had a big problem with this but it eases up after a few months. You just need to come to terms with it because everyone has this problem. Confidence is key and if you can pull it off it hides it well and just pretend nothing happened.

[TheLotus]

I never had a real big problem with voice cracking early on but whenever it did happen, my friends and I just made a joke out of it and laughed it off. Not much you can really do about it, it just happens

[kaz.mune]

do you have pubes, when did u have it

[SillyShyGuy]

I was one of the last in my group of friends to have my voice crack. I am not one of those guys who tries hard to make his voice sound overly masculine either. I like my voice even though it is a big higher pitched than others. It have control over it very well. I can make it deep to pretend I am Severus Snape or make it high to play a Johnny Depp character. Haha

[Liam2015]

I have the same problem talking loud you just have to deal with it.

[Second Chance]

Im 15 and my voice started cracking 4 months ago. Every since then i started noticing that i have trouble talking loud in loud enviroments such as the lunch room or locker room or if everybodys talking in the class room. I can talk fine just about every where else thats not loud. This month i went to a concert and no one could hear me even if i was yelling. Before puberty i talked very loud and clear. My friends at lunch have trouble hearing me but they still can hear what im saying. So im guessing its either hormones or i am not using my voice corectly which im not sure how to tell? Has any one else had/has this problem? Will it go away after my voice finishes out? I dont talk as much because my voice is so quiet but i like talking so this is messing me up. What should i do?

Yeah, I know what you're talking about, and I had the exact same problem when my voice changed. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do for the issue over the short-term, but by the time Christmas and/or New Year's rolls around you should be all right. Think of what you are having as a long-term case of laryngitis, but your problem will go away once your vocal chords get to their adult position. Don't get discouraged, and you'll be fine pretty quickly because a lot of us were exactly like you. It is super annoying what you described, but it goes away sooner rather than later.

[KawaiiSamii]

We all go through it. You will look back on this and laugh about it

[Canadian Dream]

You can't really do anything about it, it was the same when my voice changed, and it goes away once it's done.

[Hermes]

First of all, as others have said, this will resolve itself in time. In the meantime, though, it may be worth contemplating what may be happening.

The causes of not having much vocal power are usually either inefficient phonation or lack of resonance. Let's look at these separately.

Phonation

Your vocal chords are actually muscles which are stretched across the larynx (voice box) such that their edges, actually an adapted muscle sheath, can be brought together when you want to speak or sing. When the edges are together like that, as you breathe out, they vibrate - they open to allow air through then close again to shut if off again repeating very rapidly thus modulating the air flow and producing sound. How much tension is in the vocal chords determines pitch and how tightly they are pushed together determines volume, assuming, of course, that you match that with the right amount of air, both in flow rate and pressure from your lungs.

If the edges don't meet smoothly, either because they are not quite the right shape or are inflamed (for example when someone has laryngitis) this can reduce the amount of sound produced. This is one of the issues singers face having had surgery on the vocal chords. It may be possible as your larynx grows that this could happen temporarily in which case there isn't much you can do but wait for it to resolve itself.

On the other hand if the amount or pressure of breath is wrong that will affect phonation. As your larynx grows the air requirement becomes one of more volume (of air) and less pressure than previously so it's an exercise in co-ordination to adapt just like you adapt to having longer limbs. There are exercises for singers and actors to encourage correct breath support for the voice so you could look some up and see if that helps at all.

Resonance

Some of the harmonics in the sound produced by your vocal chords are amplified by resonant spaces. Some of these spaces, for example the sinuses, are fixed and cannot be adjusted - it is these that give your voice a distinctive sound that lets people know it is you talking. Others, mostly the spaces in your mouth and throat, are adjustable and you naturally adjust them to produce the different vowel sounds in speech. If you sing, one of the things you need to do (whether deliberately or unconciously) is to learn to adjust these spaces not just to the vowel but also the pitch your are singing at. If you didn't make that adjustment, as you sang a different notes, you'd find these spaces ceased to resonate and you'd be almost inaudibly quiet. As your voice changes the range of pitch you have available from your vocal chords changes and the size of these spaces and range of adjustment also change, but not necessarily in sync. So, you may have some luck with either deliberately varying the pitch of your voice (to match pitch to resonance) or varying vowel sounds (changing the size, and therefore tuned pitch, or those spaces). Some of things people are told in choir, like smiling, raising eyebrows etc. are part of adjusting vowel sounds but you can also deliberately move your lips, jaw and tongue - experiment and see what happens. Also try thinking bright/dark and see what the effect is. Again singers and actors have exercises you could look up.

Whatever you do, don't do anything that feels strained, hurts, or has the effect of leaving you more hoarse.

[chiisaiaoiryu]

Well, I was about to offer my explanation, but Hermes beat me to it. Lol

But seriously, puberty is something that everyone has to go through. That also means having to live through the common voice problems. Personally, I didn't have too much trouble with my voice, although I'll admit that my voice has barely changed throughout puberty. That's stupid annoying as I still sound somewhat like a teenager - I'm 23, by the way - but that's how my puberty session went.

Everyone develops differently, and there's a good chance you'll outgrow your soft voice problem. But like Hermes said, don't do anything to strain your vocal chords. At best, you'll be left with a sore throat; at worst, you can damage them.

[lliam]

I dont talk as much because my voice is so quiet but i like talking so this is messing me up. What should i do?


Ok, I'm 15 too but never had those probs so far, even my voice is deeper now.

I think you can't do more than to wait until that whole thing is over. And in your later years you can tell your sons about this time of silence.^^

[Bluebyrd]

My voice has fully broke now and I can't really remember it cracking. However, one of my friend's voice is currently in the process so we just laugh it off when it cracks.

[johnbb]

Thank you everyone!