Does Mental Health Affect Your Voice?
Our mental health is shaped by our hormones, mental well-being, and past experiences. What if our voices are shaped by these factors as well? Today we’ll dive into psychology, hormones, and real-life experiences to determine how the mind and voice work together.
Studies are exploring the link between stress hormones and vocal function. One such study by Sofia H (2017) showed a positive association, meaning that people with higher levels of cortisol in their saliva were more likely to experience vocal problems. When humans become stressed, they produce a hormone called cortisol. It shows up in our saliva, too. Why does this matter?
Because high salivary cortisol is “linked with lower laryngeal motor cortex activity and lower scores on aspects of extraversion” (Dietrich M 2020). The laryngeal motor cortex is responsible for controlling the muscles in our larynx (voice box), which are crucial for speaking. Additionally, Fuertinger et al. (2015) found that increased cortisol reactivity coincided with decreased activity in an area crucial for initiating speech and controlling vocal movements. Stress hormones, induced by mental illness or trauma, are correlated with vocal symptoms.
In the music industry, performers, singers, and public speakers often experience performance anxiety, leading to a surge in adrenaline. Breathing is immediately affected, as highlighted by Jimenez (2016): “‘Performance adrenaline’ can induce shallow or clavicular breathing, alter phonation, and affect vibrato.” Adrenaline can lead to shallow breathing patterns (using the clavicles instead of the diaphragm) which can impact the quality of sound production and potentially cause vocal instability.
Conversing with locals who work with voice on a daily basis offered insight. For privacy purposes, their names will not be shared. People with anxiety or a history of being yelled at might struggle to raise their voice, according to one clinician with a Master’s of Science in Psychology. Similarly, a Karate instructor with ten years experience observed that students with difficulty producing strong yells (kiais) tend to have underlying issues like shyness, low self-esteem, or past traumas. Scientific studies are slowly emerging, and local experiences appear to match the statistics.
A large-scale study by Thomas A. (2023) took a broader approach, investigating the connections between the voice and various aspects of well-being. This “exploratory study” with over 2,600 participants found significant associations between the “voice, mental health, personality traits, and overall quality of life.” This research suggests that our voice is not just a tool for communication, but it may also reflect and be influenced by our emotional state and overall well-being.
Sources
Dietrich M, Andreatta RD, Jiang Y, Stemple JC. Limbic and cortical control of phonation for speech in response to a public speech preparation stressor. Brain Imaging Behav. 2020 Oct;14(5):1696–1713. doi: 10.1007/s11682–019–00102-x. PMID: 31049806; PMCID: PMC7572327.
Fuertinger S, Horwitz B, Simonyan K. The functional connectome of speech control. PLoS Biology. 2015;13(7):e1002209. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002209.
Jimenez, Belinda. (April 7, 2016). The effects of “performance adrenaline” on the performing singer. Voice and Speech Review. DO:10.1080/23268263.2016.1159432
Monti, E., Kidd, D. C., Carroll, L. M., & Castano, E. (2016). What’s in a singer’s voice: The effect of attachment, emotions and trauma. Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology, 42(2), 62–72. https://doi.org/10.3109/14015439.2016.1166394
Sofia Holmqvist-Jämsén, Ada Johansson, Pekka Santtila, Lars Westberg, Bettina von der Pahlen, Susanna Simberg. (Oct 17, 2017). Investigating the Role of Salivary Cortisol on Vocal Symptoms. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2017_JSLHR-S-16-0058
Thomas A. Ostermann, Michael Fuchs, Andreas Hinz, Christoph Engel, Thomas Berger, Associations of Personality, Physical and Mental Health with Voice Range Profiles, Journal of Voice, 2023, ISSN 0892–1997,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvoice.2022.11.025.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0892199722003770)
