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Why is my voice deepening?
Dr, my voice sounds like a man’s these days. I have to strain it trying to sound like a woman but I still sound like a man. Is there a remedy? KAYONZA M
During puberty, boys’ voices deepen while those of women become higher pitched. For the boys this is because apart from the enlargement of the voice box (what is seen as Adams apple in men) the vocal folds in the box, become longer and thicker as a response to the increase in the male hormone testosterone at puberty.
For women who have only low levels of testosterone there is less significant enlargement of the voice box hence the high-pitched sound.
Both men and women have male and female sex hormones except in men male hormones preponderate and vice versa in women.
With menopause the female hormones fall drastically creating a relatively higher amounts of testosterone risking breaking of the voice and chin hair among other masculine symptoms.
Menopausal women often suffer from dryness and thinning of many body tissues because of loss of collagen and muscles mass which may also affect the vocal cords making them less flexible leading to a husky man’s voice.
This can be worsened by smoking cigarettes or even pipes (mindi).
Smoking affects the vocal cords which become inflamed, dry and thicker further leading to a deeper male-like voice.
It is important to avoid smoking, take lots of fluids and enough rest to ease deepening of the voice but it is very important to know that voice changes are common with age in both men and women and therefore like any ravages of age though stressful, may be difficult to avoid.
