# Are high-pitch/ childish voices annoying? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 21, 2018, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497 "2018-06-21T07:29:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2018, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497/21 "2018-06-21T17:25:06Z")
I have a 12-year old grandson and I can’t wait for his voice to change. He’s still in the soprano range and when he gets excited he can shatter your spine. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2018, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497/22 "2018-06-21T18:07:46Z")
It’s not so much that I don’t like little-kid voices, but more that I don’t like the fact that they never. Shut. Up. I was on a plane this past week and in the row behind me was a little kid (maybe 3-4 years old). I swear they didn’t stop talking through the entire flight. Not crying or whining, just constantly babbling, asking questions, etc. I couldn’t get angry about it because they were just being a kid and they have every right to do it, but it still sets my teeth on edge. I have particular problems with repeated phrases (“Mom…mom…mom…_mom_…” etc.). This kid didn’t do that, though, thank goodness. ---
**Author:** ![Contemplation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Contemplation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contemplation)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2018, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497/23 "2018-06-21T20:36:35Z")
What about these voices? How annoying are they? [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBlx7edFQdw) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/8Uib2N5Q-p8/hqdefault.jpg "[EXPERIMENT] CAN GLUE AND WATER MAKE SLIME?") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uib2N5Q-p8) https://player.twitch.tv/?video=v162751921&parent=boards.straightdope.com&autoplay=false Just judging by the audio and voice qaulity not the actual video. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2018, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497/24 "2018-06-21T22:34:13Z")
I have no problem hearing children’s voices, as long as they’re not directed at me. And that’s only because they rarely say anything worth listening to. ---
**Author:** ![SOJA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@SOJA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SOJA)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2018, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497/25 "2018-06-21T22:35:35Z")
Yes. I don’t really mind kids. It’s when people above the age of 10 have that whiny, nagging voice. I knew a girl in high school who had a crush on me senior years with a voice like that. Always disliked her, also, because she wasn’t remotely intelligent. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2018, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497/26 "2018-06-21T22:44:07Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > Kate Mulgrew is a woman with a lower pitched voice; most women have a higher pitch than she does. Do you find most female actors’ voices unhandleable? It must be a Laurel/Yanny thing then, or there are overtones, but yes, her voice sounds terribly high to me. I can think of other actresses with higher-pitched voices, but they don’t tend to carry major roles on their backs. There are one or two women I know IRL that I have real difficulty in carrying on a conversation with because of their high-pitched ‘childish’ voices. Don’t have this problem with actual children, for whatever reason (maybe it’s that actual children tend to wander off and just talk to each other after about half a minute) ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2018, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497/27 "2018-06-21T23:44:06Z")
> [@Contemplation](#): > > What about these voices? How annoying are they? > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBlx7edFQdw&ab\_channel=REM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBlx7edFQdw&ab_channel=REM) > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uib2N5Q-p8&ab\_channel=MicklePickle](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uib2N5Q-p8&ab_channel=MicklePickle) > > [Twitch](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/162751921) > > Just judging by the audio and voice qaulity not the actual video. only the last one, because it sounds like an affectation. especially because of the added vocal fry. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497/28 "2018-06-22T00:07:59Z")
Doesn’t bug me but I can see why someone else might not like it. The first aesthetic you need to adjust when hearing [The Dollyrots](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4QZqUB-WjQ) is getting used to the singer’s voice. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497/29 "2018-06-22T00:16:58Z")
Megan “Will & Grace” Mullally is this close (hold thumb and index finger 1/8" apart) to being insufferable. Someone on the show has figured the interval between “funny” and “poke pencils in my ears” as it applies to Karen Walker and is the _real_ genius of the show. ---
**Author:** ![Eclipse\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497/30 "2018-06-23T13:25:00Z")
The London Underground system has recently started using a safety announcement supposedly by a child with a very high pitched, annoying voice reciting a sort of doggerel about keeping safe on the escalators and staying back from the platform edge. I switch off the moment it comes over the sound system … it is incredibly irritating. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497/31 "2018-06-23T16:40:39Z")
The [latest ad](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4NUkXbBvAw) that has me diving for the mute button. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497/32 "2018-06-23T17:04:20Z")
Only at first and only when they come out of adults. I worked with a lady in her 40s that if you heard her over the phone your first thought would have been a 4 year old with one hell of a great vocabulary. But after a day or two I just never noticed it again. Its almost like my ears (I taught el ed) automatically changes the pitch to an acceptable result. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497/33 "2018-06-23T19:00:41Z")
I hate it when people think having their kids or grandkids on a local commercial thinks it will draw people in. I make it a point not to patronize those places. The worse is a local radio commercial for a doctor (I think chiropractor) whose son does the majority of the spot and usually ends with some stupid punchline like "How old are you Dad?, \ “That’s old.” I thought the torture was over as the boy hit puberty, but now his younger sister has joined in! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497/34 "2018-06-23T19:03:03Z")
Getting off topic, but junior versions of shows (e.g. Chopped Junior) where the kids say things they never would in real life! Makes me want to scream “ACT YOUR AGE!”. You have a long way to go before you gain and deserve the respect you think you do. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2018, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497/35 "2018-06-24T06:42:50Z")
A technical question. Are modern standard microphones, amplifiers and speakers intentionally designed to mutilate and muffle children voices and render the a completely unintelligible mishmash of monotone vowels, or is there something about children’s voice ranges that simply defeats the technical capacity to reproduce that sound, like a duck’s echo? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2018, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497/36 "2018-06-24T06:49:16Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![molten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ec9cab/32.png) [@molten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/molten)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2018, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497/37 "2018-06-24T20:32:03Z")
I don’t have this issue, but I dislike fake high pitched voices. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497/38 "2018-06-25T02:27:24Z")
I have found that women in third world countries often have artificially piercing voices. I think it is because of the amount of time they spend in the marketplace, which in the third world is a very noisy environment, and they need to develop voices that will penetrate the ambient sound. ---
**Author:** ![Jake\_Bullet\_Traffic\_Control](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@Jake\_Bullet\_Traffic\_Control](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake_Bullet_Traffic_Control)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497/39 "2018-06-25T03:33:36Z")
God, yes. I can’t watch Michelle Wolf, even though she’s pretty funny, because her voice literally makes my teeth hurt. ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497/40 "2018-06-25T17:03:38Z")
I’m surprised no one mentioned Melissa Rauch’s Bernadette voice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-high-pitch-childish-voices-annoying/816497.md?page=3)