# If you inhale something heavier than air, does your voice get deeper? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 18, 2005, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-inhale-something-heavier-than-air-does-your-voice-get-deeper/336174 "2005-12-18T15:52:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-inhale-something-heavier-than-air-does-your-voice-get-deeper/336174/21 "2005-12-19T08:35:02Z")
Why are people talking about the speed of sound in relation to this issue; I thought that vocal pitch changed in these circumstances because the vibration of the vocal chords was less(in the case of lighter gases) or more impeded by the density/viscosity/resistance of the gas. The speed of sound is greater in water than it is in air, but if you could breathe water without drowning, your vocal pitch would be vastly reduced, not increased, because they simply cannot resonate so fast in a denser medium. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-inhale-something-heavier-than-air-does-your-voice-get-deeper/336174/22 "2005-12-19T08:50:50Z")
Be careful with heavy gases and your lungs, kids. There have been a couple of deaths from ‘huffing’ in the last year, and I believe the cause of death was the collection of heavy inert gas in the lungs that prevented the idiots from breathing in air and they asphyxiated. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-inhale-something-heavier-than-air-does-your-voice-get-deeper/336174/23 "2005-12-19T12:37:26Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Not recommended. I don’t know how toxic it might be but if it freezes gum, it can freeze your mouth, your lungs, etc. > [@SaintCad](#): > > I know someone who died by freezing their lungs doing this. I figured that it would go without saying that it was inhaled in its gaseous state, not liquid. Even a bunch of dumb teenagers working at the theater could see that the gum freezing stuff really wouldn’t be good inside one’s lungs. It has been awhile, but I recall that the cans had a dip tube inside that would bring up the liquid. It wasn’t exactly like liquid nitrogen, but it was quite chilly. All one needed to do was invert the can so that the dip tube was out of the liquid. I don’t recall anyone ever putting their lips on the can either: we would spray it in the air and breathe a few inches away. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-inhale-something-heavier-than-air-does-your-voice-get-deeper/336174/24 "2005-12-20T01:21:04Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Nah, just record it at half-tempo then double the speed for the CD. I think that’s how you do it. And I thought bagpipes and snare drums were already highly-pitched enough. Not the drones. The tenor drones are pitched to the A an octave below middle C, and the bass drone to the A an octave lower. They are tuned sharp, though - closer to Bb than to concert A. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-inhale-something-heavier-than-air-does-your-voice-get-deeper/336174/25 "2005-12-20T01:54:55Z")
An engineering prof. gave a demonstration in one of my linguistics classes where he sang a note, inhaled helium, sang the **same note** , exhaled the helium and inhaled a heavy gas (I forget what) and sang the **same note** again. Let’s just say the note was 440 Hz. Each time it was still the same A that he was singing, but it sounded very different. Air sounded normal, Helium sounded like a chipmunk, and the heavy gas sounded like Darth Vader, but it was **still 440 Hz**. He was trying to make some point, but I don’t remember exactly. I remember that the human voice singing a note is not just one frequency. If you look at a spectrum of someone singing 440 Hz, with y=freqency, x=time, and shading denotes intensity, you will see periodic bands (formants) moving up in frequency. I found a graph on [this page](http://www.vocevista.com/) (the “waveform envelope”) that looks like what I remember. I believe that this prof. was trying to show that it’s merely the intensity of the formants that changes in the different gaseous medium, and not the actual pitch. Does anyone have any idea what I’m talking about (because I’m not really sure that I do)? ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-inhale-something-heavier-than-air-does-your-voice-get-deeper/336174/26 "2005-12-20T03:20:24Z")
> [@SmackFu](#): > > You inhale helium and your voice gets higher. Would the opposite work? I’ve never seen anyone try it. WAG: **You may ‘croak’**. ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-inhale-something-heavier-than-air-does-your-voice-get-deeper/336174/27 "2005-12-20T14:29:49Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > The idea of inhaling SF6 just kinda scares me. I know what you mean but its actually remarkably non-toxic. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-inhale-something-heavier-than-air-does-your-voice-get-deeper/336174/28 "2005-12-20T14:38:48Z")
> [@Hail Ants](#): > > _ **Butane and Freon?!?** _ > > Jeez, are you people nuts? In my misspent youth I was partial to whippets (nitrous oxide) for a time. It definitely made your voice lower though not as dramatically as helium made it higher. I knew a fellow who made this, at the last point I knew him, “his drug of choice”. He was one f&cked up dude. It may have been permanent. And it definitely made his voice deeper. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-inhale-something-heavier-than-air-does-your-voice-get-deeper/336174/29 "2005-12-20T15:09:30Z")
Is it true that helium causes your vocal cords to constrict, and that is why your voice gets higher, or is that an UL? ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-inhale-something-heavier-than-air-does-your-voice-get-deeper/336174/30 "2005-12-20T15:29:23Z")
Helium _doesn’t_ raise the pitch of your voice: as **Ruken** says, you would still sing _eg._ Happy Birthday in tune with everyone else. This is because the pitch (fundamental frequency) is determined by the vibrations of your [vocal cords](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocal_cords), which the medium doesn’t change appreciably. (And no, nothing ‘constricts’ either). What _does_ change is the frequency of the resonances of the column of gas above it. A lighter gas accentuates higher frequency _components_ relative to the fundamental (the [formants](http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/linguistics/russell/138/sec4/formants.htm)), which changes the ‘tone’ or _timbre_ but not the pitch. [Useful graphs](http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/speechmodel.html). ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-inhale-something-heavier-than-air-does-your-voice-get-deeper/336174/31 "2005-12-20T15:47:11Z")
Is there a noticeable difference between air of differing densities? For example, does a given speaker sound exactly the same in the high Andes Mountains as he does in Death Valley? ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-inhale-something-heavier-than-air-does-your-voice-get-deeper/336174/32 "2005-12-20T17:25:57Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Is there a noticeable difference between air of differing densities? For example, does a given speaker sound exactly the same in the high Andes Mountains as he does in Death Valley? There is very little change with altitude or pressure. The decreased pressure almost exactly compensates for the decreased density. (It would be exact for an “ideal gas”, but is approximate for real gasses, more approximate the larger the molicules) Speed of sound is MUCH more dependant on temperature than on pressure…so much so that aircraft instruments that indicate mach number do not compensate for static pressure, but do compensate for temperature. (at least that was the case in the late 80’s when I was in that buisiness) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-inhale-something-heavier-than-air-does-your-voice-get-deeper/336174/33 "2005-12-20T19:04:10Z")
There was a science show in our area once, and the scientist did this. He first made his voice go very high with helium, then very low with another gas. He also held a large piece of wood and electrocuted himself, the wood catching on fire but himself remaining ok. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-inhale-something-heavier-than-air-does-your-voice-get-deeper/336174/34 "2005-12-20T19:48:13Z")
Yes inhaling freon is a _ **bad** _ idea. I think it was around the early 1970’s, one of the popular items sold in those Swank™ “executive toy” display cases, was a glass “chiller”. (God forbid you’d have to drink your favorite alcoholic beverage out of a _warm_ glass.) Anyway, a drinking glass would be inverted over this device and the rim of the glass would depress a button and freon would shoot into the glass, instantly chilling it. Needless to say, some younger folks would get hold of these things (either for getting high or just messing around) and they would inhale the freon by depressing that button and putting their nose and mouth very close to the freon “jet”. This resulted in several deaths. (It is not an Urban Legend). No doubt, that is the reason why we haven’t seen these “freon” shooters for the last couple of decades. Unfortunately we have had to revert to the “barbaric” practice of drinking alcohol from a warm glass. :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-inhale-something-heavier-than-air-does-your-voice-get-deeper/336174.md?page=1)