# Old Lady Deep Voice Syndrome **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 24, 2002, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-lady-deep-voice-syndrome/110701 "2002-05-24T20:11:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-lady-deep-voice-syndrome/110701/1 "2002-05-24T20:11:08Z")
Sometimes older ladies get this deep, man-like voice: Lucille Ball, Bea Arthur, Marianne Faithful. What’s the name of this syndrome? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-lady-deep-voice-syndrome/110701/2 "2002-05-24T20:12:23Z")
Bea Arthur had a deep voice when she was young. Well, Bea Arthur was never “young,” but younger. Lucy? Cigarettes. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-lady-deep-voice-syndrome/110701/3 "2002-05-24T20:42:38Z")
aren’t most cases of deep old lady voice due to cigarettes? ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-lady-deep-voice-syndrome/110701/4 "2002-05-24T21:22:28Z")
Years of smoking, drinking rough liquor and screaming at the kids 'If I have to tell you ONE MORE TIME to turn down the music, I’m going to come right over there and slap you silly ’ takes it’s toll on the female vocal chords. (I also believe that loss of oestregen post-menopause might have something to do with it, but can’t provide a cite. Sorry.) ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-lady-deep-voice-syndrome/110701/5 "2002-05-24T23:58:56Z")
There was a scene in the movie [Dead Again](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0101669) where a grumpy old lady started talking in a high-pitched little girl voice while under hypnosis. The movies acknowledge the phenomenon, but of course that does nothing at all to answer your question. ---
**Author:** ![tsunamisurfer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@tsunamisurfer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsunamisurfer)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-lady-deep-voice-syndrome/110701/6 "2002-05-25T02:07:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Doghouse Reilly \* > \*\*The movies acknowledge the phenomenon, but of course that does nothing at all to answer your question. \*\* Not to worry. Historically, better than 90 percent of all responses in GQ fail to answer the OP question. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-lady-deep-voice-syndrome/110701/7 "2002-05-25T07:57:18Z")
So long as we’re just hanging out waiting for the definitive answer, I’d like to offer my favorire examples of OLVS (Old Lady Voice Syndrome): Suzanne Pleshette (have you heard her lately?), Patricia Neal, and Kate Mulgrew, whose voice is already deeper than Patrick Stewart’s. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-lady-deep-voice-syndrome/110701/8 "2002-05-25T08:02:45Z")
And then there’s Tina Turner, whose voice not only got deeper, but turned _Jamaican_, mon! ---
**Author:** ![BennyHill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/90ced4/32.png) [@BennyHill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BennyHill)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2015, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-lady-deep-voice-syndrome/110701/9 "2015-06-27T10:59:59Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Bea Arthur had a deep voice when she was young. Well, Bea Arthur was never “young,” but younger. > > Lucy? Cigarettes. Bea Arthur was a smoker as well. She died from lung cancer. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2015, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-lady-deep-voice-syndrome/110701/10 "2015-06-27T11:29:10Z")
Is it estrogen related? Somet old hens will begin to crow and exhibit other male behaviors as their estrogen levels fall and background levels of testosterone begin to have behavioral effects. ---
**Author:** ![Sasori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Sasori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sasori)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2015, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-lady-deep-voice-syndrome/110701/11 "2015-06-27T12:19:39Z")
The only cite I could come up with on the fly is in German, but if you scroll down you’ll find some English source books. [This](http://www.egms.de/static/de/meetings/dgpp2003/03dgpp007.shtml)conclusion from the 2003’s annual meeting of DGPP (German Society for Phoniatrie and Pedaudiology) states that a deepening of the female voice is a common (but not necessary) climacteric symptom mainly because (medical layperson’s translation): \*"It’s known that the female voice is very sensitive to sex hormone levels._snip_ The premenstrual syndrom is an eloquent example. A sensitivity of the larynx to hormons, whose basis are sex hormone receptors on the phonationsorgan _(sorry, all translators came up blank)_ has been proven. Thus leading to a lowering of the voice’s base frequency, a loss of the voice’s lightness and a faster fatigue. _snip_ An impact on vocal quality is to be expectet due to a change in sex hormone levels during menopause as well. Since androgens, which also have some vocal mulation potency, increase during climacteric in relativity towards estrogen levels, hirustism as well as a lowering of the voice’s base frequency, hoarseness and raspyness and loss of high tonal registers may occur because of an increase in the resonance chamber under the androgens’ influence. An important fact in this regard seems that, because of androgen induced proliferation of mucous membranes, the movements of the vocal cords are slowed down, which may lead to voice modification."\* Sorry for all the portmanteaus, but if you combine the above with maybe smoking, liquor and using your voice as an instrument you can see where these deep voices come from, especially if these ladies had low voices to begin with. Might work as well with hens:) ---
**Author:** ![Sasori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Sasori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sasori)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2015, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-lady-deep-voice-syndrome/110701/12 "2015-06-27T12:29:59Z")
Aaand I’m hearing some very hoarse shouts of “hmmm, braiiins!” right now from the street… ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2015, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-lady-deep-voice-syndrome/110701/13 "2015-06-27T12:38:18Z")
For Marianne Faithful > [@](#): > > Severe laryngitis, coupled with persistent drug abuse during this period, permanently altered Faithfull’s voice, leaving it cracked and lower in pitch (From her [Wiki article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianne_Faithfull)) ---
**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 27, 2015, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-lady-deep-voice-syndrome/110701/14 "2015-06-27T16:07:42Z")
Yep, I was going to say smoking (and maybe drinking) are strong suspects. We for a long time had a hospital operator who also paged docs overhead, in a voice that sounded like a 100 pack-year unfiltered Camel habit. She apparently retired, or at least that’s what I hope it was.