It is well-known that the human voice is subject to a plethora of factors: many are social in nature, others are biological, and in various cases it can be difficult to tease these apart. In our project, we'll investigate the effects of long-term alcohol consumption and smoking on the human voice.

Anecdotal evidence (e.g. [5: 70]) suggests that regular heavy alcohol consumption affects voice. Clinical research ([6]) also suggests that the voice quality is likely to be affected by long-term alcohol consumption, but no concrete evidence has been put forward. This being the case, we will focus on the following research questions:

• How does regular heavy alcohol consumption affect one’s voice quality?
• What traits do listeners associate with the voice quality found in regular heavy alcohol consumers, if any?

In addition to the effects of alcohol consumption on speech, research has shown that heavy smoking affects one’s voice quality [7]. In this light, we also ask the following:

• What traits do listeners associate with the voice quality found in heavy smoker voices, if any?
• Do traits associated with heavy smoker voices, and the appeal of those voices with popular culture audiences, change across time?

References

[5]   Joyce, S. 2018. A Flaw in the System. In At the River’s Mouth, N. Malhearst, M. Barrett, & T.H. Emborg (eds), 59-86. Aarhus: Silkefyret.

[6]   Choi, S.Y.; Kahyo, H. 1991. Effect of Cigarette Smoking and Alcohol Consumption in the Aetiology of Cancer of the Oral Cavity, Pharynx and Larynx. International Journal of Epidemiology 20 (4): 878-85.

[7]   Sorensen, D.; Horii, Y. 1982. Cigarette Smoking and Voice Fundamental Frequency. Journal of Communication Disorders 15 (2): 135-44.