Voices on Helium

Remember the classic film "Singing in the Rain" about an actress who had everything going except the voice? Studios and promoters had to add the pleasant voice of another behind-the-scenes actress to fool audiences into thinking the famous actress had everything going for her, including a great voice. At the end of the film audiences are exposed to the grating, high-pitched authentic vocals of the superstar... to their shock, surprise, and mocking laughter.

For the past few years I have been quite surprised at how many childish high-pitched voices we are hearing on television. These young women are newscasters, actresses, hostesses, reality show participants, and range from amateurs to professionals. They are usually quite young and haven't aged to where their voices have deepened and pleasantly matured. These chirpy voices were not so noticeable in years past. I believe it could be attributed to culture bias shift to where we see far fewer older people on television... especially women. We want our women to appear like they have just left childhood behind, even women who are aging. The only times we don't adhere to this 'barely legal' bias is when we have a scattered few women who give us novelty entertainment such as Betty White. But remember, the Betty's are not the norm, we are given hundreds of barely out of school actresses for every one over fifty (forty?).

Okay, I admit, we all like youth. Even those who have aged wish they had a little more youth. But please... for those roles where a lot of talking is required, such as newscasters, commentators, and speakers, give us voices which don't sound like they've just inhaled helium and are reaching the unpleasant higher range of the spectrum!