My mother made an interesting observation today: why are women suddenly talking so high and in a nasal pitch? What ever happened to the sultry deep Ingrid Bergman voice that signals maturity and draws males like moths to the conjugal flame?
If one were to stand twenty young women together and ask them to read a sentence, they’d all sound alike. They’d all look alike too, of course, if they were all high school age, but the point is that they all seem to have bad colds or sinus conditions, causing them to speak at a whiny mosquito-like drone.
Even the female weather forecasters (excuse me, maybe I should say meteorologists) sound this way. Nobody on the morning news seems to speak at a level below that of an annoying cartoon character. The sound is almost like the Chipmunks, only less endearing to listen to in the long term.
Play back that famous line from the original version of The Fly: “Helllllp meeeeeee. . . .” and you may notice no difference between poor Vincent Price played back at the wrong speed and your average female these days. I never know the ages of women I’m with in dressing rooms, because the cacophony is all at the same level. Maybe I’ve been shopping in Stepford, and in the stalls next to me are all those wives waiting for a chance to convert me to a drone clone.
I don’t know if this is a new trend or not. Maybe my suspicions that overusage of earbuds are causing people to develop a loss of hearing that affects bass tones are correct (maybe we need the advice of a good audiologist on this site). Think about it. All that boom-box high volume bass in your ears cannot be right for the hearinig. The more you need to turn it up, the more likely you are losing your ability to actually process or “hear” it. As a result, you modulate your own voice to make yourself heard, and all your friends are falling into the same trap. But that’s just my theory.
So much for the sultry ladies of yesteryear. If this trend continues, we may all find ourselves in the hearing aid store saying “Hellllp meeeeeeeee. . . .”
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