Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton use mysterious ‘cat voice’ fans want to copy – but scientists say it has a catch
KIM Kardashian and other celebrities often use a specific speaking voice similar to a cat’s purr, a new study has found.
The study, published in the journal Current Biology, discusses a speaking technique called vocal fry.
Humans typically speak in three different voice registers to communicate, researchers have found.
These registers are produced by sending air across the vocal folds in the larynx.
Three of the most used registers include the vocal fry, chest, and falsetto.
When we are speaking normally, we are using our chest register, while falsetto represents a higher frequency.
Meanwhile, vocal fry produces a frequency range lower than chest – this is the register most often used by celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry, and Paris Hilton.
It’s also the register used by cats when they are purring, the study found.
In fact, felines have a special pad in their vocal folds that likely explains the low-frequency sounds.
“The observed sound production mechanism is strikingly similar to human ‘creaky voice’ or vocal fry,” the team explained.
“Anatomical investigations revealed a unique ‘pad’ within the cats’ vocal folds,” said Christian T Herbst, lead author of the study.
“[This] may explain how such a small animal, weighing only a few kilograms, can regularly produce sounds at those incredibly low frequencies (20–30 Hz, or cycles per second) – far below even than lowest bass sounds produced by human voices,” he added.
Unfortunately, another study published in the Journal of Voice found that women who speak with vocal fry are viewed as less intelligent and attractive.
This is likely due to vocal fry lowering the pitch of a woman’s voice, which can make her sound more masculine.
The study authors said: “Listeners may not dislike listening to vocal fry, so much as they dislike listening to female speakers with lower fundamental frequencies.
“‘It is possible people tolerate low frequencies characteristic of vocal fry in male speakers simply because that is the most common context in which we experience them.”