Why does voice crack

This makes your voice crack as the CT muscle moves quickly trying to transition between high and low pitch or volume. Speaking, singing, or screaming for long periods of time can irritate your vocal folds and even damage this tissue, resulting in injuries known as lesions. As these lesions heal, the vocal tissues harden, leaving calloused areas known as nodules. Lesions can also be caused by acid reflux , allergies , or sinus infections.

Nodules can affect your vocal fold flexibility and size. This can lead to squeaks and cracks as your vocal folds have difficulty producing normal sounds. You can also get dehydrated from drinking caffeine and alcohol, which are both diuretics that make you have to urinate more, or by sweating a lot without staying hydrated.

This can all result in voice cracks, hoarseness, or raspiness. Laryngitis is inflammation of your vocal folds or laryngeal muscles. This is usually caused by a viral infection, but it can also happen if you just use your voice a lot. But inflammation due to long-term causes, like air pollution , smoking , or acid reflux , can cause chronic laryngitis that may result in irreversible injury to your vocal folds and larynx.

Being nervous or anxious causes muscles throughout your body to tense up. This can include your laryngeal muscles. This restricts the movement of your vocal folds. This can result in strains or cracks when you speak as the folds struggle to move as pitch and volume changes. Preventing voice cracks from happening may require some lifestyle changes.

Here are some approaches you can try to minimize voice cracks:. If your voice cracks constantly, even if you take preventive measures to keep your vocal cords healthy and hydrated, see your doctor to diagnose any underlying issues that may be affecting your vocal cords. Issues like nodules or neurological disorders like vocal dysphonia can keep you from speaking or singing properly.

In some cases, nodules can become so large that they block your airways, making it hard to breathe. Your voice can crack for a variety of reasons. They can diagnose the cause, if necessary, and provide you with treatment options. Laryngitis happens when your vocal cords become inflamed from overuse, irritation, or infection. When a thicker string is plucked, it sounds much deeper when it vibrates. That's kind of what happens to your voice. Before your growth spurt, your larynx is relatively small and your vocal cords are relatively thin.

So your voice is high and kid-like. But as bones, cartilage, and vocal cords grow, your voice starts to sound like an adult's. Along with all the other changes in your body, you might notice that your throat area looks a little different. For guys, when the larynx grows bigger, it tilts to a different angle and you can see a bump in the front of the throat called the Adam's apple.

For girls, the larynx also grows bigger but not as much as a guy's. That's why girls don't have Adam's apples. While your body is getting used to these changes, your voice can be difficult to control. A guy's voice "cracks" or "breaks" because his body is getting used to the changing size of his larynx. Fortunately, the cracking and breaking is only temporary.

It usually lasts no longer than a few months. And even during that time, your voice won't crack every time you speak. Some guys' voices might drop gradually, whereas others' might drop quickly. You may feel concerned, stressed, or embarrassed about the sound of your voice, but people usually understand — especially friends or brothers who've gone through it, too. The larynx has two vocal folds, or cords, that vibrate to produce pitch and volume. These voices boxes have thicker folds as well.

But, prior to puberty, boys and girls both have similarly small larynxes with thin cords. Sex hormones released from the pituitary gland during puberty — notably that old devil testosterone — cause the larynx to grow and vocal folds to thicken and strengthen, deepening the voices.

None of this is unhealthy. You bet. Since their voices are higher naturally, the change is barely noticeable. There are variations, to be sure, but most girls go through a smoother transition. This is nothing for parents to worry about.