It’s been a long night. You went out with your friends, had a drink or two … or three, four … five? You can’t really remember, but it’s been a few. The evening was fun and now it’s the next morning. Your head hurts a bit, and so does your throat. On your way to the bathroom, you encounter your roommate, spouse, significant other, date mate, one-night stand (what is she still doing here?) or whoever else might pop up on the way.
You want to wish them a good morning, but all that comes out is a creaky noise. Annoyed, you roll the eyes. Alcohol has cost you your voice again!
I know more than one person who has complained about having a messed-up voice in the morning after having a night full of heavy drinking. And while I personally don’t share the experience (I don’t drink), I decided to scout the internet for answers. Not the whole internet though, only the world of publications – we want something reasonably scientific after all.
What most of you probably already expected is the influence of alcohol on speech patterns. Apparently, there are certain changes in these patterns, that occur only under the influence of alcohol1. One publication, where they analyzed voice recordings of test subjects at different levels of inebriation, spoke about an increased length of sentences, but there didn’t seem to be any changes in pitch or other characteristics of the voice itself2.
But does that mean alcohol has no effect on your voice? Well, no.
While alcohol alone, in contrary to things like frequent sinus infections or the exposure to certain chemicals, doesn’t really lead to chronic voice disorders3, the excessive consumption of it is a high risk factor for laryngeal malignancy4(cancer, tumors), which is a leading case of death in the USA5.
Especially in combination with smoking, more and more diseases in the area of your throat become more probable6.
But wait, those are all long-term effects. The question was, if alcohol is the reason for your damaged voice in the morning. You don’t want to know if, in addition to your liver cancer that’ll probably surprise you in a few years from now, you’re also fostering throat cancer. Who cares? @suesa
A hoarse voice can be caused by many things, including irritants, inflammation, neuromuscular and psychiatric conditions and others are the main reasons7.
So, did you suddenly develop a cold? That might happen once in a while if your immune system didn’t cope well with the events of the previous night. But it’s unlikely that it’s the cause each and every time, if this is a frequent occurrence.
Irritants? Sure, alcohol is irritating, but that irritating? Not necessarily. Was it the lime juice in your cocktail? But the friend who drank the same cocktails, just without alcohol, is fine. Psychiatric conditions? Well, you’re feeling okay, don’t you?
Or is that what insane people think?
Don’t worry. The most likely reason might not be the alcohol after all, not directly at least. Ask yourself, how much and how loudly do you usually talk each day? And how much and at which volume did you talk last evening? I’d guess a lot more and a lot louder.
That talking a lot and at the same time very loudly has a negative effect on our voice, we know that. A social night with friends isn’t exactly gentle on our vocal strings. In addition, you were probably severely dehydrated.
Alcohol increases the rate of urine production, by preventing your kidneys from reabsorbing water. Because of this process, a drink with about 16% alcohol (wine has about 16%, rum scores between 36% and 50% while beer is generally at 4-8%) can lead to a urine production of 2-4 times the ingested volume8. That means if you feel like you’re peeing a lot more than you think you drank, you’re correct. You’re peeing a lot.
And I doubt that you had a lot of water to combat this. Maybe a glass if you tried, but not significantly more than that. The result is dehydration, obviously.
Does that have an effect on your voice? Apparently yes.
Dehydration makes it harder to talk, so you need to apply more force. Over time, this irritates your vocal cords. And while your body generally tries to keep everything balanced, it takes some time. So the dehydration won’t immediately vanish, just because you had a glass of water. But it helps to drink something anyway. 9,10
The alcohol itself is probably not the culprit in destroying your voice, that was mostly you, not shutting up. But a sufficient amount of water and rest should cure that, with time. And the next time you’re out, you’ll know what you did wrong and either accept the consequences or take a bit more care of your voice. The choice is yours.
Sources:
1 Do Voice Recordings Reveal whether a Person is Intoxicated?
2 Acoustic analysis of the effects of alcohol on the human voice
3 Voice Disorders in the General Population: Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Occupational Impact
4 Hoarse voice in adults: an evidence-based approach to the 12 minute consultation
5 Malignant Tumors of the Larynx
8 Alcohol Hangover – Mechanisms and Mediators
9 Biological Mechanisms Underlying Voice Changes Due to Dehydration
10 Effects of Hydration on Voice Acoustics
Nahhh.. I think it's the ice. So always remove the ice XD
Alcohol can be very drying, which is not good for singing. Whisky voice is just kind of like that rasp you can get if you're a little dehydrated. Long term drinking would just cause that drying of the cords to not go away as easily or at all.
It's essentially the same science behind getting a hangover because you got too dehydrated, but it's affecting the vocal cords.
Now I could understand why my neighbour, a soft-spoken gentleman after a couple of bottles suddenly turns to a deep-voiced fella with a voice so deep that Barry White would be impressed :)
This is very informative, who would have taught raising our pitch to balance the effect of dehydration on our speech was responsible for the messed up voice and not the alcohol. That's science, simple stuff are sometimes behind some complicated issues.
The poor alcohol all through would have been saying not me not me
Although I don't drink alcohol I have friends and family members who do who are always at the receiving end of this condition.
Now that I know, maybe next time I will tell them to lower their voice or keep quiet while partying that's if they listen to me.
Well done. This is cool and educative.
well, I haven't really noticed any problems talking after alcohol consumption, what have noticed, is when consuming large amounts of alcohol, makes me talk more, and say more stupid things.
That doesn't come from dehydration :P
me too. haha... we all become philosophers.
Actually I dont drink more than one or two glasses and wake up with normal voice. But it might effect people who really over drink. They wake up with a headache and different voice .
this is insane that your talking about this! how weird!!!! I'm a singer/ songwriter and i never drink but recently ive been going out with my roomates and partying a little too much and my voice has been totally shot and it's making me very nervous because i have to perfrom for a living. it's been weeks and my voice hasn fully recovered :/
I'm not a specialist on how to treat your voice, but there are a lot of resources online. Give it some rest, stay properly hydrated and do what smart people recommend :)
Wow!
I haven't really noticed this but sometimes i drink lots of water after hangovers and loose my voice. I had always thought it was due to the party noise but now i know i was dehydrated after all.
It is nice to read an amazing content once again. Well done.
@suesa I believe my voice gets better by drinking a glass or two! I can sing pretty well when I drink a little :P But I do agree it is rather harmful. Our health is our wealth and we should protect it.
Maybe that is why addicts have a squeaky voice and talks in fetters. ... Lol!!! I would suppose alcohol takes effect on both the physical as well as the abstract. Lovely article @suesa
Oh now this is research. Haha. Now I know where to find research papers to link to!
For me lots of alcohol in a short period of time gives me acid reflux. Blame it on too much drinking several years ago. Drinking alcohol does make my voice a bit lower which means my voice sounds so much better afterwards. Hahaha.
Being drunk and talking is like putting on a headphone with loud music and trying to communicate, you could practically be shouting without even knowing it. Hoarse voice as a hangover symptoms is mostly caused by the euphoria and loud chattering that usually accompany inebriation
I am reading this rewinding some wild memories in my mind, lol! But I have understood a lot as well. Had always blamed alcohol for a messed up voice. I have also always assumed that only smoking can cause throat cancer... didn't know even alcohol can contribute to it. Thanks, queen of science :)
Many people tend to take them to forget their sorrows, what is more interesting is that being drunk is when they remember everything they want to forget.
Taking it without control is a problem, falling into alcohol is depressing, rather than the damage it causes to the voice is more worrying the damage it causes on the liver, it is unfortunate but perhaps people are unaware of the short, mediating and long term.
the information is for reflection, at the beginning of the story it seems that you are the protagonist (laughs), but I am glad to know that you do not consume alcoholic beverages.
I notice an effect on my voice the morning after on the odd occasion i get drunk. I thought it was a combination of drinking lots and smoking outside in the cold, add in dehydration as you explained and you have yourself a pretty dry throat.
I have a anecdotal story regarding this:
Back in high school I went to a mixed choir and we always drank a few beers before a performance. Of course it wasn't authorized by the conductor but we were young and we gave too few fucks. We did this to relieve the performance anxiety but also to relax our vocal cords or so we thought. As a guy who got put into tenor and I had rather hard time hitting the notes without having a severe headache or throat pain I found that the use of alcohol, especially beer made it a bit easier. Yeah sure it made me pay less attention to what I was singing but I think at least in short term there were some positive aspects.
Aaah I see what happened last weekend now :D
Was expecting to see something like "this content in the alcohol is what is responsible for the change in voice" but you shocked me. Dehydration is the reason and it could be caused by alcohol intake.
Nice information!
I would definatly add smoking to the possible irritants that might correlate with alcohol consumption - even you're not smoking yourself, passive smoking is an issue, at least in those countries that didn't ban smoking from bars yet (I'm looking at you, Austria!).
And I would expect this to partially fuck up your voice.
Absolutely!
Makes for an interesting read there, Sue. Dehydration was the real culprit after all!
Yes. Alcohol can damage your voice. then keep your voice because your voice is like gold
we consume alcohol, the sound doesn't change,however, balance disorders,dizziness and ridiculous behaviors are exhibited.
Well, I don't drink that much. In fact I would not be wrong to say i don't drink, as it is rare. So I have not experienced such messed up voice from drinking.
But what I do observe is the thickening of my voice most morning, especially if I had a hectic day the previous day.
Is that related to dehydration? @suesa.
Might be, could have other reasons too
I have never had such an issue with my voice after a drinking Night..Even my friends never felt anything like that in general. Yeah, The things you are pointing out are the exact causes. Again, Experience that makes a man perfect.
I personally, maybe i might have taken overdose and whenever I wake up, my voice is almost lost. Alcohol do have effect on my voice
I know some people who drinks alcohol and sing like everything's fine. I'm not sure if it works the same way for everyone.
That statistic on the alcohol content ingested and amount of urine induced is so enlightening for me, because I always thought the urine was only associated with beer.
Well as per my own experience,its not alcohol, its how you slept after alcohol and also what you did last evning while you were havng alcohol,every person in their lyfspan atleast once, after waking up from a long and very heavy sleep,their voice become a little hoarce ,sometime change in tone,pitch,it goes by the time you get fresh ... All in all its never alcohol(but alcohol does hav other effects)
I already read this post and I dropped a comment as well but I couldn't re-trace it. So, I wanted to ask if you can make a post on Alcohol and the stomach-the reason it increases belly size.
I know you will... Thank you,@suesa
You mean why alcohol makes you fat?
Agreed, that water helps us so much.