Your voice changes with age due to natural shifts in your vocal cords, muscles, and lungs, leading to potential weakness, breathiness, or pitch changes, as tissues lose elasticity, the larynx stiffens, and respiratory support lessens, affecting clarity and volume. These changes, called presbylarynx, are normal but can be influenced by lifestyle factors like smoking or underuse, sometimes requiring therapy to maintain voice quality.
In order to produce a clear tone, the vocal folds must remain strong, moist and flexible, and they must be able to vibrate in symmetry. But as people age, the larynx can become stiff, and the vocal folds can lose muscle tone, elasticity and moisture. This is known as vocal fold atrophy.
Basically it's a loss of bass and improper timing. In the earliest recordings in both film and audio the machines tended to be hand cranked with no escapement. People get tired and crank very slowly after a long day. A series of slow exposures or recordings, when played back at normal speed, appear and sound sped up.
As levels of testosterone drop off as we age, we get weaker. Others have noted, changes in muscle and bone density affect the physiology of the vocal cords. As regards to the change in the quality of the voice, that's probably mostly related to years of damage on the vocal fold muscle tissue.
In general, a high-pitched, "reedy" roughness in the voice is considered characteristic of advanced age, along with a shaky quality. There may also be a loss of projection and resonance, most evident when a person tries to be heard over background noise or from one room to another in a house.
The countertenor is the rarest of all voice types. The countertenor was not originally an operatic voice type as historically it was the castrati who would sing the female operatic roles in an age when it was not proper for women to sing in the opera.
Conditions such as Parkinson's disease, dementia, stroke, voice tremor, vocal cord paralysis, and voice muscle spasms can affect your throat muscles and make your voice hoarse or weak.
As people get older, the larynx (voice box), vocal folds (cords), and voice-producing mechanism age along with the rest of the body. Age-related voice changes develop as muscle and other tissues in the larynx and vocal cords shrink, thin, and stiffen.
He has stated that he had a poor understanding of how to use his voice well while performing, possibly signing in the wrong register or range, over-use of grinding as an effect, not breathing well, or not employing resonance to his advantage. Any one of these could have led to a need for corrective surgery over time.
The four main vocal ranges are: Soprano – A high female (or boy's) voice Alto – A low female (or boy's) voice Tenor – A high (adult) male voice Bass – A low (adult) male voice Arrangements for these four voices are labeled SATB (for Soprano Alto Tenor Bass).
From the 1920s to 1950s, the Mid-Atlantic accent was a popular affectation onstage, in many New York City schools, and in forms of high culture in North America.
For females, the changes begin from ages 10-14, and for males, the changes begin between ages 12-16. The voice will drop and change dramatically for around 4 years. Female voices continue to mature until their early 20s, while a male's will mature until age ~30 (!!).
Hydrate your voice
If you're wondering what to drink to sing better, the answer is simple: water. Water is one of the best drinks for your singing voice, with herbal teas (but not too hot) in second place. Drink water throughout the day and keep a water bottle nearby during lessons and rehearsals.
As the vocal folds (also called vocal cords) and the muscles that control them age, they may lose strength, elasticity, and tone. This can result in a voice that sounds: Weaker or breathier. Raspy or hoarse.
Elton John has faced several significant health challenges, notably a near-fatal infection after prostate cancer surgery in 2017 and more recently, severe vision loss in his right eye from an infection, leaving him struggling with limited sight in both eyes, which he described as "devastating" but remains hopeful for future treatments. He also contracted COVID-19 in 2022 and underwent double knee replacement surgery in 2024, adding to his health journey.
Grammy Award winner and platinum vocal artist Adele underwent vocal cord surgery in October 2011 to alleviate recurrent hemorrhaging caused by a benign polyp on her vocal cord.
Elton John and Princess Diana fell out briefly in 1997 due to her last-minute withdrawal from writing the foreword for Gianni Versace's 'Rock and Royalty' book, which featured scantily clad models; she felt pressured by Buckingham Palace to distance herself from the semi-nude images, but they reconciled at Versace's funeral just weeks before her tragic death, as Elton John and The Mirror report.
In Parkinson's, this usually results in a soft voice that is difficult to hear and understand. Why do people with Parkinson's think their voice is louder than it really is? Due to impaired sensory feedback, individuals with Parkinson's may not accurately perceive their volume output.
Overall, 29% of the women had actually experienced negative voice changes at around age 50, as compared with 38% of the men. Both sexes reported huskiness, but the women seemed to have more frequent problems with voice emission, voice control and reaching their highest registers.
These symptoms may overlap with those caused by heart failure, and sometimes they may be misdiagnosed as heart failure, particularly if it's not known that vocal cord paralysis can be due to cardiovascular issues. It's important to note that this condition is not always permanent.
The "2-finger test" for dementia involves an examiner showing a hand gesture (like interlocking index and middle fingers) and asking the patient to copy it, testing motor skills, visual memory, and coordination, as difficulties can signal early cognitive decline, but it's a screening tool, not a definitive diagnosis, prompting further medical evaluation. Other related tests include finger-tapping and finger-to-nose, looking for hesitation or misjudgment in movement.
The 10 warning signs of dementia include memory loss, difficulty with familiar tasks, confusion about time/place, trouble with language, poor judgment, misplacing things, personality changes, loss of initiative, and problems with visual/spatial skills, requiring professional assessment to distinguish from normal aging.
You Miss Out on Sleep
You do a few things you know you shouldn't -- we all do. But some of those bad habits can take a toll on your brain. For example, lack of sleep may be a cause of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. It's best to have regular sleeping hours.