Does Alcohol mess up your Voice?

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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!

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Or … did it?

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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

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Where does the damage to your voice come from then?

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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?

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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

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In Conclusion

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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.

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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

⁶ Laryngeal pathologies in older Korean adults and their association with smoking and alcohol consumption

⁷ Hoarseness in Adults

⁸ Alcohol Hangover – Mechanisms and Mediators

⁹ Biological Mechanisms Underlying Voice Changes Due to Dehydration

¹⁰ Effects of Hydration on Voice Acoustics

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