Non-Visual identifiers: Voice
by: Brick
posted on March 11, 2026
We've got lots of blind/low vision folks in our social orbit, so we've been thinking of more non-visual ways to indicate each of us. Today, I'm starting with voice.
Often voice is listed as one of many indicators of who's fronting or around. Maybe people will mention pitch, volume, or tone, which is great. Let's try going deeper.
I acknowledge that these may not be things people are used to listening for. Hell, we're not. Try anyway.
Let's start with the more commonly discussed ones:
- Volume: Loud, soft, somewhere in the middle. Booming, or not.
- Pitch: High, low, in the middle.
- Resonance: A "head voice" versus a "chest voice." Some who were subjected to such tortures as "choir" at school might be familiar with this. If you're not-- where the vibration is most present in someone's body when they speak.
- Tone: Not everyone can pick up emotional vocal tones (hi, autism). Some people have more variation in tone of voice, and others don't. Some may communicate more in tone than words, or more in words than tone.
- Cadence: Flat, monotone, sing-songy. Up and down.
- Word choice: Blunt, direct, indirect, careful, more or less swearing, baby words or no baby words. More or fewer questions. More or fewer "I" statements. Focus on validation, or advice and problem solving?
How about vocal qualities?
- Breathy
- Covered/muffled/mumbly
- Creaky
- Fluttery
- Rough
- Vocal fry
- Clicky
- Hoarse
- Nasal
- Jittery
- Strained (like mine)
- Pressed
- Buzzy
- Trembly
- Twangy
- Irregular
- Yawny
How about the speech and breath quality?
- Speaks quickly
- Speaks slowly
- Long pauses between words
- No pauses between words
- Lots of fillers: "um," "well," "like"
- Use of fillers to transition to another topic
- Use of fillers to start their turn to speak
- Use of fillers to take space before formulating a thought. Example: "Okay but um... (long pause before resuming)"
Shape and direction (don't have better words for it):
- Does the sound go in your direction? Away from you? Some other way?
- Is it muffled? Something in front of their mouth?
- Can you "hear a smile" or "hear a frown" in their voice?
- Any quirks in responses? Maybe their voice changes direction when reacting to something you say. Maybe they cover their face when they're feeling blushy or embarrassed. These are things you can hear.
Hoping to make more posts about this in future.