[J. I.]

It seems possible to guess with a fair degree of accuracy when a person speaking – someone unknown and unseen – is black. My focus here is not on dialect or pronunciation, but voice quality. A friend of mine, a licensed speech pathologist, once told me that the so-called “black voice” quality is believed to be a learned resonance, totally unrelated to such anatomical factors as nose shape. Are there more-recent theories?

User Detail :  

Name : J. I., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 56, City : Atlanta, State : GA, Country : United States, Occupation : Voiceover, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

[Al]

As one who has recorded thousands of voices during my career – both amateur and professional voices, I must say that all things being equal, it is not possible to discern race (black/white) from voice quality alone. I have had the privilege of working with James Earl Jones on one occasion, and not having ever seen him before that time, I assumed he was white, a long-time radio professional and in his sixties. Imagine my surprise to find that incredible voice and diction attached to a much younger (then) but very distingished black gentleman. Anyone with talent can imitate regional and ethnic dialects (I do a few myself), but pure vocal characteristics – timbre, dynamics, diction, articulation, renonance, syllabification of words, do not – by themselves – indicate racial makeup.

User Detail :  

Name : Al, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 49, City : Ottawa (Ontario), State : NA, Country : Canada, Occupation : audio engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

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