By Jessica Lien

For generations, the changing voices of adolescent boys have attracted scientific attention. Girls' voices change during puberty, too, but have been studied less.

That gap in understanding matters, said David Meyer, assistant professor of voice and voice science in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ School of Music. The more researchers understand how young voices develop, the better equipped music educators may be to support students as they grow.

Now, a study co-led by Meyer offers new insight into a process scientists have struggled to document.

Published in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, the study found that girls' speaking voices generally become deeper between ages 8 and 17, when their average pitch begins to level off. But that change isn't uniform, and that’s an important caveat.

Some girls' voices deepen gradually, while others remain relatively stable before dropping more noticeably. Still others experience fluctuations, with their speaking pitch rising and falling over time.

“We expected girls' voices to steadily deepen as they got older,” Meyer said. “But when you look at individuals, you see that some voices stay steady for years before dropping, others deepen gradually, and still others fluctuate between higher and lower pitches.”

The findings demonstrate why relying solely on averages can obscure important differences in adolescent voice development. Although previous research has documented the overall lowering of girls' speaking pitch, those averages don't capture how differently the process unfolds for each child.

Nearly two decades of recordings reveal a different picture

The international research team analyzed 609 recordings of 75 girls ages 8 to 18 who attended Wells Cathedral School in the United Kingdom. All were choristers who received intensive musical training, making them a distinctive group for studying voice development.

Between 1999 and 2017, researchers recorded the students reading the same passage aloud at approximately six-month intervals. Having students read the same passage provided a consistent basis for comparing their speaking pitch over time.

Meyer and his collaborators helped organize the extensive original collection into a dataset that could be analyzed, working with a statistician in Switzerland to identify developmental patterns. 

Their analysis revealed substantial differences in both the timing and extent of pitch changes. Although age and choir-training history were associated with speaking pitch, much of the variation remained unexplained.

Because speaking and singing rely on the same vocal structures, studying how speaking voices develop can also contribute to a better understanding of the physical changes that young singers experience. However, because the participants were trained vocalists, the findings may not fully represent voice development among girls without similar musical training.

Why understanding voice differences matters

The way children learn to use their singing voices can shape how they perceive their abilities, their confidence, and their place in music for years to come.

For Meyer, who studies both the science of voice production and the teaching of singing, the findings reinforce the importance of recognizing individual differences in music education.

"Any teacher who's in a classroom knows that you don't teach the average," Meyer said. "You teach to all the students' needs because their needs are similar in some ways but individual in others."

He has met adults who still believe they have bad singing voices because a teacher discouraged them from singing when they were children. Some have carried that belief for decades.

Meyer hopes that a better understanding of vocal development will help educators recognize and respond to the different ways children's voices change, encouraging students to develop confidence rather than become discouraged by their abilities.

The researchers plan to build on the findings by examining additional aspects of the recordings, including how speaking and singing voices develop in relation to one another.

For Meyer, the ultimate goal extends beyond understanding the biology of the voice. It's about helping young people develop confidence in their ability to use it.

"The more we understand the way the voice develops, the better we should be able to train it and get these kids excited about making music, about discovering their own voice," Meyer said.

The study, “Speaking fundamental frequency in (pre)pubertal female choristers: a longitudinal study,” was published in JASA on July 23, 2026.