What is vocal fry? You have heard it and cringed. Researchers at Long Island University believe it is a trend begun by young women who want to affect relationships with their vocal quality. Imagine girl slang that becomes mainstream—-Awesome!

The Journal of Voice article reports: Working with what they acknowledged to be a very small sample — recorded speech from 34 women ages 18 to 25 — the professors said they found evidence of a new trend among female college students: a guttural fluttering of the vocal cords they called “vocal fry.” A classic example of vocal fry, best described as a raspy or croaking sound injected usually at the end of a sentence, can be heard when Mae West says, “Why don’t you come up sometime and see me,” or, more recently on television, when Maya Rudolph mimics Maya Angelou on “Saturday Night Live.” . . . If this is a relationship trend as well as a vocal trend, you wonder what sort of relationship these girls want.

I couldn’t remember the name of a stunning example of vocal fry from television. When I googled “CNBC right-wing money babe” her name came up first. Is vocal fry a “power” sound as the Long Island study suggests or brain fry? If you or someone near you suffers from vocal fry, try taking a deep breath into the lower abdomen, connect with your body, relax your throat and jaw so that the guttural sound is eased and speak as though to a friend. Herbs that help prevent vocal fry connect the voice to the digestive/emotional center where we process ideas and feelings. For example Xiao Yao Wan a Chinese patent remedy recommended for indigestion, poor circulation in the chest, anxiety, depression, blood sugar imbalances, and especially for signs of “stuck liver Qi” a condition in which liver function is irregular and emotions may become trapped in negativity. The ingredients include ginger, mint, bupleurum (chai hu) which releases bile, fuling a diuretic and several blood tonics including Angelica sinensis (dong quai.) The combination helps regulate menstruation and emotional surges.

When is vocal fry brain fry? Do you feel hot in the head with eye ache, sore gums, teeth or throat, fever, or clogged ears? You may need a combination of anti-inflammatory, antibacterial herbs that treat head, urinary and intestinal inflammatory symptoms. One such combination is called Huang Lien shang ching pien (pills). The main ingredient is Coptis sinensis (AKA golden thread) which is a source of berberin a natural anti-inflammatory. Other herbs in the combination include skullcap, gardenia, forsythia, licorice, gypsum, rhubarb, and mint. The usual dose is 4 tablets as needed but reduce the dose if you develop diarrhea.