So much more than the pubescent boy’s worst fear, voice cracks can threaten any vocal performance. Thankfully, learning to avoid these vocal breaks—and break a leg instead—isn’t too tough a nut to crack.
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A voice crack is an unwanted and unexpected change in vocal pitch while speaking or singing. Although it’s most often aligned with teenage boys, voice cracks can—and do—happen to people of all ages and genders.
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Your voice cracks when the laryngeal muscles experience a sudden movement. This might be due to:
- Hormonal changes: The influx of testosterone experienced by cis and transgender males causes physical changes to the vocal cords. The larynx migrates deeper into the throat as the muscles around it grow. Simultaneously, the vocal folds grow larger. This expedient hormonal change in the size and shape of the laryngeal muscles can make the voice crack.
- Vocal strain: If you push your voice too high or too low in pitch and volume, the laryngeal muscles change shape quickly, which can lead to your voice cracking.
- Vocal growths: Vocal growths can form along the sides of your vocal cords in response to overuse of the voice or acid reflux. These growths, sometimes called singer’s nodules, impact the way sound moves through the laryngeal muscles.
- Heartburn: Even if gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) isn’t drastic enough that it causes growths, stomach acid entering the food pipe still irritates the vocal folds, which can lead to cracking.
- Anxiety: Of course, the primary trope about voice cracks in film and TV is that it happens when a character is nervous or otherwise emotional. The body tenses up when anxious, including the throat. When the laryngeal muscles stiffen, the vocal folds struggle to get sound out, which can lead to cracks.
10 Vocal Exercises for Singers 
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Assuming you’re not portraying a teenage boy or a perpetually nervous Nellie, you likely want to know what you can do when your voice is cracking. Keeping your voice from cracking is mostly preventative. It’s a matter of staying hydrated and healthy, always warming up your voice, and reducing anxiety.
Hydrate
Hydration is key to keeping your vocal cords lubricated. The epiglottis blocks ingested water from directly contacting the vocal folds, but drinking water still hydrates the entire body. Try drinking two liters of water a day to hydrate from within. Other options include using a humidifier at 30%–50% or using a personal steamer to keep your vocal cords moist and laryngeal muscles soothed.
Avoid vocal strain
Try not to change your voice pitch or volume too quickly. Instead, modulate by changing the pitch and volume gradually. If your voice is already strained from overuse, limit how much you speak or sing, and vocalize softly to prevent further strain.
Minimize harmful behaviors
Since smoking, drinking alcoholic beverages, and eating too many spicy foods can harm your throat, reducing these behaviors can help keep your voice from cracking.
8 Vocal Health Tips for Actors and Singers Do vocal warmups
Spend 15–20 minutes doing breathing and voice exercises so your muscles are properly warmed up for action. These should include:
- Stretching: Stretch your upper torso by reaching each arm up and over the other side and holding for several beats.
- Slides: Try out a mix of pitches and volume levels by doing vocal slides with increasing intervals and loudness.
- Breathwork: Breathe in deep and then do 25–50 sharp exhales, really focusing on feeling your throat muscle movements while doing so.
Reduce anxiety
While this tip is easier said than done, help yourself feel calm and carefree before a performance by engaging in stress reduction exercises:
- Move around: Physical exercise releases endorphins, which can help you feel calmer and less anxious.
- Remember your value: You’re the one performing—the audience is there to see you. Remembering that can help when performance jitters loom on the horizon.
- Focus on performance over people: While it’s important to connect to your audience, focus primarily on the performance instead of the audience to keep stage fright and a cracking voice at bay.
- Practice, practice, practice: Put your mind and body in the situation you’ll be in during a performance (onstage, on set, in a studio? in front of a large crowd or a single casting director? speaking loudly or quietly?) and practice until the very last nerve has left you.
- Accept your anxiety: “Fighting the anxiety doesn’t usually work,” says voice teacher Michael Jacobs. In fact, trying to fight anxiety can put you in fight-or-flight mode, which paradoxically will only increase the adrenaline flowing through your body. Rather than fighting your anxiety, “make some space for it,” Jacobs advises.
If your voice is regularly cracking, check in with your doctor to check that you’re not experiencing a medical issue. Depending on the severity of the issue, you may require medication or even surgery to achieve smoother, uncracked vocalizations.
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To keep your voice from cracking, breathe deep, speak and sing slowly and within your range, and relax. If you’ve done everything you can to prevent vocal breaks, but a cracking voice still plagues your performance in real time, take a crack at these helpful techniques:
- Breathe deep: Breathing deep from your belly reduces the pressure on your laryngeal muscles. Place your hands on your stomach and feel it expand and contract with every breath to optimize your vocalizations.
- Speak and sing carefully: Think of the last time you strained a muscle. It probably happened when you made a sudden, unexpected movement—not during your regular, metered gym routine. Similarly, fast, loud speaking can throw your laryngeal muscles out of whack and make your voice crack. Slow, deliberate speech within your normal range means slow muscle movements and reduced vocal breaks.
- Relax: Put all that working out and working on yourself to work. Take a few deep breaths and recall how you feel when you’re exercising, in a yoga class, or meditating, and remind yourself of all the hours of preparation you put in for your performance.
Medical advice disclaimer: Content in this article is provided for informational purposes only, and does not intend to substitute professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
