voice

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Aerosmith Makes Big Move in Wake of Tyler Injury

Rock band is retiring from touring due to permanent damage to lead singer's vocal cords

(Newser) - Aerosmith says Steven Tyler's voice has been permanently damaged by a vocal cord injury last year and the band will no longer tour. The iconic band behind hits like "Love in an Elevator" and "Livin' on the Edge" posted a statement Friday announcing the cancellation of remaining...

Scarlett Johansson: ChatGPT Voice Sounds a Little Familiar

OpenAI pulls 'Sky' voice after actor points out she'd turned down that role

(Newser) - Scarlett Johansson says she rejected an offer from OpenAI to use her voice in its new ChatGPT system. Then the actor heard the demo released last week. The voice of Sky, she told Variety on Monday, is "so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and news outlets...

Randy Travis Teams Up With AI in First Song Since Losing Voice

Country singer hasn't released a new tune since 2013, until now with 'Where That Came From'

(Newser) - Randy Travis' 2013 stroke kept him out of the recording studio for a decade, but the 65-year-old country star now has a new song out, thanks to a little help from artificial intelligence. Travis has released "Where That Came From," his first tune since the stroke that left...

'Aloof' Big Cats Are Partial to Keepers' Voices
Big Cats Are
Like Pet Cats
in One Big Way
in case you missed it

Big Cats Are Like Pet Cats in One Big Way

Familiar human voices draw longer, more intense responses than unfamiliar ones, researchers show

(Newser) - Domestic cats can tell their owner's voice apart from other humans, and apparently their larger cousins have that same capability, according to new research out of Michigan's Oakland University. In the study published Thursday in the PeerJ—Life and Environment journal, scientists wanted to see if tigers, cheetahs,...

Aerosmith Postpones Rest of September's Concerts

Lead singer Steven Tyler reveals he suffered vocal cord damage after Long Island show

(Newser) - Steven Tyler may not want to miss a thing , but the Aerosmith singer and his band are now postponing a series of concerts after it was revealed Tyler has a voice injury. "I'm heartbroken to say I've received strict doctor's orders not to sing for the...

FTC Warns of 'Terrifying' Phone Scam Driven by AI

Agency says voice cloning can make caller sound like a loved one begging for money

(Newser) - Many of us have heard of the old hoax in which victims receive phone calls from "police" or a "doctor" (actually scammers) saying that a loved one is in trouble and needs money sent stat. Now, in what NPR says "sounds like a plot from a science...

Scientists Surprised to Learn Whales Use 'Vocal Fry'

The marine mammals use it to help them find prey deep underwater

(Newser) - That low, rattling vocal register known as vocal fry—the Washington Post points to Kim Kardashian and Katy Perry as two examples of celebrities who have such gravelly voices—has proven a polarizing topic, with some insisting it's sexy, while others call it grating. But while the appeal of...

Film Studio: 'Sorry for the Pain' of Laverne Cox Dubbing Flap

Universal hired male actor for Italian version of 'Promising Young Woman'

(Newser) - In the Oscar-winning film Promising Young Woman, Laverne Cox plays the role of Gail, the best friend and boss of Cassie, the protagonist. But the Italian version of the movie has now spurred a dubbing controversy, as the voice of the transgender actor has been replaced with that of a...

What Did the 3K-Year-Old Mummy Say? 'Eeuuughhh'

Sound emerges from reconstructed vocal tract of ancient Egyptian priest Nesyamun

(Newser) - "Every Egyptian hoped that after death their soul would be able to speak," says University of York Egyptologist Joann Fletcher—who just sort of made that happen, at least for one 3,000-year-old Egyptian. But the priest who served under Rameses XI didn't confess of a good...

Alexa Gets Emotional
Alexa Gets Emotional

Alexa Gets Emotional

Amazon lets developers use 'happy/excited' and 'disappointed/empathetic' tones

(Newser) - If you thought HAL 9000 got emotional , check out Alexa—who now has three levels of excitement and three of disappointment added to her somewhat robotic voice, GeekWire reports. On Tuesday, Amazon said developers can have Alexa reply to US users in "happy/excited" or "disappointed/empathetic" intonations. "For...

This Is the Loudest Bird. Just Ask His Girlfriend


Meet the
World's
Loudest
Bird
new study

Meet the World's Loudest Bird

The white bellbird hits 125.4 decibels

(Newser) - The male white bellbird has just earned the distinction of being the loudest bird on the planet. Just ask the female white bellbirds—the guys essentially scream in their faces at courting time. In fact, that's one of the surprises from the study. As the researchers delicately put it...

Amazon Alexa Gets Its First Celebrity Voice

Samuel L. Jackson will come in a clean or explicit version

(Newser) - If Alexa's normal voice is too soothing and bland, you'll soon be able to have Samuel L. Jackson cursing at you instead, if that's to your liking. Per USA Today , Amazon announced a slew of new products and services on Wednesday, and among them was a notice...

Baby's Cries Hint at Adult Voice
Baby's Cries
Hint at Adult Voice
NEW STUDY

Baby's Cries Hint at Adult Voice

Voice pitch could be determined in the womb: study

(Newser) - Whether you have a high-pitched voice or a lower one, a new study suggests that it was probably evident when you were just a baby. As previous research has suggested voice pitch is unchanging in adulthood and nearly set in stone by age 7, researchers in France and the UK...

Want to Hit the Low Notes? Have a Baby
Want to Hit the Low Notes?
Have a Baby
study says

Want to Hit the Low Notes? Have a Baby

Researchers find that a woman’s voice drops after giving birth

(Newser) - Want to sound more authoritative or hit those low notes in your signature song? Just have a baby. It worked for Adele and Kristen Bell , who have both noted that during and after pregnancy, their voices were lower. Researchers at the University of Sussex in Britain may have an explanation...

Introducing Kermit's New Voice
Introducing Kermit's
New Voice

Introducing Kermit's New Voice

Matt Vogel's version heard publicly for first time

(Newser) - If you weren't sure how you'd feel about Kermit the Frog having a new voice, now you can finally decide. Every week, the Muppets release an official "Muppet Thought of the Week" on the official YouTube channel, and this week's video features, for the first time,...

A Big Change Is Coming for Kermit the Frog

Steve Whitmire, who has voiced Kermit since Jim Henson's '90 death, is being replaced

(Newser) - Kermit the Frog is getting a new voice, reports the AP . ABC News and the Hollywood Reporter report that Steve Whitmire has left his role as the voice behind the iconic Muppet. Whitmire has voiced the character since Muppets creator Jim Henson's death in 1990. Per ABC, Whitmire's...

Job Hunters: Your Voice May Give You Away
What Our Voice
Says About Us
NEW STUDY

What Our Voice Says About Us

Changes in voice may reveal a lot about ourselves, study says

(Newser) - Job hunters, take note: If you're insecure during an interview, your voice may give you away. A new study reveals that people speak in higher-pitched voices when they're speaking to someone they see as higher status. Writing in Quartz , the researchers say that men and women who viewed...

The Voice That Narrates House Hunters Speaks Out

Andromeda Dunker gives her first interview

(Newser) - Andromeda Dunker has a voice millions of people would recognize immediately, but a face almost nobody knows. That's because she has narrated reality TV shows, most notably in HGTV's House Hunters franchise, since 2009 without ever being in the spotlight. Now, she's spoken with BuzzFeed to share...

Mom's Voice Really Fires Up a Kid's Brain
Mom's Voice Really
Fires Up a Kid's Brain
NEW STUDY

Mom's Voice Really Fires Up a Kid's Brain

Researchers use MRI scans to observe the impact a mother's voice has

(Newser) - Newborns can pick out their mother's voice in their first days of life, and while the stimulating sound of mom's voice has long been connected to the early emotional and social development of children, little is understood neurologically. Now researchers report in the Proceedings of the National Academy ...

Science Reveals Freddie Mercury's Singing Secrets

Think 'subharmonics'

(Newser) - Freddie Mercury had one of the most memorable voices in music, and now researchers have unlocked some of the mystery behind it. For one thing, his vocal chords moved faster than normal. But the bigger part of the puzzle involves something called subharmonics, which the Consequence of Sound defines as...

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