Would you like some vocal fry with that?

Good morning!

For the un-indoctrinated, vocal fry is a phenomenon that came into the spotlight with the rise of podcasting.

Wired made a video explaining the concept if you want to know more.

TL;DR it’s when the speed of your vocal folds slows down and you can hear their individual vibrations which leads to a unique tone. One of the most famous examples is Kim Kardashian.

Some love vocal fry. Others hate it.

Given how strongly people feel about this, I imagined a world where there’s a slider you can use to adjust vocal fry intensity in your Apple Podcast settings.

While technically gnarly to implement, I think this would be possible to do with recent developments in AI and voice technology. Also, I’m not sure anyone I’ve ever met has said, “man I wish this podcast hosts voice had more vocal fry.” But the world is big. There’s gotta be someone out there.

So, should the slider go up or down?

If you enjoyed this (whether you like vocal fry or not), please subscribe.

You’ll get a design concept like this daily in your inbox.

Have a friend who could make this feature real? Share it with them.