There is a medical reason why Tyrese Haliburton sounds like he has two different voices

USA Today

16 hours ago

There is a medical reason why Tyrese Haliburton sounds like he has two different voices
Indiana Pacers star guard Tyrese Haliburton has continued his heroic postseason run, but if you listen to him talk about it, you may notice something.
Haliburton, who represented Team USA during the Paris Olympics, occasionally sounds like he has two entirely different voices. Just press play on this clip of Haliburton talking about the improbable comeback that Indiana had against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game of the NBA Finals.
In the beginning of the interview on national TV, Haliburton is speaking with a slightly deeper voice. Then (ironically) right as he said the words "why would that change" later in the conversation, his voice suddenly had a much higher pitch.
More: Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers keep pulling off the impossible
It happened during his postgame press conference as well:
This is something that some fans noticed when Haliburton appeared on The Young Man and the Three with JJ Redick.
Then it happened against before the 2024 NBA All-Star Game hosted in Indiana as well:
Haliburton has acknowledged that this is indeed something that happens to him. It is something he has talked about with ESPN's Pat McAfee.
Here is what what he says:
"I do. People say that all the time ... I never catch it. I watch podcasts after and I'm like, 'Dang, my voice changed.' I didn't do that on purpose. It just happened. It just happens that way naturally sometimes."
Haliburton added that he feels he has no control over it, and it's something that just happens to him. So why exactly does that happen?
Brianna Williams reached out to Dr. Michael M. Johns from USC's Voice Center, and he provided a possible explanation (via ESPN):
"Vocalization is a lot like athletics; people don't think of it that way because it happens naturally," Dr. Johns told ESPN. "It's like putting aluminum foil on a guitar string; the sound changes when the vibration is irregular."
Regarding Haliburton's voice, Dr. Johns observed: "When you listen to Tyrese's voice, there's a rough quality to it, and that would likely be a change of what's happening at the vocal cords, like that 'tinfoil on the guitar string' analogy."
He speculated that Haliburton might be compensating for vocal fatigue by changing his resonance, shifting the shape of his vocal tract or resonator.
"Athletes are using their voice a lot, and they're using their voice loudly," Dr. Johns explained. "They're hollering across the court. There's a huge amount of noise around them. They've got to be heard over that noise. And so they, like other vocal athletes, can develop some injury to their vocal folds, vocal nodules, or vocal swelling that can cause some rough quality to the voice."
This is fascinating and something that makes Haliburton very unique.