Effects of Androgenic Steroids
Voice
Androgenic steroids
mirror the effects of naturally occurring male sex characteristics commonly seen
during puberty. Zemlin (1998) describes these natural changes during
puberty, as they pertain to the voice, as follows:
"During the pubertal period, the cartilaginous structure grows particularly rapidly. In males, the vocal folds not only increase in length by about 10mm, but they also thicken, and, as a result, the lower range of the voice drops by about a full octave. This change in the voice is known as mutation."
Zemlin also indicates
that the layer structure of the vocal folds matures during adolescence,
"Thus, voice mutation is associated not only with an increase in size of
the vocal folds, but also with changes in the inner structure of the vocal fold
mucosa."
Individuals (male and
female) who have
been exposed to androgenic steroids will experience and irreversible alteration
in their vocal folds, including lengthening and thickening. This, in turn,
causes the natural frequency of their voice to lower.
It has also been
reported that users of androgenic steroids have "hoarse" voices.
I hypothesize that this hoarseness is the result of asymmetrical changes in the
vocal folds, i.e.: since the added androgen is unnatural and not regulated by
body chemistry, the lengthening and thickening caused by the androgen did not
occur to the same degree in each vocal fold as it normally does in puberty.
(Colton & Casper, 1996)
A recent
study in the Journal of Voice (Baker, 1999) examined the effects of
virilizing
agents in four females experiencing dysphonia. It was determined that
use of the androgenic substances caused significant alterations in vocal
physiology, including muscle tissue changes, muscle coordination dysfunction,
and proprioceptive dysfunction. Descriptions of the voices included
hoarse, croaky, powerless projection, glottal fry, marked instability, decreased
pitch range (for singing) and rapid fatigue. Both the
projected speaking voices and the singing voices of these ladies proved to be
very sensitive to the virilazation effects of drugs they had been exposed to.
Androgenic steroids also
cause a water and electrolyte imbalance in the body, which result in increased
storage of water and sodium in cells, tissues, or serous cavities of the body
. Known as edema, this storage of water affects the superficial
layer of the lamina propria by increasing the mass of the cover. (Colton &
Casper, 1996). This affects the vocal folds by lowering the pitch level and
adding hoarseness. Extreme cases of vocal fold edema can cause shortness
of breath due to the blockage of the airway by the engorged vocal
folds.
Furthermore, I assume
that the increased development of skeletal muscle induced by exposure to androgens
will affect the muscles of the vocal mechanism.
Click here to see the muscles of the vocal mechanism
Click here to see the actions of the joints of the vocal mechanism
General Effects of Androgenic Steroids courtesy of ESPN
Men - Although anabolic steroids are derived from a male sex hormone, men
who take them may actually experience a "feminization" effect along
with a decrease in normal male sexual function. Some possible effects include:
Women
- On the other hand, women often experience a "masculinization"
effect from anabolic steroids, including the following:
With continued use of anabolic steroids, both sexes can experience the following
effects, which range from the merely unsightly to the life endangering. They
include:
What are androgenic/anabolic steroids?
Common uses for androgenic steroids
Implications of androgenic steroid use in voice therapy