Hello r/AskHistorians, my name is Josephine Hoegaerts. I’m a professor of European Culture at the University of Amsterdam, and I have always been very interested in sound and people’s voices. (Being a life-long choir girl probably has something to do with this obsession). Why do we like some voices, and not others? How can we listen for hours to one beloved teacher or inspiring politician, but immediately switch off when another opens their mouth? And have we always sounded the way we do now?
The last question was the one that, as a historian, fascinated me most, so about ten years ago I set out to study how people used their vocal apparatus in the past, how physicians and scientists started studying vocal health, what journalists and critics thought of the vocal performances they heard, and especially what people did when they thought there was something wrong with their voice. How did they treat hoarseness? How did they learn to sing higher, speak louder, or talk fluently?
I learned a lot about the aspirations of speakers and singers, about the strict norms that ruled speech and conversation, and perhaps most of all about how people with speech impediments were treated by doctors, but also by society. (I recently published a book on these topics: Speaking, Stammering, Singing, Shouting – Penn Press If you're interested in the book, feel free to use discount code PENN-JHOEGAERTS30)
Spoiler alert: I never found out what people ‘really’ sounded like in the past, but I discovered many more interesting things in the process – including a wild range of sore throat remedies you should probably never try.
I’ll be here from 11 am to 3 pm ET to answer all your questions about voices of the past, speech, speech impediments and sound history.
[link] [comments]