The Sexy Baby Voice

Today, we sit with actor, writer, and director Lake Bell! With the release of the her new audiobook (“Inside Voice: My Obsession with How We Sound”) we pinpoint the origin of this passion: growing up in Manhattan in the 1980s (8:10), being drawn to actor Lauren Bacall’s register at age six (11:18), and capturing an array of voices via tape recorder at age fifteen (15:25) before writing/directing her debut film on the subject, “In a World,” in 2013 (22:05).

On the back-half, we chart the changes in Lake’s voice over a decade (23:22), the traumatic effects of psychogenic dysphonia (25:22), the ephemerality of a child’s speech (31:15), the unnerving phenomenon of the “sexy baby” affectation (37:27), and the privilege (and reward) of aging into your voice (43:50).

To listen to “Inside Voice”, visit https://www.pushkin.fm/audiobooks/inside-voice.

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.