What Is Voicemaxxing, and Does It Work?

Voicemaxxing is a TikTok trend where guys train their voice to sound deeper. Some of it works, and some of it doesn't.

Voice coaches loosen the throat first. Beginners do it the other way. They shove the voice as low as it goes.

The coach's way works. Slow belly breaths, a soft hum and a chest buzz relax the throat. Then an easy low note shows up on its own.

The beginner's way doesn't. A forced low voice, neck workouts and mewing just add strain.

Strain means the small muscles in your throat get tired. It shows up as a sore throat by dinner and a scratchy voice the next day.

Picture a guy bench-pressing a giant microphone. It looks like hard work that should pay off. But a voice doesn't grow from heavy lifting, and pushing harder just brings more strain.

Here is the part the clips skip. Studies found that a full, warm sound mattered more than a low one. And men who pushed their voice down did not clearly sound better.

So you don't need a neck trainer or mouth tape. You need the right order and a few minutes a day. Then a calmer, fuller voice can start to show.

What is voicemaxxing?

Voicemaxxing means training your voice to sound deeper. It is part of "looksmaxxing," an online trend about looking your best.

The idea is simple. The videos say a lower voice attracts women. They promise a deeper voice in a week or a month.

Real tips mixed with made-up ones

The tips in these videos come in two kinds:

• Real voice training, like humming, belly breathing and drinking water.
• Untested ideas, like neck workouts, mewing and taping your mouth shut at night.

Both kinds show up in the same video. That makes them hard to tell apart.

A voice teacher named Renée Yoxon and a speech therapist named Rory Jack watched a batch of these videos. A speech therapist helps people fix voice problems. They found some good ideas mixed with a lot of bad ones.

The best video in the batch was made by someone with real voice training. That is a good sign to look for.

Why the trend is so big

The trend is big because lots of guys don't like how they sound. Picture a guy who hates his voice in a group chat video. He looks up "deeper voice" and finds a clip that promises a fix.

That feeling is real, and the two experts said so too. Wanting to feel at home in your own voice makes sense. The problem is not the goal. It is the advice that comes with it.

So which tips work, and which ones are just noise? To find out, start with what the studies on deep voices really found.

What does the research on deep voices actually show?

Men with lower voices do get a small edge, on average. People hear them as a bit more attractive and a bit more in charge. But the edge is small, and faking a low voice doesn't earn it.

Deeper voices get a small edge

In one well-known study, women liked deeper male voices more. They also guessed those men were bigger, but they were mostly wrong. When scientists made voices sound lower, men heard those speakers as more in charge.

In real life, the edge is small

In a big 2022 review, men with lower voices said they had more partners. But they did not have more kids.

Picture two guys at a job interview. One has a slightly deeper voice. The other one speaks slowly, looks up and finishes his sentences. He probably comes across as more sure of himself.

Faking it doesn't help

Men who made their voice lower on purpose did not clearly sound better. People can often tell when a voice has been pushed down.

A full sound beats a low one

One more study found that a full sound mattered more than a low one. That is the finding the videos leave out. Voice experts call that full sound "resonance." It is the warm, roomy sound your voice gets from the space in your throat and chest.

This is the useful part. You can't change much about how low your voice goes. But you can change how full it sounds. That is where practice pays off, and it is just what the good tips train.

Which voicemaxxing tips actually work?

The tips that work are normal voice practice. Here is how the popular ones stack up:

Why do the good ones work? They all help your throat relax. A deep sound comes from a loose throat, not more muscle.

When you breathe slowly and your throat is loose, your voice drops to its easy low note. You don't have to push it there.

A chest buzz shows how this feels. Put a hand on your upper chest and hum on a low, easy note. You should feel a light buzz under your hand.

That buzz is the full sound the studies liked. You don't make it by pushing. You make it by letting go.

That is also why the good tips feel so plain. There is no secret. Singing teachers already use humming and belly breathing. Speech therapists use a chest buzz, too.

The good tips give you more than a deeper sound. They also help you sound calm and clear. That is often what people really want when they say "deeper."

Want the steps? The lip trill routine for a powerful voice shows the warm-up, the breathing and a four-week plan. For three exercises just for depth, see how to get a deeper voice.

Which voicemaxxing tips are just hype?

The hype tips are the ones that make you tight. The big ones are neck workouts, mewing, mouth taping, too much water, one "perfect" pitch, and clips you just listen to.

A neck workout trains the wrong thing. The calm person humming next to the lifter is closer to a deep voice.

Neck workouts

Neck workouts build the wrong thing. A speech therapist called neck crunches "the opposite of what you'd want." A full voice comes from letting go, not from building muscle.

Mewing and mouth taping

Mewing means pressing your tongue on the roof of your mouth to change your jaw. WebMD says no good research shows that it works. Taping your mouth at night has no proof either.

Too much water

One video said to drink 3 to 4 liters a day. The experts said that is too much. Water keeps your voice healthy, but it can't make it bigger.

One "perfect" pitch, and listen-only clips

Chasing one perfect pitch boxes you in. It leaves no room to find your own voice. And clips that promise change if you just listen do nothing.

Why mewing can't work

Mewing needs one more word, because it is so popular. Your voice comes from two small flaps in your throat, called vocal folds. How low they sound depends on their size and how tight they are.

Your tongue doesn't change either one. In fact, a tight tongue usually makes a voice sound tighter, not deeper.

A quick test for any new tip

Here is a quick test for any new tip. Does it help you relax, breathe and use your voice? Then it is probably fine.

Does it promise a change with no practice, or make you tense up? Skip it.

The tense tips are not just useless, either. Some of them can hurt, which brings up the safety question.

Is voicemaxxing safe?

Most voicemaxxing exercises are safe. The risky parts are forcing a fake low voice and taking testosterone you don't need.

This is how a fake low voice catches up with you. It felt cool all day, and then the laugh cracks and the throat hurts. That is strain, not progress.

Forcing a fake low voice

Here is what forcing looks like in real life. You find a low voice in a video and copy it all day. It sounds cool for an hour.

By dinner your throat hurts, and your voice cracks when you laugh. The next morning it sounds scratchy.

That is not your voice getting deeper. It is your throat getting tired. Talking in a fake low voice for a long time can strain the muscles in your throat.

Your voice can then sound rough or breathy, or even cut out. Your throat may feel tired, tight or sore.

Testosterone you don't need

Testosterone is a bigger risk. It is a hormone, a chemical your body makes on its own. Taking it when you don't need it can make your body stop making its own.

It can also cause pimples and hair loss. And some of what is sold online may be fake.

How to keep practice safe

Keep each session short, a few minutes at a time. Stop if you feel pain or keep needing to clear your throat.

Rest your voice when you have a cold. And if your voice is still rough after a few weeks, stop and see a doctor.

A simple rule helps. A good deep voice feels easier than your old one. If it feels like work, you've gone too low.

The tricky part is that strain sneaks up on you. In the moment, a pushed voice can feel like progress. You only notice the cost later, so a recording beats guessing.

Is voicemaxxing about dating or confidence?

It is mostly about sounding calm and sure of yourself. A deep voice is only one small part of dating. And a faked low voice doesn't clearly sound better.

So why do the videos talk so much about dating? Because that is what gets clicks. "Get a voice women love" sells better than "breathe slower."

What makes a voice people like

Think about someone whose voice you like. It is probably not the deepest voice you know. It is likely steady, so it doesn't wobble or rush. It is easy, so it never sounds pushed. And it is full, with a warm buzz behind it.

That person sounds like they mean what they say. That is something you can train.

Keep the good tips, skip the rest

The experts had one more worry. Some of these videos push hard rules about how men should act. The good tips are buried in a lot of other stuff. You can keep the good tips and skip the rest.

It's not just for men, either. Slow breathing and a loose throat help any voice. The goal is to sound like the best you, not like someone else.

Some people train their voice as part of a gender change. For them, a speech therapist is the safest guide.

There is one catch with all of this. Your voice sounds different in your head than it does to others. So it is hard to judge your own voice, and you need a way to hear it the way others do.

How do you start voicemaxxing the right way?

Start with the basics that have proof, and give them a few weeks. Skip anything that makes you tense, and use recordings to check your progress.

Start like this: read a short passage and record it on your phone. A week later, read it again and play the two side by side.

A good first week looks like this:

1. Record yourself reading a short passage, and save it.
2. Pick one routine and do it for a few minutes each day. The powerful voice routine is a good place to start.
3. Use your calmer voice in one real chat each day.
4. At the end of the week, record the same passage and listen side by side.

Here is what that week tends to feel like. The first two days feel a bit silly. By day four, the warm-up is easy, and you catch yourself talking a little slower.

On day seven, the new recording sounds calmer. It may not sound much deeper yet, and that is normal.

Week two is where a lot of people stop. The drills get boring, and it is hard to tell if you are doing them right. Are you relaxing, or pushing? A mirror can't tell you.

That is where some guidance helps. Short lessons that explain each drill keep you on track, and so does a check of your voice each time you practice.

Voicemaxx AI is built around both. It gives you about three minutes of drills a day from a video course, and it listens while you read out loud.

It also has an Arena, where real people rate your voice clips. That shows you how you sound to others, not just to you.

If that sounds useful, the short Voicemaxx AI quiz is a good first step. It shows you a plan for your voice first.

Want to compare tools first? See this honest list of the best deep voice apps. To hear where your voice sits now, take the free voice test.