It’s nerve-racking talking to Lake Bell: The moment I speak, she’s sizing up my voice—judging its pitch, appraising its timbre, listening for any inflection, tic, or colloquialism that might give away where I’m from and how I was raised. More than anything, though, she judges whether I’m speaking with my authentic, “connected” voice, or whether I’ve affected an inauthentic tone.
The human voice has long been a point of fascination for the actor-writer-director, and her new audiobook Inside Voice: My Obsession with How We Sound, released this week by Malcolm Gladwell’s audio company Pushkin Industries, finds her tackling her favorite subject from the role of reporter. Bell is primarily known as an indie auteur and voice actor, having voiced everything from Apple product launches to an unconfirmed role in the upcoming Black Panther sequel, but she proves a shrewd journalist, interviewing a host of academics, vocal coaches and celebrities about why people talk the way they do. (Chris Rock, Bell’s rumored romantic interest, even makes a cameo.) The result is a charming auditory collage, more like an extremely long podcast than a traditional audiobook, filled with voices recognizable and obscure, soothing and grating, with Bell deftly shepherding listeners through the experience in her signature husky contralto.
A person’s voice is their most distinguishing characteristic, Bell says. “It’s your main source of communication with the world.” And every personal and cultural signifier imaginable—your age, sex, gender, class, race; your country and region of origin; your friends, family and occupation; everything that makes you you—informs the way it sounds. Your voice is as unique as your personhood and yet, also mutable, constantly changing, in ways subtle and profound, to adhere to different social contexts. So many people go through life blissfully unaware, or purposefully ignorant, of people’s voices, including their own, though. And this, Bell tells me, is negatively affecting our interpersonal relationships.
“In acting, we can really hear when a voice is authentic,” she explains. “You’re actually living within a character, and that means finding a connected voice within the character. That’s schmucky, woo-woo actor stuff, but it helps in real life, too—for when you’re talking to your children or relating to people in your work life. It extends beyond just a performative medium.”
The idea of a connected, authentic voice—a voice that we inhabit fully, richly, effortlessly—is a frequent refrain for Bell, and the key to not improving your speech, but better understanding and connecting others. Even if you’re not trying to sound like Don Draper at work (or on dates), you’ll find value in Inside Voice.
Bell’s fascination with voices began in childhood, when she realized she could delay her bedtime by entertaining her parents with her precocious talent for voice acting. After dinner, she’d stage an improvised late night talk show, the “Late Lake Show,” with Bell playing the roles of both host and guests, much to the delight of her parents and her friends. “Those were the emotional cookies I was given,” she says.
John McDermott
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