The Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey

Episode 1330: Biohacking Your Voice? Here’s How to Do It

Guest: Roger Love, Renowned Voice Coach
Release Date: September 18, 2025

Overview

In this episode, Dave Asprey invites Roger Love—celebrity vocal coach behind stars such as Bradley Cooper, Reese Witherspoon, Selena Gomez, and many more—back to the show. Together, they explore how the human voice is a biohacking tool for optimizing well-being, presence, human connection, health, and even resistance to automation and AI. The conversation fuses the neuroscience of sound and emotion, practical breathing mechanics, and Roger’s mission to “save the world, one voice at a time.” The episode is packed with actionable insights, myth-busting, and empowering advice for anyone who speaks or sings (hint: that’s everyone).

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Human Voice: Your Ultimate Biohacking Tool

• Roger’s assertion: The voice is a distinctively human instrument, fundamentally connected to emotion, social connection, and even health. AI can process information, but it cannot “attach communication to emotions” (00:00).
• Healing with your own sounds: Science has proven that sounds change brain function. Most of us simply consume sound, but Roger asserts it’s time to become creators: “We’re our own sound healing machines.” (00:39, 45:02)

2. Myth: You’re “Stuck” With Your Voice

• The Instrument vs. the Player:
  “People think that they’re born with a voice, but you’re born with an instrument, and you have to learn how to play it like any other instrument. ... Suddenly you think that’s your voice, but it’s just all the people you’ve imitated.” —Roger (05:13)
• Transformation is possible: Roger has transformed the voices of everyone from actors to CEOs—redefining what’s possible for speaking and singing.

3. Functional Breathing & Speaking for Health and Impact

• Diaphragmatic Breathing Demystified:
  • “People are so obsessed with having their stomachs not stick out and look overweight that they forget ... the best way to make sound is ... allow your stomach to come a little bit forward.” —Roger (08:52)
  • Inhale through your nose (keeps cords hydrated), allow the stomach to gently come forward, then speak or sing only while the stomach returns in—not by force, but via relaxation (09:10–12:12).
• Consequences of Poor Breathing:
  • Most people speak from the upper chest (“squeaky hinge” voices), restricting air and creating tension (13:41).
  • Correct technique = radical upgrade for vocal power, stamina, and even stress management.

4. Emotional & Social Superpowers: Attractiveness and Influence

• Voice cues shape perception:
  “How you sound is very much how people decide you’re attractive ... and you hear yourself, you feel more powerful, you feel more attractive, happier, more grateful.” —Roger (15:26)
• Your voice is a gift for others:
  “Your voice is not for you. Your voice is a gift... and then you’re supposed to decide if it’s a great voice if people liked the gift. If your voice was for you, your ears wouldn’t be here. ... I’m gifting my voice to you.” —Roger (17:47, 18:31)

5. Fixing Vocal Disorders & Tension

• Roger’s unique work with stuttering and spasmodic dysphonia:
  “I change the airflow. ... When you listen to him [RFK Jr.] speak, you absolutely hear the absence of air. ... Did you know that stutterers and even some people with spasmodic dysphonia, when they sing, it comes out clear?” —Roger (24:03–25:16)
• Solid, relaxed airflow retrains even intractable disorders.

6. The Power of Melody, Pace, and Volume

• Great speakers are musical:
  • Singing and speaking are nearly identical; the best speakers use pitch, melody, tone, and volume intentionally (07:41, 29:51).
  • Preachers and orators move people by using melody and dynamic range, not sheer volume (29:16, 29:51).
• Volume is not aggression:
  • “What’s the component of anger? Loud volume, fast pace, and monotone. ... Unless you are speaking loud, super fast and with no melody, you don’t sound angry... Loud with melody and controlled pace, you just sound strong and powerful.” —Roger (54:57)

7. Judgment, Vulnerability, and the Creative Mind

• On judgment:
  • “You can’t create and judge at the same time. ... That gap of judging takes you out of the creative flow.” —Dave (39:33–40:09)
  • Roger recounts how his wife called him “the meanest person I’ve ever met,” helping him see how to blend honesty with kindness in coaching (37:04).
• Why singing feels so vulnerable:
  • “Singing is speaking on steroids. ... A great percent of people believe they are tone-deaf, but less than 2% truly are. Most are just tone-lazy, tone-shy, or untrained.” —Roger (68:56–71:00)
  • He demonstrates a simple test for tone deafness (70:11).

8. Voice as Biological Upgrade: Posture, Longevity, and Resilience

• Posture impacts voice, breathing, and even athleticism:
  • “You can’t round your shoulders ... chest has to be up, shoulders back and down... posture, breathing ... all of those things are making you healthier.” —Roger (43:22)
• After COVID (lung injuries): Many people now speak more softly, weakly, and with less air—a trend that can be reversed with vocal training (44:09).

9. The Analog vs. Digital Dilemma

• Digital audio decreases human connection:
  • “When you have the opportunity to actually have conversations with people mouth to ears… that’s real and that’s real connection.” —Roger (51:43)
  • Too much digital processing removes the nuances and power of the human voice, much like padded shoes have “ruined” our natural gait (51:24).

10. The Ultimate AI-Resistant Skill — Find Your Voice

• AI can never truly copy the emotional bandwidth of the human voice:
  • “If you want to be AI-proof, become the greatest communicator ... authentic, connected to your own emotions and the emotions of other people.” —Roger (54:06)
• How to find your voice:
  • “By training it as an instrument ... by bouncing it off others and trying to move them emotionally … by becoming musical again.” —Roger (54:11)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Giving Your Voice to Others:
  “Your voice is a gift ... Your opinion of my voice is infinitely more important than my voice opinion.”
  —Roger Love (17:47–18:31)

• On Stress, Tension, and Breathing:
  “People are creating all kinds of tension that they don’t need. Tension here makes tension here makes tension here. Suddenly you’re a tense person.”
  —Roger Love (12:53)

• On Singers and Tone Deafness:
  “Nobody is really tone deaf. They’re tone lazy, they’re tone shy, they haven’t learned to play their instrument.”
  —Roger Love (71:10)

• On Mastery:
  “I only want to master things I care about. Everything else, I don’t care.”
  —Dave Asprey (33:01)

• On AI & Emotion:
  “AI will never be able to attach communication to emotions. ... So we have to hold on to the things that makes us human.”
  —Roger Love (00:00, 53:07)

• On the ‘AH’ Headache Cure:
  “Say, ‘Ah’ three times and your headache goes away...”
  —Roger Love (46:45)

• On Connection in Group Singing:
  “When you make sound and it vibrates my body, I’m not 100% sure I didn’t make that sound ... we’re shared in this vibration more than you think.”
  —Roger Love (66:16)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:00]: Voice, emotion, and what AI can never do
• [05:13]: It’s not “your” voice—you learn it, you play it
• [08:52]: The truth about diaphragmatic breathing & speaking
• [13:41]: Why breathing and speech matter more than movement
• [15:26]: Vocal training and attractiveness
• [17:47]: “Your voice is not for you” — learning to give your voice
• [24:03]: Working with stuttering & vocal disorders by fixing airflow
• [29:51]: Why sermons and preachers move people—melody and range
• [43:22]: How posture and breathwork are health, voice, and even sports performance
• [45:02]: Making your own “healing sounds” changes brain and stress
• [51:43]: Analog vs digital: why real sound is vital for humanity
• [54:06]: The ultimate AI-proof skill: master human communication
• [54:57]: Speaking loudly vs. being “powerful” but not “dominant”
• [68:56]: Why singing feels more vulnerable than speaking—tone deafness myth
• [70:11]: The “Happy Birthday” test for tone deafness
• [72:42]: Resources for learning voice (rogerlove.com/dave)

Actionable Takeaways

• Don’t settle for “your voice”—explore and train it like any instrument.
• Diaphragmatic breathing (inhale through nose, let stomach relax, and speak while stomach moves in) is key for voice health and resonance.
• Add melody and intentional volume to your speech to sound more attractive, influential, and confident without sounding angry.
• Emotion binds memory and learning—don’t speed up audio if you want full retention and connection.
• Regularly speak and, if possible, sing—your voice can literally be your own “biohacking tool” for cognitive, emotional, and physical health.
• Direct, live, analog human vocal interaction is irreplaceable for connection and human flourishing.
• If you want to experiment or go deeper, try Roger’s vocal resources at rogerlove.com/dave for a special offer.

For Reflection

• If you haven’t explored your own vocal possibilities, what’s stopping you?
• In a world increasingly mediated by AI and digital technology, is your voice magnetic, emotional, and uniquely human?
• What might shift if you brought more melody, breath, and intention into your daily speech and conversations?

This summary captures the detailed flow, tone, and powerful themes articulated by Dave Asprey and Roger Love, providing a rich overview and guide for transforming your voice and, by extension, your life.