Tyrese Haliburton’s voice change switch has gone viral
Tyrese Haliburton, the great guard for the Indiana Pacers, has maintained his incredible postseason run, but if you pay attention, you may notice something different.
Tyrese Haliburton voice change reason explained and what is the condition behind the switch
At times, Tyrese Haliburton, who competed for Team USA in the Olympics in Paris, seemed to have two distinct voices. Simply hit play on this video of Haliburton discussing Indiana’s unlikely NBA Finals comeback against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Haliburton’s voice is a little deeper at the start of the national television interview. Then, oddly, his voice abruptly became considerably higher in pitch just as he was saying, “why would that change” later in the conversation.
This is an intriguing feature that sets Tyrese Haliburton apart.
Tyrese Haliburton's voice change mid-sentence is crazy. 🤣
(h/t @ohnohedidnt24)
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) June 6, 2025
When Haliburton made an appearance on The Young Man and the Three with JJ Redick, some fans took notice of his voice.
One shift took place near the 16-minute mark, while Haliburton described the evolution of his celebrity status and the other occurred close to the 34-minute mark, in a play-by-play breakdown of what happened between the Pacers and the Milwaukee Bucks when Giannis Antetokounmpo got upset over a game ball in December 2023.
Then it also occurred prior to the 2024 NBA All-Star Game, which was held in Indiana. As Haliburton has admitted, this is something that does happen to him. He has discussed the matter with Pat McAfee of ESPN.
He had said, “I do. People say that all the time … I never catch it. I watch podcasts after and I’m like, ‘Dang, my voice changed.’ I didn’t do that on purpose. It just happened. It just happens that way naturally sometimes.”
Why Tyrese Haliburton's voice change mid-sentence…
Hali and KAT having a voice off 😭😭
pic.twitter.com/3pJwkiq7il https://t.co/IZvmjEvRop
— Hater Report (@HaterReport_) May 26, 2025
Haliburton went on to say that he believes he has no control over it and that it simply occurs to him.
Dr. Michael M. Johns of USC’s Voice Center responded with a potential explanation.
“Vocalization is a lot like athletics; people don’t think of it that way because it happens naturally,” Dr. Johns told ESPN. “It’s like putting aluminum foil on a guitar string; the sound changes when the vibration is irregular.”
There’s a rough quality to Tyrese’s voice, and that would likely be a change of what’s happening at the vocal cords, like that ‘tinfoil on the guitar string’ analogy, Dr. Johns highlighted.
He hypothesized that Haliburton might be altering his resonance by reshaping his vocal tract or resonator in order to compensate for vocal exhaustion.
“Athletes are using their voice a lot, and they’re using their voice loudly,” Dr. Johns explained. “They’re hollering across the court. There’s a huge amount of noise around them. They’ve got to be heard over that noise. And so they, like other vocal athletes, can develop some injury to their vocal folds, vocal nodules, or vocal swelling that can cause some rough quality to the voice.”