Are you sure it's only old people who sound this way? The reason I ask is, as people age they lose hearing acuity in the range from 2700-3200 Hertz. This causes them to hear sibilants more easily and more acutely...sibilants such as the whistling part of "s" are just above the deteriorated frequency, in the 3800-4500 Hz range.
Also, digital recording and mastering adds an overall "glassiness" to speech, especially in the 4K-5K range.
Just a thought...could be YOUR EARS and not people's voices.
No - I have vision problems and my other senses are far more acute than normal, as that is nature's way of compensating. I hear it in myself when I'm speaking. I haven't heard myself recorded in years - but maybe I'll try that & see how it sounds. It's not every single "S" that I say that sounds harsher - just sometimes. I notice it in actor Sean Connery and singer Engelbert Humperdinck, as they age. I've noticed this for many years in other people - but only recently in myself.
As for digital "glassiness" - the first time I ever listened to music on a CD, I said it sounded "cold" - like the voice of starlight, as opposed to "warm" analog, the voice of daylight. I still feel that way. I love few things more than listening to my beloved records. Yeah, those round black things with the grooves in them that you play with a needle. LOL I have over 400 45's spanning the 70's, and boy do I love them. I actually took the time to enter all the titles in an Excel spreadsheet a few years ago.
