Stephanie Stephens voice artist

Different “Genres” of Medical Voice Over: A Breakdown for Clients

Medical voice over (VO) work is a specialized field that serves a variety of needs within the healthcare and life sciences industries. It requires a unique combination of technical knowledge, clarity, and a tone that resonates with the target audience. However, many people don’t realize just how broad the “medical narration” category can be. From educational content to marketing campaigns, medical voice over genres are diverse and ever-expanding.

As a busy and successful medical narration voice over talent, I often get asked about the various types of medical voice work I do. In this article, I’m going to walk you through the most common “genres” or categories of medical VO, which will help you understand the wide range of applications for medical narration and how they, and I, can support your specific needs.

1. Medical Explainers

Purpose: To break down complex medical concepts or procedures in an easy-to-understand way.
Audience: Patients, caregivers, or anyone unfamiliar with medical terminology.
Examples:
- Explaining medical procedures (e.g., “How a Heart Bypass Surgery is Done”).
- Describing symptoms or conditions in layman’s terms.
- Instructions for taking medications or using medical equipment.
Tone and style: The voice talent must sound clear, approachable, and calm. It’s essential to make complicated topics feel accessible without being overly technical or condescending.
Why it matters: These explainers are essential for patient education, making complex ideas less intimidating, and improving compliance with healthcare guidelines.

2. Medical Education

Purpose: To educate medical professionals or students on specific topics in the medical field.
Audience: Medical students, residents, physicians, nurses, and healthcare practitioners.
Examples:
- Medical training videos on anatomy, diseases, or surgical techniques.
- Continuing medical education (CME) courses and tutorials.
- Instructional materials for medical equipment or protocols.
Tone and style: The voice here is authoritative yet warm, as the content must be both informative and engaging. It should project credibility while remaining approachable for learners.
Why it matters: Accurate and clear medical education narration is crucial for the ongoing training and professional development of healthcare providers, ensuring the highest standards of care.

3. Medical Legal

Purpose: To provide clear and precise narration for legal and litigation purposes related to healthcare.
Audience: Lawyers, judges, jurors, and healthcare professionals involved in legal cases.
Examples:
- Narration for medical malpractice case documentation.
- Voice overs for expert witness testimony or depositions.
- Accident reports involving medical injuries or negligence.
Tone and style: This genre demands a tone of seriousness, neutrality, and precision. The voice should exude authority and trustworthiness, ensuring that the information is clear and legally sound.
Why it matters: In legal settings, every detail counts, and the voiceover must convey the information without bias, emotion, or confusion. It can help clarify complicated medical data and medical terminology for the courts.

Working in a medical laboratory — Medical narration is done for pharmaceutical companies to describe their newest products: CREDIT: Image by Darko Stojanovic from Pixabay

4. BioTech and Pharma

Purpose: To explain complex biotechnological and pharmaceutical topics related to new drugs, therapies, or research.
Audience: Healthcare professionals, investors, researchers, or the general public (depending on the specific application).
Examples:
- Narration for pharmaceutical drug ads or promotional content.
- Explaining new biotech innovations or clinical trials.
- Investor presentations or corporate communications.
Tone and style: A professional, confident, and authoritative tone is essential. Depending on the project, the narration may also need to sound inspiring or optimistic, especially when discussing breakthrough therapies.
Why it matters: Biotech and pharma projects often deal with life-changing or life-saving treatments, so the narration must convey the message in a way that is both clear and compelling. For advertising or promotional material, the right tone can significantly impact how the information is perceived.

5. Medical Devices Copy

Purpose: To describe the functions, benefits, and usage of medical devices in a clear and concise manner.
Audience: Medical professionals, patients, or consumers.
Examples:
- Instructional videos on how to use medical devices, such as insulin pumps or CPAP machines.
- Marketing videos for new medical technology.
- Product demos for surgical tools or diagnostic equipment.
Tone and style: Depending on the project, the tone can range from highly technical (for professionals) to more patient-friendly (for consumers). In either case, clarity and precision are paramount.
Why it matters: The narration must provide step-by-step instructions or product benefits in a way that the listener can easily follow and understand, ensuring correct usage and safety.

6. Medical Advertising

Purpose: To promote healthcare services, products, or innovations to potential clients or patients.
Audience: Patients, consumers, healthcare professionals, or caregivers.
Examples:
- TV, radio, and online ads for hospitals, clinics, or healthcare providers.
- Commercials for pharmaceutical or medical device products.
- Public service announcements on health-related topics (e.g., vaccination campaigns).
Tone and style: Medical advertising VO requires a tone that is engaging and persuasive without being overly aggressive. Depending on the brand or product, the voice can range from friendly and inviting to professional and authoritative.
Why it matters: In the competitive healthcare market, the right voice can help a brand stand out, create trust, and encourage action, whether that’s scheduling a consultation or purchasing a product.

7. Hospital Marketing Copy

Purpose: To attract new patients, build brand awareness, and inform the public about hospital services or community health initiatives.
Audience: Prospective patients, families, and the general public.
Examples:
- Video tours of hospital facilities or departments.
- Testimonials from patients and staff.
- Marketing materials about new services, medical technologies, or specialties offered by the hospital.
Tone and style: The tone is typically warm, caring, and empathetic, as hospitals are focused on providing comfort and healing. A trustworthy, human voice is key to making people feel confident in the care they will receive.
Why it matters: Hospital marketing voice overs help build emotional connections with potential patients and their families. A calm and reassuring tone can instill trust and help convey the hospital’s mission to deliver excellent care.

The medical voice over industry is incredibly diverse, with many “genres” or categories that require different tones, styles, and levels of expertise. Understanding types of medical voice over genres is crucial for delivering the best possible narration. Whether it’s educating patients, marketing new medical technologies, or assisting with legal cases, the voice behind the words plays a vital role in ensuring the message is clear, accurate, and effective.

As a professional medical voice over artist, I bring a combination of expertise and experience to all these genres, helping clients communicate their message to the right audience with precision, authority, and empathy. If you’re looking for medical narration talent for any of these categories, don’t hesitate to reach out. Let’s make your project a success together! I’m happy to do a custom audition in my pro VO studio.

What Makes an Effective Commercial Voice Over

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Doing an effective commercial voice over means being an influencer—and doesn’t everyone want to be that? A commercial voice over promotes a business or a brand and its products or services—it influences. In other words, it’s selling, and an effective commercial voice over can mean more sales.

Maybe you’re a client needing commercial voice over talent, or you’re a talent wanting to do more of them. Now the marketplace has expanded far beyond radio and television, more traditional mediums. Social media, including YouTube, along with podcasts and websites, mean more opportunities to promote a business, and more need for great commercial voice over.

The voice of a commercial voice over must be many things to many people but needs to sound like the most important person—and voice—to one person. The best commercial voice actors have finely honed the art of talking to a person in a relatable way—and not as though it’s a stadium full of people.

The Right ‘Type’ of Commercial Voice Talent

The agency or script writer knows exactly who the target audience is for any commercial. It’s the group of people who’ll buy that product or service, usually heavily researched if it’s a major corporation or brand name. Creatives know for sure whether a millennial, GenX or mature adult will be buying, so it only makes sense to cast someone in that same age group. The target audience needs to hear a voice that “sounds like” them, at least age-wise.

Be Informed About That Script

If you’re auditioning, do your homework and think about the industry you’ll be talking about, the tone of past commercials and their target audience. What does the advertiser really want to happen here, and how can you finesse the way you deliver the words to accomplish that mission? You want to carefully analyze and interpret those words like a scientist, with thorough preparation and thought—not just jump into the booth and read whatever comes to mind.

You’re telling a story, connecting with the target audience, engaging, and massaging the words. And guess what: The client may listen to only the first 10 seconds of your audition, because after all, they’ve probably got at least 50 other auditions that also deserve their attention. That’s why thorough preparation is so important to a successful commercial read.

Types of Effective Commercial Reads

Hard Sell

You know that commercial that shouts at you from the radio or television, and maybe you turn it off. But maybe it’s selling the thing you’ve been considering buying, so now, it has your attention. And maybe there’s a timeline or deadline to get “this once-a-year price.” Maybe the read is really fast because of so many details considered “necessary” to fit in. And maybe it’s not only loud, but highly energetic and a big forceful.

Soft Sell

This type of commercial voice over predominates in the current marketplace. And that’s why so many voice talents see “not announcery” in the specs detailing what the client wants in a read. Miss that mark, and that voice talent’s audition won’t get through the gate. The read is subtle, non-aggressive, sensitive, realistic, and much more conversational. It may be delivered with very little inflection, almost flat, and may require the listener to use their imagination.

Stay ‘On Trend’

Before you dive into the words, think about what you’re hearing from other commercial spots. Successful commercial voice talents keep their ears open to trends. The voice of 10 or 20 years ago is certainly not the voice of the 2020’s. Like fashion, voice over styles change, too.

Be Truthful with Yourself

Don’t be afraid to practice sounding like someone whose commercial voice talent you admire. Record yourself in the booth and listen back. Then do it again, and although it can be painful, be your harshest critic and practice until you’re happy with that read.

The most successful commercial talents break the rule about “no comparison” to other voices. At the top levels, voice talents often audition for the same job, and then they hear “who got it” when the spot plays. If you can go back to your initial audition and compare notes with the actual booked spot, veterans say that’s a great way to learn what you did right—and wrong, especially if you kept the copy and specs.

Get Pro Help for Your Commercial Voice Over

The biggest money is always in commercials, so it’s no wonder the market is so competitive. There’s no shortage of great voice over coaches, so spend a few sessions brushing up if you’re seasoned, and plan to do that a few times a year. And if you’re new, getting excellent coaching out of the gate is absolutely critical. It can save you time and despair and help keep you on track. Sometimes, your favorite commercial voice talent also does coaching, so check out their websites to see if that’s the case.

You can learn to deliver effective commercial voice over every time.

The Conversational Read for Commercial Voice Over

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The conversational read for commercial voice over remains the “darling” of the voice over business. Let’s look at how this impacts both client and talent, both in pursuit of the perfect read.

Why Clients Want a Conversational Read

If you seek a conversational read for your next commercial voice over, you’re not alone among voice over clients. This perennially popular style involves no shouting or “pushing” that copy. For sure, it does not sound forced or stiff—quite the opposite. No yelling about that super sale on a car right now.

You want your next commercial to resonate, so you want a conversational read for commercial voice over when you produce that message. You’ve made it clear in the specs for your product or service that you don’t want anything to sound “announcery.” You want it to be real, informal, relaxed, relatable, and anything over the top just won’t cut it for this voice over project.

You know you’ve got that perfect conversational read when the voice sounds believable, and really connects with the listener, like you. It comes across like a good friend talking to another friend, and although it may not sound super-professional or “perfect,” that’s fine because we humans don’t always speak perfectly, do we?

This voice sounds smooth, delivering words at a pace that doesn’t include lots of pauses that shouldn’t be there anyway. It can be authoritative, and a voice of experience, but not preachy or bossy. the voice doesn’t “talk at” the person but “talks to” them without forcing it. It makes the listener think, “I want this person to tell me more.”

Voice Over Talent Delivers a Conversational Read

If you’re a voice over talent, the conversational read for commercial voice over keeps appearing on almost every script you audition these days. And it helps you so much if the script has been written well, enabling you to deliver that read.

You read the copy through a few times, but maybe you think, “I just don’t have this yet, and I need to get it NOW.”

Let’s ask a few questions and come up with the answers to help you master this conversational voice over read.

Who are you in the commercial read?

If you’ve taken acting or improv classes, good for you! You can apply some of the same principles you used in assessing a theatrical script or improv assignment. And yes, voice over acting is acting, so get yourself “into character.”

Start by thinking about “who” you should emulate in this script. Why is this person there and what should they do? What is their motivation? And what is their connection or relationship to the audience?

Although space is tight, use your hands as you would in a conversation. Just don’t bang the mic! Do what you need to do, including making noises a nd faces, to get into that character mode.

Who is your audience?

So, there you are, squished into a tight studio booth, and you’re alone, with no “Atta’ girl!” or applause. Turn on that active imagination and let it flow. Who’s listening and why do they care? Better yet, how do you, as a voice over talent, engage them and get them to care?

Who was the script writer thinking of as their target when the writer penned the masterpiece you get to voice? Can you envision a relative or friend as the one who will listen? Maybe it’s a celebrity or VIP or someone else who inspires you, or otherwise affects you.

Who do you know who feels like the target of the script? You will tell this person the story in the script and tell it like you mean it. If you get too “announcery,” this person would consider it a huge turn-off, right, and call you out?

How do you structure the read?

Put a pause, or put a breath, where it occurs naturally in the copy. You’d do this in a “normal conversation.” Maybe you want to add a contraction because the copy sounds too stilted. Most directors don’t mind this, but they don’t want you going too far off-script. That remains a no-no in any session as it seems disrespectful to the copy.

Show your magnetic personality, while adhering to that delivery that talks to your “person.” Don’t feel like you have to shout or use a loud voice. That can happen in front of the mic. Think “one-on-one,” sitting next to your “person” in their living room, talking intently and sincerely about something.

Where can you find help?

If developing a conversational read for commercial voice over feels like a high hurdle, get some help. Choose from the many experienced, talented voice over coaches available to help you, within your budget. But don’t rely on someone to do the work for you. Read, record, and listen. And do it again. Practice really does make perfect, and today’s super-successful voice over talents have read thousands of scripts.

You can do it. Just don’t over think it. And practice. More.

Corporate Narration for Professional Branding

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Corporate narration can build your brand even stronger. In the wide world of voice over, this extensive category fills a myriad of purposes for the client and provides plenty of opportunities for voice over talent. With the use of corporate narration for professional branding, companies can find “the right voice” to interpret and deliver “the right message” to achieve marketing and branding goals—to increase visibility and sales, and ultimately, revenue. It’s just good business!

Narration differs from commercials by the length of copy, which can be hundreds of words. It’s not for first timers.

A commercial, on the other hand, is typically :15, :30, or :60 seconds. Corporate narration voice talent requires vocal stamina and excellent breath control. There’s a certain discipline that comes with reading longer copy. Some voice artists, such as Stephanie Stephens, relish the opportunity to showcase lots of experience in corporate narration.

Corporate Narration Enhances Branding

Corporate narration can enhance corporate branding for customers when used in an external-facing manner. Maybe the voiceover must explain how things work or what the benefits are of “X” product or “Y” product.

Internally, corporate narration is ideal for communicating training policies, or delivering instructions to employees and staff. It can be used at meetings, events, forums, conferences, online, and more. Maybe it’s needed for recruitment, or it contains product information, or it’s a “how to do this” video.

Remember that corporate narration is NOT commercials, audiobooks, podcasts, or eLearning.

If you’re considering using corporate narration to strengthen your corporate message, they think, “Ah, that’s World’s Best Company.”

Think of your corporate narration voiceover as an extension of your graphics, logo, colors and “look,” but in this case, it’s your sound.

Qualities of a Corporate Narration Voice Talent

The voice over talent you choose for your internal projects should be approachable and friendly, yet skilled in delivering technical or complex information. And that voice should be able to command and retain the listener’s attention. Some companies require employees to watch a certain number of internal videos each year. That means you must ensure they’re “listenable” and that those listeners understand and retain key messages is so important.

Maybe your company is creating videos that include creative and entertaining graphics or animation. They need just the right voice so that video correctly reaches the audience it’s designed for. It’s important to choose a voice talent with the education and experience to narrate specific terminology. If needed, they’ll read those longer sentences that exactly communicate your chosen message.

Having a great corporate voice over puts the responsibility of adjusting tone and style of your copy and the read to “sound like” your brand.

Generally, that means hiring a voice talent with lots of experience, to essentially join your “corporate communications” team. And this can be for a small or large company.

Don’t Skimp on Corporate Narration Voice Talent

Corporate narration for professional branding can really work for your company. Make the investment in a corporate narration professional, instead of using someone on staff who isn’t comfortable on mic but is free. It’s a wise decision that will prove to be a return on investment. When you think “value added,” think professional corporate narration voice talent.

You want that voice talent to deliver your words and message clearly, authentically, and with purpose—sounding like they’re “one of you.” They must be able to think and speak “on their feet,” quickly and accurately, so as not to waste precious studio time. Expect them to be prepared, articulate, reliable and conversational. This goes such a long way for a successful corporate narration voice talent.

That’s key if the audience is your employees, and if it’s the public, you want them to hear the relatable and knowledgeable voice that sounds so well paired with your message and your branding.

Corporate Narration with Stephanie Stephens

You’d ideally want your voice talent to inform you know if something in the copy went askew: maybe the grammar or sentence construction, or a need for more explanation. That requires more than a few previous rounds in the sound booth. It requires the ability to advise you quickly that “Maybe we should rethink the way this reads…”

Choosing Stephanie Stephens for corporate narration voice talent means you’re choosing someone with years of experience. She works as a “voice” on radio and television and stage, and now as a narrator for your copy. She can self-direct and can edit or connect you with a top U.S. editor for detailed finishing touches.

She’s been a corporate executive, too, and has written the kinds of copy and scripts you want to use for your corporate narration. In fact, as a very experienced writer in general, she’ll write your next corporate narration script for voice over.

If you think corporate narration for professional branding can elevate your brand, reach out to her here. She’ll be happy to return a custom audition or give you a quote today. For Stephanie, there’s nothing more fun and professionally satisfying than completing a project for you and making it “sing.” Listen to her corporate narration demo now here.

How to Choose a Medical Voice Over Talent

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Looking for a medical voice over talent? Maybe you work for one of the more than 6,000 hospitals in America. Maybe you aim for the future phenomenal success of your newest life-changing medical device, or a new pharmaceutical medication. And now you need the very best health or medical narration voice over talent you can find for a video that can help achieve your goals. You want a professional voice talent who’s done this before, many times, and for whom long or difficult words or terms aren’t a challenge.

Why not start—and end—your search with someone who “speaks medical” for the very specific audience that will consider your video? You may have heard a certain voice over artist’s medical narration demo. You like it, but you wonder about a few things, as you should.

Know Health and Medical Industry Categories

You need a strong, experienced, knowledgeable medical narration voice talent, whether you’re seeking it for a:

Hospital or health system
Pharmaceutical company
Medical device developer and manufacturer
Health insurance company
Research laboratory
Health or medical association or organization

Ask Questions of Your Medical Voice Over Talent

How much experience do they have?
Will the product they deliver to you sound as good as what’s on their demo?
Can they read pages (and pages) of long-form copy, or are they better suited to commercial reads?
Do they understand this audience? If you’re a hospital or health system, you’re targeting consumers, or maybe you’re producing a training video on safe handling of medical waste. If you’re a medical device company, you may be targeting investors, or buyers including hospitals and physicians’ practices.
Does your talent have a quality, professional home studio, or will they need to go elsewhere to record—and you’ll foot the bill?
Who will edit your medical voiceover?

Know Your Medical Voice Over Talent’s History

You want someone who shows up in the booth well prepared to do your job. Why not look at the list of clients your talent has shown on their website—they should have a website—and reach out to one of them. You can ask, “How was it to work with this talent?” or “Did they understand your directions well and follow through on them?” Or ask “How was their pricing—was it competitive?”

Consider their time in the voice over industry.

You’ll feel so much more confident with someone who’s been doing voice over—successfully—for a longer time. This is true if you’re giving them medical narration copy. It’s not for beginners. These types of projects can sometimes require updates or changes, several months or a few years from the time of original recording. You want to be sure the talent you work with today, will also be the talent you work with later. You need help now when you need something “right away.”

Pay attention to their preparation.

You don’t want someone who walks in and hasn’t taken time to evaluate and mark the copy. Medical narration is particularly challenging, with multisyllabic words, and often, longer sentences because, well, the terminology is just lengthier, often with repeated complex words in a row. That’s not copy that can easily be delivered perfectly in one take without preparation. Your medical narration voice talent will need to read through the copy several times and be sure of pronunciation and syntax. It’s better to learn the correct way to pronounce now, than to put everyone through frustrating repeated mistakes and edits. A professional medical voice talent won’t be embarrassed to ask about something they don’t know right off the bat.

Think about who’s going to be listening.

Does your audience expect a male or female, someone young, in-between, or mature? Do you want no accent at all, or would a local or regional accent help deliver a more effective read? Do you want a talent with a higher pitch, or someone with a deep, commanding timbre?

Meanwhile, a voice over artist known for comedic reads may not be the best delivery for an audience of MDs or PhDs, for example. Leave that casual style for commercials or animation.

Choose the Best Medical Voice Over Talent

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a seasoned medical voice over talent who also has years of writing for the nation’s top health and medical publications and websites, as well as for hospitals and health systems? Who’s written for pharmaceutical companies, medical device developers and manufacturers? And who’s crafted copy for health insurance companies, research laboratories, and health or medical associations and organizations?

Because she’s written so much about medical careers, as a result, Steph understands the structure of those organizations, who does what and why. Therefore, she understands the specific language that is so definitive of healthcare and medicine in the 21^st century. She’s interviewed hundreds of doctors and patients. Steph’s written so many of those longer and complex words and terms. Those may intimidate a less-experienced medical voice over talent.

Find a Medical Script Writer

In addition, while we’re on the subject, if you seek added value with your medical voice over talent, ask Stephanie to write your script because she’s done many. She’s a seasoned writer with 20 years’ experience in this art form, too.

Above all, for her, there’s just something about taking one of your most challenging health or medical scripts, and “knocking it out of the park.” She’ll do it efficiently, correctly, and sounding great, in her next recording session with you.

Boost Your Business Using Localization Voice Over

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Voice over is an incredible way to enhance your business’s marketing and communication strategies. Localization voice over can generate emotion and engagement when used correctly if you are using any kind of video or audio content. Your goal as a business owner is to ensure that your messages come across clearly to your audience, and the voice over is no exception. Depending on where your audience is, you might have to consider language barriers.

Business is becoming more global daily, and you want to ensure that all audiences can access your messages. Subtitles are well and good, but it will always be easier for an audience to hear their native language rather than trying to read along. This is where localization voiceover comes in.

What is Localization?

Localizing is when the voices for audio or video are translated and voiced in another language or accent to better match the intended audience. The entire process involves:

Transcribing a script for the original audio
Translating the script
Editing the script as needed
Choosing a voice actor who best matches the translated lines
Recording the new lines
Editing the final recorded content

When translating and editing a script, localization can help make audio and video clips relatable to the target market. Localizing the original dialogue is problematic because it is modified to fit the speaking style, pace, vocabulary, and dialect considerations. Phrases that may not have exact translations are phrased in ways that the new audience can understand.

There are different types of localization. There is standard localization voiceover and then dubbing. Dub is a more active form of localization where multiple voice actors re-record original dialogues. The number of speakers depends on the number of voices in the original audio clip. Dubs are more time-consuming and expensive to produce but offer a higher quality viewer experience.

Critical Benefits of Localization Voice Over

Choosing to go for a localized voice over has many benefits. You can reach a much wider audience by translating and modifying your messages to be more understandable. People will be more likely to engage with your content or buy your product if the marketing is in their native language. This includes sharing your messages on foreign social media channels.

Another obvious benefit of having a wider audience is that your business can grow beyond its domestic borders. With global messaging comes global clients, and showing foreign consumers that you are willing to speak their language will make it easier to conduct business with them.

A third benefit is that a localized voice over showcases your professionalism. By opting for a quality, professionally done voice over, existing and potential clients can tell you value your outreach efforts. A well-executed voice over shows you won’t cut corners regarding your foreign clients.

Types of Projects that Shine When Localized

While localization is a great tool, there are certain areas where it can bring out the best parts of a project when done right. These include:

Movies and TV shows: Voice overs cover narration, exposition, and internal monologues. This doubles for any promotional material for movies and TV shows, including trailers and social media posts. You can use localization for all of these purposes.
International sports events: Any sport with an international following can use localized voice over. If an event will air at a specific time or has a pay-per-view planned, then localized voice overs can help drum up promotion across the globe.
Educational videos: Explainer videos and educational programs also benefit from localized voice over. Especially with the internet, a larger audience has access to learning opportunities. Companies making videos or university courses turn to multilingual, online content to round out their educational programs.
Video Games: Much like TV and film, video games offer immersive experiences to their consumers. As games become more advanced and dialogue plays a more significant role, voice over plays a much larger role in making game worlds seem more relatable and immersive. More games offer foreign language dubs, making localizing a crucial aspect of modern game design.

See What Localization Voiceover Can Do for Your Business

No matter what type of project your business is considering, localization voice over is an option to consider to enhance your marketing and communications strategy. Speaking someone’s native language is bound to catch their attention, and localization is the way to do that. It can bring about a return on investment by attracting a wider audience and help you tap into international markets. Professional localization can help keep new and prospective customers engaged while assuring international markets that you take their business seriously.