top medical narration talent Archives

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.

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.

Stephanie Stephens

Voice Over Talent

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