RFK Jr. speaks candidly about his gravelly voice

There was a time before the turn of the millennium when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gave a full-throated accounting of himself and the things he cared about. He recalls his voice then as "unusually strong," so much so that he could fill large auditoriums with his words. No amplification needed.

The independent presidential candidate recounts those times somewhat wistfully, telling interviewers that he "can't stand" the sound of his voice today — sometimes choked, halting and slightly tremulous.

The cause of RFK Jr.'s vocal distress? Spasmodic dysphonia, a rare neurological condition, in which an abnormality in the brain's neural network results in involuntary spasms of the muscles that open or close the vocal cords.

"I feel sorry for the people who have to listen to me," Kennedy said in a phone interview with The Times, his voice sounding as strained as it does in his public appearances. "My voice doesn't really get tired. It just