Vocal Impressions: Hearing Voices, Round 10

Our "Vocal Impressions" series offers listeners a chance to find the words to describe the voices of well-known people.

Our last batch included Ray Charles, Lucille Ball, Harvey Fierstein and Cher.

Generally speaking, Ray Charles evoked comfort while Lucille Ball evoked quite the opposite. And between Cher and Fierstein, there was a fair amount of gender bending. The responses are below.

And we issue a new challenge to listeners: Describe the voices of actor and singer Eartha Kitt, singer and songwriter Joni Mitchell, boxer Mike Tyson and actor Vince Vaughn.

Ray Charles

Listeners say the singer sounds like:

Floating down the river in an inner tube — Marisa Cornell

The gaze into your partner's eyes as you say your wedding vows — Pam Baxter Palmer

Honey on a bruise — Kristin Schade

The last lingering kiss before the breakup — Bianca Kamnitzer

Slow dancing in a college bar, tingling with anticipation — Charles Stannard

A chocolate malted in the heat of summer — Lucy LaHurreau

Warm sheets on a Sunday morning — Micky Gruber

Brown sugar Cream of Wheat sliding down your throat on a winter morning — Thomas Keating

The foam of a receding wave as it evaporates off the heavy sand — Bayh Sullivan

The voice of the maitre d' who tells you to keep the $50 after putting you at the best table in the house — Brad Densmore

The feeling of a satin halter dress caressing your skin as your lover twirls you around the dance floor — Wendy Trakes

The voice of sunlight elbowing through a bank of thunder clouds, melting a patch of snow and giving ground to a budding rose — Rick Pearce

A '64 Corvette tuned by an angel — Tim Hathaway

All the hurt you have ever felt counterbalanced by the smile of a child — Frank Pelli

The tears of sweet relief after finding out your worst fears did not come through — Louise Bourgeois

Sweet cream as it turns into butter — Annie Gerrity

A smile in your eardrum — Tommy Winters

Lucille Ball

Listeners say the comedienne sounds like:

The panic I feel just before the guests arrive for a party — Janice Meulmester

Someone else's child whining while you're having dinner in a nice restaurant — Thomas Alascio

A hand-cranked siren — John Wilkey

A squeaky door opening onto a field of bleating sheep — Peter Robella

Someone's first violin lesson — Jennifer Monahan

A skidding car you'd rather let hit you than keep listening to its locked-up screeching tires that can't seem to bring the car to a stop — Ian Burgess

The twinkle in a little girl's eye when she finds her mother's lipstick for the first time — Noelle Leiblic

The voice of reason on nitrous oxide — Bill Steinmetz

A naughty child who is undeniably loved — Sam Ganzman

A windup toy you just let loose — Laura Sysko

The feather in your ear when you're trying to sleep — Lucy LaHurreau

A party clown who sucked on some balloon helium — Carrie Robinson

The surprise when you touch your cat's nose and you both look at each other as each feels the static electric shock — Dooley Buckner

A squeaky door hinge that squeaks no matter how much you oil it — Tommy Winters

My 14-year-old daughter telling me why she needs a $150 pair of boots — Cynthia Saba

The Aflac duck — Carol Weiss Rosenberg

A velvet hammer soaked in henna rinse — Lynette Dupree

Harvey Fierstein

Listeners say the actor sounds like:

A big old dog growling in his sleep — Molly Sturdevant

My bunions begging me to stop wearing stilettos — Annie Gerrity

A 70-year-old, chain-smoking barfly named Margo — Robin Stephens

A man trying to talk with Hulk Hogan's hands wrapped around his neck — Clint Pickens

The woman you just cut off in Manhattan rush-hour traffic — Jeff Newberry

Blowing bubbles in the mud — Peter Robella

A fire-breathing dragon whose feelings have been hurt — Thomas Vale

Styrofoam rubbing together — Lucy LaHurreau

A big mug of hot cocoa — Adrian Jackson

A lion with an elegant fashion sense — Tim Hathaway

Your worst therapist appointment ever — Toni Fellela

Chewing sandpaper followed by a rubbing alcohol chaser — Debbie Johnson

The voice of the killer in the horror movie — Catherine Zaegel

The fuzzy dice on my pink Cadillac — Tim Klavon

The hoarseness experienced from cheering your team, raspiness in a whisper — Mary Lutz

A burning rose bush — Bill Breen

Sandpaper on the hull of an old wooden canoe — Bradford Lysta

Cher

Listeners say the singer sounds like:

A long, straight, vertical, blue, neon light — Martha Buyer

The entire cast of the Ice Capades winking at you — Jill Stearling

The aunt you liked much more when she was your uncle — Brad Densmore

The B-52 of female voices — big, surly, smooth and packs a wallop — Ray Gintner

The voice of a middle-age woman on a rollercoaster giving birth — Loretta Nicholson

The masculine voice Wayne Newton always wanted — John Myers

She is juggling a mouthful of chocolate malted balls — Maria Pickel

An air-raid siren warning of a dance party about to invade the city — Tim Hathaway

A rookie lighthouse trying out for an opening on the foggy coast of Maine — Tim Sylvester

A really good sneeze — Leslie Abrahamson

The pulse in your head when you figured out that the hottie you were told was a transvestite really is a woman after all — Paul Carter

The response you always wanted to give to the, "Shhhhhh" at church — Adele Satterwhite

Good & Plenty candy: sugary sweet outside but with that deep dark licorice feel inside — Nicole Donegan

A vibrating mixture of molasses and testosterone — Jainie Adams

A gaggle of geese being paraded through a highway tunnel — Jeff Neuman

The stiff pops one hears while pulling on thigh-high vinyl boots — Jeff Newberry