Human voice

The human voice ( in medical terminology Latin or Greek Vox φωνή ( phoné ) ) is generated by the vocal cords of a man and modulated in the mouth, throat and nasal cavities sound. The voice is used by humans to communicate information in the form of speech and other sounds such as screaming, crying, laughing, moaning, etc..

When singing the human voice as a musical instrument for generating sounds, sounds and melody, often used connected with language.

Sound generation without the vocal folds such as material interest Click your tongue, whistling with their lips, teeth chattering and clapping of hands is not considered a voice, but can also serve the articulation.

Voice production

The human voice is produced by the interaction of the vocal folds in the larynx and the approach areas.

The larynx forms the upper end of the trachea, it is the front of the neck and is often clearly seen as especially Adam's apple in men. In the larynx, the two vocal folds are curious, complex muscle and tissue layers, the position and tension of muscles, cartilage and joints can be altered. The vocal folds can close the trachea except for a small gap. This narrowest part of the larynx is called the glottis ( glottis ). It is opened to breath through abduction of the vocal cords relaxed, so that air can freely flow in and out. To produce unvoiced sounds, enables the air flowing out of the lungs which is closed except for a narrow gap vocal cords vibrate, similar to the tube sheet of a woodwind instrument. The more relaxed the vocal folds, the slower the swing and the root of the sound is deeper. At a higher voltage to swing faster and the sound gets higher.

The primary laryngeal sound will be changed in the air-containing spaces above the vocal cords. These spaces, including the throat, mouth and nasal cavity are are referred to as trial spaces or vocal tract.

Due to the different size of the larynx, and thus the length of the vocal cords, the pitch of the root for the male voice at about 125 Hz, and for the female small at about 250 Hz children is to have a pitch of about 440 Hz, the vocal range is normally 1, 3 to 2.5 octaves, with training but are also three and more are possible. The frequency range of the human voice with the overtones is about 80 Hz to 12 kHz. In this frequency range are frequency segments that play a role in the speech intelligibility, the detectability of vowels and consonants, as well as brilliance and warmth.

While voice broke, usually around age 11 to 15 years, the vocal cords thicker and longer, the average speaking voice able to be in boys and girls thus drops in boys by one octave, in girls to a third.

Disorders of the human voice

There are many disorders of the human voice. The causes of voice disorders among others can be work-related illness or. Particularly at risk are people with jobs where the voice is heavily loaded, such as teachers, politicians, call center agents, pastors, singers and speakers in the media. People with vote -intensive occupations can increase voting by targeted training and proper vocal approach, the strength and quality of their voice.

Hoarseness

Hoarseness is a relatively frequently occurring disorder of the human voice, which is manifested by a rough, blemished, occupied or toneless voice. In a toneless voice is called aphonia.

Causes of hoarseness are especially inflammation ( viral and bacterial laryngitis, overexertion, chemical stimuli, Reinke's edema), vocal cord paralysis ( recurrent nerve palsy or Vagusparese ) and benign or malignant tumors ( vocal cord polyp, papilloma, vocal cord carcinoma).

Vocal Science

The vocal science (English: voice science) describes and explores the phenomenon of " voice": the vocal production and vocal perception. In this frontier science knowledge flows from various areas.

Some important areas are: physiology and anatomy, mechanics and acoustics, the medicine, especially the Phoniatrics, psychology, speech science and vocal pedagogy.

Important representatives of this scientific discipline are: Johan Sundberg (formerly KTH, Stockholm, Sweden), Ingo Titze ( University of Iowa and the National Center for Voice and Speech, USA) and Peter -Michael Fischer.