Voice

Main article: Human body

How a voice is formed

When the vocal cords are close (but not closed), and air passes through the vocal gap, negative pressure is created in the larynx (that is, the pressure is less than atmospheric) and a suction effect occurs - as a result, the cords close.

If the vocal cords are closed, and air from the lungs continues to flow, the pressure under the ligaments increases rapidly, which leads to opening of the ligaments, followed again by closing and opening, and so on - up to 500 times per second. This modulation of the air flow is the voice.

The process of vocal formation occurs in the larynx, but not only the larynx itself is involved in it, but also the nervous and respiratory systems. The "contribution" of the lungs is to exhale through the lumen of the larynx of an air jet. The more powerful it is - the louder the sound formed in the larynx, it was not for nothing that each of us paid attention to the fact that in order to scream loudly, you need to gain more air in the lungs.

Sound quality, tone, height depend on the structure and condition of the larynx. The larynx itself is a tube, the walls of which are formed by cartilages of a specific shape, interconnected by muscle and connective tissue bridges. The shape of the cartilage larynx determines the tone of the voice (which is individual for everyone, to some extent). An example of this connection is the mutation ("breaking") of the voice in adolescence. Brittle is associated with the process of growth of the cartilage larynx, which occurs during puberty under the influence of a changed hormonal background. The larger the cartilage of the larynx - the wider its lumen, the lower the voice of a person.

In addition, the tonality, sonority of the voice depends on the vocal cords - these are connective tissue formations lying in the walls of the larynx and covered with mucous membranes. When a person is silent, the vocal cords are motionless and the laryngeal lumen is as wide as possible. When talking in a whisper, the vocal cords vibrate, but practically do not touch each other. When talking, they vibrate intensively, rub against each other, and the higher and louder the voice - the narrower the vocal gap, the closer the contact of the ligaments.

Below you can see in detail how the sound of our voice is formed and modulated.

Singer on MRI:

Speech

In order for a person's speech to be articular and understandable, the movements of speech organs must be natural and accurate. At the same time, these movements should be automatic, that is, those that would be carried out without special arbitrary efforts. This is what happens in the case itself. Usually, the speaker follows only the course of thought, without thinking about what position his tongue should occupy in his mouth, when it is necessary to breathe, etc.

Speech diseases

Aphasia

Aphasia is a severe speech disorder, often occurring after a stroke, in which a person loses the ability to speak in a coherent manner. In particular, this may be expressed in the misuse of the temporal forms of the verb, that is, it is difficult for a person to talk about events in the past or future. This can cause serious problems with everyday communication.

2025: Russian scientists create an application for diagnosing speech disorders

Specialists from the Center for Language and Brain HSE have developed an application for diagnosing speech disorders (aphasia) that occur as a result of head injuries strokes , or other neurological diseases. "" AvtoRAT is a standardized digital tool in Russia that allows you to assess the presence and severity of speech pathologies. The application is available in, RuStore it can be used on mobile tablet and devices on. This was announced operating system Android on January 28, 2025 by the press service of the Higher School of Economics. More. here

Restoring the voice

It is noted that people who find it difficult to express their own emotions and carry them in themselves, more often suffer from various diseases of the pharynx and larynx.

2020: IHKiV named after Reshetov developed and applied the author's method of voice recovery

The Moscow Institute of Surgical Correction and Recovery has developed and tested an original method for restoring voice after laryngeal removal. method involves creating voice valve from patient's own tissues using microsurgical technique. As a result of such operations, patients can regain their voice with individual shades, which is absolutely excluded when using artificial materials. At the same time, the valve from its own tissues does not require replacements and is always ready for use. This became known on June 9, 2020. Read more here.