• Question: How does the voice box (lyrnx) actually work?

    Asked by mrblonde to Antonia, Douglas, Hugh, Matt, Tom on 14 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Matthew Hurley

      Matthew Hurley answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      The larynx is a bit like a whistle. There are two muscles (vocal cords) either side of the wind-pipe (they look like this – /\). When the person wants to make a noise the two muscles tense up and the space between them narrows (like this – ||) so that air vibrates as it passes through – this makes the sound. The closer the two muscles are made to go to each other, the higher the note that’s produced. People that shout too much can have nodules on their vocal cords – this damages their voice and means that they’ll be bad singers!

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