Tip #2: Understand your voice.
Have you ever paid attention to the buzz of your voice? Where is it coming from? How is it made?
Our voice is generated in our voice box, known as our larynx. It sits at the top of our windpipe (trachea). Our larynx houses our vocal cords, which are muscles that vibrate in a rippling motion and create the sound or buzz to our voice.
Our vocal cords have a few functions. They can close completely, sealing off our airway into our lungs. This protects our airway from foreign bodies like liquids and solids.
When we eat and swallow, we have a tissue in the back of our throat called the epiglottis. It works in conjunction with our swallowing to reflexively close off the entrance to our breathing tube, allowing food and liquid to slide on by and go into our digestive tract. If that reflex fails, and the liquids or solids drop into our airway, our vocal cords become the next line of defense.
These same vocal cords can also open completely, allowing air to pass through. This is helpful for normal and strained breathing, like when we are exercising and need to get air in and out quickly.
But what about when we talk? Our vocal cords have a primary function here as well. They vibrate giving the buzz sound to our voice.
Vocal cord vibration is too quick to be seen by the naked eye. However, when observed in slow motion or with a strobe light, you see something fascinating. Your vocal cords are closing and opening very quickly with a rippling type motion, bottom to top. When they touch, they vibrate. As air passes by, that vibration occurs and we hear it as the sound to our voice.
This vibration doesn’t happen on all of the sounds we say. In fact, in North American English, there is a predictable pattern as to which sounds will have vocal cord vibration and which will not.
This vibration we refer to as voicing. All of the vowels in our language are voiced. Some of the consonants are voiced. Some are not, but there is even a pattern here.
Most of our consonants are said in pairs, one being voiced and one not (or what we call voiceless). In other words, everything else about that sound is said the same with the exception of whether or not it is voiced.
Take “p” and “b” for example. Both sounds are produced with our lips fist closed and then opened. The main difference is voicing. The “b” is voiced and the “p” is voicelss. When making a “p”, there is a little bit of pressure that builds up behind the lips which is let go as the sound is made. This gives it the “puh” sound. When making the “b”, the pressure doesn’t build up behind the lips because the vocal cords way down below are vibrating, and the energy is expended there.
This pattern of voiced and voiceless sound pairs is repeated through the consonants of our language.
So there you have it. Now you know why there’s a buzz to your voice.
Tip #2: Understand your voice.
Have you ever paid attention to the buzz of your voice? Where is it coming from? How is it made? Our voice is generated in our voice box, technically known as our larynx. It sits at the top of our windpipe (trachea). Our larynx houses our vocal cords which are muscles that vibrate in a rippling motion and create the sound or buzz to our voice.
Our vocal cords can close completely sealing off our airway. They sit at the top of our trachea which leads to our lungs. This protects our airway from foreign bodies like liquids and solids. You probably know this to be true if you’ve experienced something going done the “wrong pipe”.
When we eat and swallow, we have a tissue in the back of our throat called the epiglottis. Itworks in conjunction with our swallowing to reflexively close off the entrance to our breathing tube allowing food and liquid to slide on by and go into our digestive tract. If that reflex fails, the liquids and solids drop down into our airway.
This is where the vocal cords come in handy because they are another line of defense to keep the foods and liquids out of our lungs. When that happens, it’s not comfortable and causes us to cough. But the process is protection for us. Those same cords can also open completely allowing full air to pass through. This is helpful for normal and strained breathing, like when we are working out and need to get air in and out quickly.
What is happening when we talk? If you could see your vocal cords with the naked eye during speech, you might not notice anything happening at all. But if you could observe them in slow motion or with a strobe light, you would see something fascinating. Your vocal cords are closing and opening very quickly with a rippling type motion, bottom to top. When they touch, they vibrate. As air passes by, that vibration occurs and we hear it as the sound to our voice.
Now it doesn’t happen on all sounds. In fact, in North American English, there is a predictable pattern as to which sounds will have vocal cord vibration and which will not. This vibration we refer to as voicing. All of the vowels are voiced. Some of the consonants are voiced. Some are not, but there is even a pattern here.
Most of our consonants are said in pairs, one being voiced and one not (or what we call voiceless). In other words, everything else about that sound is held the same with the exception for whether or not it is voiced. Take p and b for instance. Both sounds are said with our lips, at the same spot and in the same way. Our lips are closed and then they open. The main difference is one is voiced and the other is not. The b is voiced. The p is voiceless, and because it’s voiceless there’s a little bit of pressure that can build up behind the lips which is let go as the sound is said. That gives it the “puh” sound. For the b, the pressure doesn’t build up behind the lips because the vocal cords way down below are vibrating, and the energy is expended there, giving the voice to the sound. This is a fascinating process that is repeated through the consonants of our language.