Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
From the brains behind Brains On, this is the Moment of Um. Moment of Um comes to you from APM Studios. I'm Molly Bloom. Hi, it's me, Molly Bloom, host of Brains On, Smash Boom Best, and three-time runner-up of the International Ferret Sweater Knitting Contest, or as I like to call it, second place champion.
You know, if I was going to be known for anything, I always thought it would be one of my many talents, like throwing bad drafts of essays into the garbage can. She shoots in! Perfect swish, like always. Or maybe my ability to make portraits of famous presidents with nothing but a tissue and a nose blow. Check it out! It's Booger Ham Lincoln! That's a good one. Or the fact that I can write my name with my feet. Like this. See?
Merle Blowem? Yeah, that's what I meant to write. It turns out most people just know me because of my voice. That's the life of a podcaster, I guess. Since my voice is so important to my public persona, you'd think I'd know more about how it works. I know something called vocal cords are involved, but what are they? Noor wanted to know too. Let's get the scoop from a doctor. Vocal cords are really cool and they're really important.
My name is Emma Gerstenzang, and I'm a pediatrician in Philadelphia. Whenever you talk or sing or yell or whisper, air flows from your lungs, it goes up through your windpipe, and it goes past your vocal cords. If you don't have air flowing back and forth, you can't speak. So try holding your breath and saying something at the same time. You can't do it.
What's happening is when air flows past your vocal cords, they get pulled back and forth by muscles that are surrounding them. So there's muscles that surround your vocal cords, and they pull the vocal cords back and forth really, really fast. So fast that they're actually vibrating. And so when something's vibrating, then it changes how the air flows past it, and that changes the sound that comes out. Whenever you are speaking in a different way, it all has to do with how the vocal cords are vibrating and how they're opening and how they're closing.
So if you speak in a really soft voice or if you speak in a loud voice or in a really high voice, it all has to do with changing the way that your vocal cords are vibrating and how much and how fast they're opening and closing.
Your vocal cords aren't the only thing you need to talk, right? You need your jaw, you need your tongue, you need your lips. All those things help you make sounds, right? So if you stick your tongue out and hole and try to talk at the same time, like you can't really do it. So the vocal cords are just one part of what helps us make sound and helps us talk or really make any other noise. Um, uh,
Wowie zowie! So my signature buttery warm voice comes from these flaps in my throat called vocal cords. They can open and close and vibrate as the air I exhale rushes past them. In fact, that's what's happening right now when I speak these words. Weird. Of course, my mouth and lips and tongue help shape my winning delivery, too. Well, gee, since my vocal cords are so important, I better take good care of them.
I know. I'll knit my neck a scarf to keep my vocal cords comfy. After all, gotta keep practicing so I can finally win first place at the ferret sweater knitting contest this year.
If you like this episode, take a second to subscribe to Moment of Om wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you want to know about how singing works, check out the Brains On podcast, where we have a whole episode all about the science of singing. Want to see our shows come to life? Head to YouTube, where we've got awesome animated Brains On episodes. Search Brains On Universe on YouTube and subscribe.
If you have a question, we'd love to help you answer it. Drop us a line by going to brainson.org slash contact. See you next time and the next day and every weekday. Until then, um... Hmm, this scarf isn't turning out how I want. I'm gonna toss it and try again.
Another perfect swish. I'm almost too good at that.