World Voice Day

Happy World Voice Day!

Are you ready for some fun facts? Cool, here we go.

Your larynx - also known as your ‘voice box’ - houses your vocal folds (VFs).

How big are your VFs? Your two VFs are approximately the size of your thumbnails.

What’s the purpose of your VFs? The biological function is to protect your lungs from food, liquid, or anything that’s not air. When your swallow reflex is triggered your VFs close tightly. Amazingly, the second function of VFs is the production of sounds, powered by exhaling air that’s modified as it travels through the mouth, nose, and over articulators.

How many times do a child’s vocal folds open and shut to produce his voice? About 300x per second.

How many times do a woman’s vocal folds open and shut to produce her voice? About 200x per second.

How many times do a man’s vocal folds open and shut to produce his voice? About 100x per second.

Why? Simply put, it’s due to mass. The lighter the vocal folds, the faster air escaping out the lungs can move them.

Why can it be a shock to hear our voice in a recording? We’re used to hearing our own voice through bone conduction and air conduction. Recordings present our sensory system with the stimuli through air conduction only. Yup, that’s how you always sound to others.

Voice treatment is not common in pediatric speech therapy, but I cue my clients to drink water if their throat is irritated and use their “normal, happy” voice across tasks to promote smooth VF closure.

If your voice sounds breathy or harsh, then you may need to seek an evaluation by a speech-language pathologist who specializes in voice assessment and treatment.

I hope you use your unique voice in lots of special ways today!