larynx

Voice – Episode 116

 in Podcasts  tagged communication / larynx / singing / sound / speech / talking / throat / voice / words by

A black and white photo looking directly at the metal-grated end of a microphone on a stand, as if it's ready for you to use your voice and speak or sing. The microphone is clear and in focus, while the background is blurred to the point that nothing pasted the microphone is recognizable.

Voice Anatomy

Larynx: a structure on top of the trachea (windpipe) and holds the vocal folds

Vocal Folds: also known as vocal cords; the soft tissue that vibrates and creates sound when air passes through them.  There’s one on each side.

Vocal Box: the structure that surrounds the vocal cords.  It’s made of 3 parts – a cover that is made of epithelial cells (similar to the inside of your mouth), vocal ligaments that hold it all in place, and the thyroarytenoid muscle that is responsible for relaxing the vocal cords into place.

Glottis: the opening in the middle of the vocal folds where they sperate for breathing and closes for talking and swallowing.

Voice Production

There are 3 levels of sound production to equal talking.

  1. Voiced Sound: this is the basic vibration of the vocal cords and creates a “buzzing” sound.  This is the first step of babies learning to talk and communicate.  We say the baby is “discovering their voice.”
  2. Resonance: the “buzzing” sounds are amplified by resonating chambers that include the throat, mouth, and nasal cavity.  The sound produced by these chambers is what give you your distinct voice. To produce sound without using one or more of these resonating areas alters your voice significantly.
  3. Articulation: movement of the tongue, soft palate, lips, and jaw modifies and changes the sound to produce words and intelligible speech.

Singing

Singing adds the breathing system to regulate the air pressure that vibrates the vocal cords.  The rhythm of putting words to music to create singing changes the pattern and length of words and syllables, and the strength of the diaphragm plays a big part in that.

Just like guitar strings, the tighter the vocal cords, the higher the pitch.  More relaxed vocal cords produce a lower pitch. *If you listened to this episode, I’m so sorry for your ears!*

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Music Credits: Up In My Jam (All Of A Sudden) by – Kubbi https://soundcloud.com/kubbiCreative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b…Music provided by Audio Library https://youtu.be/tDexBj46oNI

Gag Reflex – Episode 115

 in Podcasts  tagged esophagus / gag reflex / hypersensitive / larynx / pharynx / reflux / swallow / vomit by

A cartoon image of a white male with short brown hair, in a blue, long-sleeved collared shirt and reck necktie, with his face tipped upward. He is holding a coffee pot at arm's length above his face and pouring coffee straight down his throat. Your gag reflex protects you from things improperly entering your throat, airway, and esophagus - whether it is a liquid like coffee or something solid like a sword.

Gag Reflex Basics

The official name of your gag reflex is the pharyngeal reflex or laryngeal spasm.  Trigger points for the gag reflex can be found on the roof of the mouth, back of the tongue, in the tonsil area, the uvula, and the back of the throat.  The purpose of this reflex is to prevent objects from entering the throat that did not first progress through the normal swallowing process.  It also helps prevent choking.

Gag Reflex Progress

When the reflex is triggered, the soft palate raises to close off the nasal passage.  Then the pharyngeal muscles contract on both sides to try and force whatever made it too far down back up into the mouth.  If the input is strong enough, it can also trigger vomiting (this is how vomiting is induced in eating disorders such a bulimia).

Do you Gag?

One in three people lacks a gag reflex, which means rather large things can enter their throats without triggering a reflex.  This is possibly how sword-swallowing got its start.

The other side of this coin is someone with a hypersensitive gag.  They can have trouble swallowing large pills and large bites of food.  Dentist visits and even neckties can trigger this unpleasant reflex.  It can be a part of a larger issue, such as Sensory Processing Disorder or Autism.  Or it can be a preconditioned issue due to a previous experience.  In either case, speech or occupational therapy can be done and will include desensitizing areas of the mouth to touch.

Other Protective Reflexes

  1. The Reflexive Pharyngeal Swallow is a triggered swallow that clears the pharynx of residue.  The glottis will close and allow the pharynx to move stuff to the digestive tract.  This is a protective mechanism to keep stuff out of the airways.
  2. Phayngoglottal Closure Reflex happens when the glottis closes inside the larynx without the continuation of a swallow.
  3. Phango-Upper Esophageal Sphincter Contractile Reflex occurs during any type of reflux from the stomach.  While some stomach contents may make it past the lower esophageal sphincter, so the upper one prevents it reaching into the throat and mouth.

Bottom Line

All of these reflexes are protective to prevent choking or improper ingesting of things.  They can be damaged to different degrees during head trauma or stroke.  But surprisingly, smoking causes the most damage to the protective reflexes on the pharynx.

Callbacks

Swallowing

Mouth Parts

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Music Credits: Up In My Jam (All Of A Sudden) by – Kubbi https://soundcloud.com/kubbiCreative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b…Music provided by Audio Library https://youtu.be/tDexBj46oNI