How is your voice produced?

Our voice is produced through vibration of the vocal folds. The vocal folds are elastic bands of tissue. When you talk, the vocal folds come together first. Then, the air from the lungs comes up to the vocal folds and vibrates them. The vibration creates rapid changes in air pressure, which make a buzz-like sound. The space in your head above the vocal fold, such as top of your throat and mouth, is called the vocal tract. The vocal tract works like a big auditorium, or the bell of a trumpet, and gives resonance to the buzzing sound. That's how the buzzing sound changes into the sound of the human voice.

How do we change the pitch of our voice? One way is to increase the tension of the vocal folds by stretching them. Watch the video to see how this works!