voice production.pptx

8/14/2019 Voice Production.pptx

1/24

The Voice Production

ProcessPresented by: Group 3


2/24

Introduction

You are how you sound!Yes, the sound of the humanvoice tells your listeners an enormous amount about yourpersonality, emotions, confidence and feelings about

yourselves, as well as what you are really thinking. Yourvoice divulges a great deal about your educationalbackground, social status, health and mental alertness.The way in which you use your voice also has the power tomake your teaching interesting or deadly dull, to make

your students trust you or view you suspiciously, and to

make students listen intently or nod off to sleep! Unlessyou have a major physical disability of the voicemechanism, everyone is capable of producing the type of

voice that works well in teaching, one that helps to getyour message across, is vibrant and engaging.


3/24

Fundamentals of Voice

BreathingOur intention to produce voice is signalled to the parts of

the body involved by impulses from the brain. The firstresponse of the body to these impulses is to breathe inso that there is enough air in the lungs to power the

voice. The breath is taken in through the mouth andnose, passes down the trachea (or windpipe), and isinhaled into the lungs. For air to be inhaled into thelungs, the ribcage needs to expand and the dome-likediaphragm which forms the base of the chest, needs toflatten downwards. When we breathe in effectively, we

feel most of this expansion in the area of the lower ribs.Once the air has been inhaled into the lungs and theyreach capacity, the elastic tissue of the lung recoils andthe air is exhaled or breathed out. The exhaled air thenreturns up through the trachea and then through thelarynx where it encounters the closing vocal folds.


4/24

The basic tone of the voice can be varied in

many different ways, depending on the wayin which we use the vocal folds\ and otherparts of the voice mechanism. The mainaspects of the voice that can be varied are:

pitch

loudness

quality


5/24


6/24

Loudness

Loudnessrefers to how loud or soft a voice is.It is dependent on the amount of air pressurefrom the lungs and the muscle tension in thevocal folds. The greater the air pressure and the

more tense the vocal folds, the louder thesound will be. The lower the air pressure fromthe lungs is and the slacker the vocal folds are,the softer the voice will be. We also usevariations in loudness during speech to signal

meaning and emotion and this is referred to asstress. To emphasis the importance of aparticular word, for example, we increase theloudness of voice on that word.


7/24

Quality

Qualityrefers to how clear the voice sounds.Voice quality is determined by many complexfactors including how relaxed the muscles ofthe larynx are, how moist the cover of the vocal

folds is, how smoothly the vocal folds vibrate,and whether or not the vocal folds are able toclose sufficiently during phonation. If themuscles of the larynx are excessively tense, thecover is dry, the folds move in an irregular way,and/ or the folds cannot close together, thevoice quality will sound rough, strained and/orbreathy.


8/24

ResonanceThe sound waves produced by the vocal folds in the larynxare too weak to be recognised as voice and so this basic

tone must be amplified or resonated as it travels upthrough the spaces of the throat, mouth and nose. Theshape, size and muscle tension of these spaces willdetermine the eventual sound of the voice we will hear.Because every person is built differently in the throat,mouth and nose, the basic voice tone is modified

differently in each of us so that we will all have arecognisably unique timbre of voice. This process ofresonance in our voices is similar to the way in which theshape and size of a musical instrument such as a trumpetgives the basic tone produced by the reed its uniquesound. Just as the resonance process in a trumpet makes

the sound of the trumpet carry throughout a concert hall,resonance in the human voice gives us the ability tocontrol its carrying power or projection.


9/24

ArticulationArticulation is the final phase of voice

production. It involves changing the shape anddimension of the oral cavity in the mouth,which produces sounds in speech or singing.Properly pronounced syllables, formed byconsonants and vowels, automatically make

these changes. Teachers generally use syllablesto get students to form good mouth positionsbefore going into details of placement, such asconsciously moving the jaw up and down,raising and lowering the tongue or moving the

corners of the lips away and toward the centerof the mouth to produce desired results


10/24

LarynxThe human voice is made up several parts.

The larynx also, called the voice box,houses the vocal chords, which are locatedin the respiratory tract where air passesfrom the lungs and when it strikes thevocal chords sound is produced. Thelarynx is a two-inch-long narrow organlocated between the trachea and thepharynx. The larynx is an essential part ofhow we talk, sing and produce sound in

general. The larynx is also used whenbreathing or swallowing and its outercartilage forms the "Adams Apple" on thefront side of the neck.


11/24

The Tongue and Teeth

Talking and singing would be muchmore difficult a task if not for thetongue and teeth. The teeth and tonguework together to form words after thevocal chords produce sound. We haveall heard the tongue is a muscle but it'sactually made up of several groups of

muscles. The front of the tongue isflexible and works closely with theteeth in forming some words.


12/24

Stages of Voice Production (SpeechMechanisms)

CompressionSpeaking starts with the movement of the air outof the body through the process of exhalation. Theair we inhale is compressed for exhalation.The movement begins from the lungs, the place

where the air eventually goes after inhalation. Theair then passes through a pair of bronchial tubes, apair of canals which are connected to the lungs atone end to the windpipe or trachea at the otherend. The windpipe is the canal inside our neck.

Muscles contract and expand the space occupiedby the lungs. This compression is done with the aidof a membrane separating the lungs from theintestines. This membrane is called thediaphragm.


13/24

Vibration

When the air hits the windpipe or thetrachea, it passes through the larynx or thevocal box, situated somewhere in the upperpart of the windpipe. The larynx is known

as the vibrator. Inside the larynx are thevocal folds, a pair of thin membranes whichvibrate when air passes through.

The vibration results in the production of

the initial sound of the voice. This is notthe actual sound of the voice. It is only thebeginning of the sound.


14/24

AmplificationThe initial sound is made loud and amplified

into our true voice by the air chambers in ourbody called the resonators. When the soundenters an air chamber, the sound reverberatesand is consequently multiplied before leavingthe air chamber.

The air chamber of our body that serves asresonators are:a. the vestibule the first air chamber located

above the larynx

b. the pharynx or the throat the second airchamber located at the inner end of the mouthc. the nasal cavities the chambers of the nosed. the mouth a very important resonator


15/24

Modification

The sound made loud by the resonators is carved out intointelligible sounds, the vowels and consonants, by the

modifiers or articulators, those parts of the body thatform speech sound.

The modifiers or articulators are:

a. lips enunciate the bilabial sounds p, b, w, hw, and

cooperate with the teeth in the f and v soundsb. teeth are used for the s. Together with the tongue,

they articulate the soft and hard ths.

c. tongue - is a key modifier. The tongue shapes out thevowels and helps consonants.

d. jaw - does not produce specific sounds but it is animportant modifier. If we do not use our jaw, we tend tomumble. We are then said to be eating our words.

e. hard palate - the ceiling of the mouth

f. soft palate the cave-like extension of the hard palate


16/24

Mechanism of Voice

Production: Air Flow and VocalFold Vibration


17/24

The diagram to the left shows a verticalcross-section through the larynx

(voicebox). Below the vocal folds is thetrachea, or windpipe, which leads to thelungs. The vocal folds are actually folds oftissue, described in more detail below. Inthis diagram the vocal folds are separated,

as they would be during breathingJust above the vocal folds is a second foldof tissue called the false vocal folds. Thefalse vocal folds are important inpreventing substances from entering the

trachea during swallowing. They do notplay a major role in speech, and, unlikethe true vocal folds, they should not comein contact with each other during speech.


18/24

Above the vocal fold is a floppy cartilaginoustongue-shaped structure called the epiglottis. Theepiglottis folds over the opening into the larynx

when we swallow, which helps prevent materialfrom getting into the lungs.The position of the vocal folds during speechdepends on the type of sounds being made. Onegrouping of sounds is called "voiced", because

their production relies on vibration of the vocalfolds. Another grouping is called "voiceless", andfor these sounds the vocal folds are usually openedand the sound is produced by another part ofmouth and throat. Examples of voiceless sounds

are the early parts of the "f" and the "s" sound.These sounds are not produced by the larynx butrather by turbulent air flow in parts of the mouth.


19/24

Vocal Fold VibrationTo make sounds for speech, the vocal folds are firstbrought together by the muscles of the larynx. While they

are closed, the action of the respiratory muscles and thechest wall cause the air pressure immediately below thevocal folds to increase. Eventually the pressure beneaththe vocal folds exceeds the pressure holding themtogether, and a burst of air escapes through the folds. Asthe air rapidly flows through the larynx, it creates a

decreased pressure ( a phenomenon called the Venturieffect) and the vocal folds are brought together. Thepressure beneath the folds rises again, and the processrepeats itself. The process of rapid opening and closingproduces vocal fold vibration that we can see with astroboscopic examination. Each time the vocal folds open

they produce a jet of air which creates a rapid changes inair pressure that produces the sounds we use to makespeech.


20/24

It is important to realize that the vocal folds

do not produce sound by vibrating like guitarstrings. Instead, the sound is produced by thepressure changes created as small jets of airpass through the moving vocal folds.


21/24

A Close Up of the Vocal Folds

The microscopic structure of the folds is

extremely important both in terms of theway in which sound is produced and inthe medical and surgical techniques usedto treat voice disorders. The picture tothe left shows a close up view of a cross

section through one of the vocal folds.You can see that it really is a fold oftissue, and the term "vocal cord" can besomewhat misleading. The vocal fold iscovered by a thin layer of tissue called the

epithelium.


22/24

Underlying the mucosa is a second layer called

the lamina propria, and under this is themuscle that makes up the body of the vocalfold (it is called the thyroarytenoid muscle; themost medial portion of this muscle is also

called the vocalis muscle). The lamina propriais in turn made up of three layers. In thehealthy vocal fold the most superficial layer ofthe lamina propria is quite loose, so that theepithelium can vibrate in a wave-like fashionover the underlying layers.


23/24

The Mucosal Wave:

The diagram to the left shows aschematic of a cross section of theopening and closing of the vocalfolds. Notice that the folds do notopen all at once, but rather the

lower part first begins to open andat a later point in time the upperportion of the folds separate. Thiscomplex manner of opening and

closing produces what is called themucosal wave.


24/24

A good mucosal wave is necessary for the

folds to open in a uniform and symmetricfashion. Anything that interferes with thismucosa wave, such as a swelling or a cyst onthe folds, disrupts the mucosal wave andcauses a worsening in voice quality.

When we examine the larynx, the mucosalwave can be studied using a special light

source called a strobe light.

voice production.pptx

Documents