The Surprising Human Voice

Many birds and animals communicate audibly, and even some fishes and whales make themselves heard to each other. Mates, offspring, and certain others recognize each others' sounds. The human voice, however, has many features to set us apart from critters.

Credit: Pixabay / Free-Photos (edited)

There are certain types of speakers that I like to hear, probably because of pitch and timbre. You have probably had the same experience where it is pleasant to hear someone talking. We can also tell people apart when they speak or sing (I'll allow that some are difficult until you listen for a spell). We have more range and versatility than the creatures God made — they're not built that way.

Language is something that sets us apart (see "Language Itself Testifies of the Creator"). Pronunciations in some languages require a great deal of work (such as when someone who speaks English tries to learn Russian, for example). No animals write songs in a language, put them to music, and sing them. Our Creator left that pleasure for us, and we also sing to his glory.

The way the Human voice works is a marvel of acoustic engineering. Each person’s voice reflects the way first that the original sound is produced at the vocal chords, then in the way the sound waves are channelled through the throat, and finally in the way the sound is released from the mouth where many harmonics are added. High-frequency consonants like “f,” “b,” “s,” and “t” are all formed by the lips and tongue operating in a collaboration, which acoustically is very rich indeed. This means that it is very difficult for apes and monkeys to emulate and speak in a human-like voice—they do not have the apparatus to do it!

To read the rest, click over to "The Wonder of the Human Voice".




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