Change of voice
The change of voice , also voice breakage or mutation , is the phase in the development of adolescents in which the voice changes noticeably in all genders : During the voice change, the larynx (like the rest of the body) grows in all dimensions, with the cartilage in thickness and Increase strength; The Adam's apple is particularly prominent in men . The vocal folds become longer and thicker; the voice becomes deeper as a result.
Change of voice in puberty
In girls, the voice mutates between around 10 and 15 years of age, in boys around 11 and 16 years of age (deviations depend on the course of puberty ; the general acceleration of pubertal processes in the past decades also has the processes of voice change moved forward). The difference between a boy's and a man's voices is usually an octave (frequency ratio 2 to 1). The female voice can also sound up to a minor third lower than the female voice (frequency ratio up to 6 to 5).
Causes for the absence of voice changes
The changes in the human voice during puberty are closely related to the development of the genitals : If a boy's testicles are removed before the beginning of the voice change , there is no change in voice and he sings in a castrato voice .
In rare cases, hormonal causes can cause the same effect, such as with the soprano Radu Marian . This hormonal predisposition can also have genetic causes, as in the case of jazz singer Jimmy Scott . The circumstances are even rarer with the soprano Michael Maniaci , in whom, for unknown reasons, only the vocal cords did not develop and his voice never broke.
See also
literature
- Günther Habermann: Voice and Language . 2nd Edition. Thieme, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-13-556002-3 .
- Rudolf Schilling: About change of voice stories . In: Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica Vol. I, Fasc. 2 1948, New York, Basel: Separatum, pp. 70–96.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Franz Daffner: The growth of people. Anthropological study . 2nd Edition. Engelmann, Leipzig 1902. p. 226.
