CHAPTER XXXI 

 VOCAL CORDS AND THE EARS 



206. Vocal Cords. The vocal cords are the organs 

 which produce sounds for speech. They are two tough, 

 elastic bands, stretched across the upper end of the 

 windpipe, and their ends are attached to the cartilage 

 of the larynx (Adam's apple). These cords can be ren- 



Cords stretched for singing. Cords as they are for breathing. 



HUMAN VOCAL CORDS 



dered more or less tense by muscles which by contraction 

 can move the pieces of cartilage. When we speak or sing, 

 these muscles stretch the cords and make the passage 

 between them small, so that when the air from the lungs 

 is forced out between the cords, they vibrate and produce 

 sounds called the voice. The pitch of the voice depends 

 upon the number of vibrations per second of the vocal 

 cords. When these sounds are modified by certain posi- 

 tions of the tongue, palate, teeth, lips, and nose, so as 

 to form words, speech is produced. 



The vocal cords are longer in men than in women and 

 therefore women have a voice of higher pitch. The longer 

 and thicker the cords are, the less frequently they vibrate 



