2024/12/30 by Michel Belyk · 1 voice
Psychology · #Phonetics and Phonology Research
paper · pdf · doi:10.31219/osf.io/m365r
openalex publication_date 2024/12/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/14
The voice is the medium through which we manifest our use of language and music – through speech and song. Human vociferousness is supported by specialised adaptations in the brain that grant improved control over the muscles of the larynx and respiration, and more importantly the ability to learn new patterns of vocal behaviour. Understanding these adaptations in the human brain, and how they differ from their homologs in the brains of other species of primate can provide insight into how ancestral humans came to evolve the faculties of language and music. This chapter will review the biomechanics of vocal sound production, the comparative vocal abilities of non-human primates, how the human brain controls the voice, how this differs from the neural control of the voice in closely related species, and the mechanisms by which these differences may have evolved.