How Our Sounds are Produced Through Organ of Speech
Introduction:
For the production of speech sounds ,as indeed for the production of any sounds ,there must be some disturbance in the air .Such disturbance in the air , is provided by the movement of certain organs of the body such as the muscles of the chest , the vocal cord ,the tongue ,the lips and so on. This disturbance in the form of sound waves , travel to ear of the listener ,who interprets the wave as sounds .
What are organ of speech?
The organ of human body which produce speech sounds together called organ of speech .
Primary Function:
Their primary function being breathing, chewing, eating, smiling and tasting etc.
Sounds are produced by Three system:
• Respiratory system
• phonatory system
• Articulatory system
Respiratory system:
Respiratory comprises lungs, muscle of the chest and wind pipe (trachea).The lungs we know perform the function of breathing or respiration under the action of the muscle of the chest .
Under this action, when lungs compressed,they throw the air out and when they expand , they draw outside air in .The former process is exhalation and inhalation .
Role of Respiratory system in production of sound :
The process of breathing provide airstream that acts as a source of energy . Without airstream ,no activity on the part of speech organs can produce sounds .
It is not that the only lungs can provide an airstream for the production of sound; certain other organs can do so too .This airstream mechanism is called pulmonic aggressive airstream mechanism .
Phonatory system:
The air stream released by the lungs undergoes several modification before goes out into atmosphere .The first modification is effected in the trachea .
If you try to produce the sounds at the beginning of the English words "seal" and "zeal" that is s-sound and z- sound, one after other you will notice that there is some 'hum' in the z-sound which is not heard in the s-sound .This hum is the result of modification in trachea .
Two parts of phonatory system:
• The lyranx
•Vocal Cords
Lyranx:
In the upper part of trachea is a structure called lyranx .It is formed of cartilage and muscle 💪.
It's primary function is to act as a valve ,when necessary it closes off the air from and to the lungs and prevent the food entering from the trachea .
It's front part is prominent in the neck , and is commonly known as Adam's apple ; situated inside the lyranx is a pair of lip like structures called the vocal cords .
Vocal cords wide drawn Wide Apart :
When the vocal cords drawn wide apart , there is a wide opening between them called a glottis .
Through this opening , the air can pass freely without setting the vocal cords in vibration .
These sounds are called voice less sounds .
Example:
Pen,cot, film,thin ,sin,sheet and chair e.t.c
Vocal cords held loosely together:
When vocal cords held loosely together, the air from the lungs can escape only by sitting them into vibration .
Such vibration produce a hum sound , which are called voiced sounds
Example:
Bed, dead,get,jug, men , red, then so on.