Page 58 - (DK) Help Your Kids with Growing Up: A No-Nonsense Guide to Puberty and Adolescence

56 MALE PUBERT Y

Breaking voices SEE ALSO
‹
‹ 46–47 What is puberty?
48–49 Male hormones
During puberty, the voices of both males and females change to ‹ 50–51 Changing body
a lower pitch than that of pre-puberty. The deepening in females’ Confidence and self-esteem 86–87 ›
voices is hardly noticeable, but some males’ voices drop dramatically.
When this happens, people say a male’s voice is “breaking”.

How the voice works The impact of puberty
The larynx, often known as the “voice box”, During puberty, testosterone makes the cartilage in the voice box grow.
combines with a system of cavities in the face and The vocal cords become 60 per cent longer and thicker, and so vibrate at
throat, to enable people to manipulate the sounds a lower frequency than before – reducing from 200 times per second to
they make to talk and sing. as low as 130 times per second. This makes the voice sound much deeper.
When air is pushed out of the lungs, it rushes up It’s not clear why this change to the voice occurs. In other animals,
the trachea, or “windpipe”, and through the larynx. males develop deeper voices to attract a mate and to frighten off
Stretched across the larynx are two vocal predators and competing males more effectively. It may be that the
ligaments, or “vocal cords”, which are a bit like human voice changes for the same reasons.
elastic bands. They vibrate when air passes
between them – much like when a guitar string is
strummed – and produce the sound of the voice. Vocal cords
The V-shaped vocal cords, which stretch across
the larynx, are “strummed” by air rushing past
them to produce the sound of a person’s voice.

Epiglottis
This flap of cartilage
closes over the trachea
to stop food going
down the windpipe.

Larynx

Larynx
Made up of cartilage, the larynx is held
Vocal cords together by membranes and muscles.
▷ Voice box
The larger the larynx,
known as the “voice
box”, and the thicker
the vocal cords
stretched across it,
the deeper the voice. Trachea
Air passes through the Oesophagus
trachea, also known as the Food travels from the mouth to the
“windpipe”, into the lungs. stomach through the oesophagus.

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