Titze Ingo R
National Center for Voice and Speech, The University of Utah, Lead Institution, Salt Lake City, Utah; Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.
J Voice. 2017 Mar;31(2):135-141. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2016.06.003. Epub 2016 Jul 7.
Speech has been hailed as unique to human evolution. Although the inventory of distinct sounds producible with vocal tract articulators is a great advantage in human oral communication, it is argued here that the larynx as a sound source in speech is limited in its range and capability because a low fundamental frequency is ideal for phonemic intelligibility and source-filter independence.
Four existing data sets were combined to make an argument regarding exclusive use of the larynx for speech: (1) range of fundamental frequency, (2) laryngeal muscle activation, (3) vocal fold length in relation to sarcomere length of the major laryngeal muscles, and (4) vocal fold morphological development.
Limited data support the notion that speech tends to produce a contracture of the larynx. The morphological design of the human vocal folds, like that of primates and other mammals, appears to be optimized for vocal communication over distances for which higher fundamental frequency, higher intensity, and fewer unvoiced segments are used.
The positive message is that raising one's voice to call, shout, or sing, or executing pitch glides to stretch the vocal folds, can counteract this trend toward a contracted state.
言语被誉为人类进化所独有的特征。尽管声道发音器官能够发出的不同声音的数量在人类口头交流中是一大优势，但本文认为，作为言语声源的喉部在范围和能力上是有限的，因为低频基频对于音素清晰度和源-滤波器独立性而言是理想的。
合并了四个现有数据集，以论证喉部在言语中的排他性使用：（1）基频范围，（2）喉部肌肉激活，（3）与主要喉部肌肉肌节长度相关的声带长度，以及（4）声带形态发育。
有限的数据支持言语往往会导致喉部挛缩这一观点。人类声带的形态设计与灵长类动物和其他哺乳动物一样，似乎是为远距离的声音交流而优化的，在远距离交流中会使用更高的基频、更高的强度和更少的清音段。
积极的信息是，提高音量去呼喊、喊叫或唱歌，或者执行音高滑动以拉伸声带，可以抵消这种趋向收缩状态的趋势。
