tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/speech-sounds-27463/articlesSpeech sounds – The Conversation2022-12-11T08:07:50Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1943722022-12-11T08:07:50Z2022-12-11T08:07:50ZWhen did humans first start to speak? How language evolved in Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499312/original/file-20221206-5419-8iau2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Descendants of the indigenous San people in the Kalahari Desert.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Eric Lafforgue/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Image</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>When did humans first begin to speak, which speech sounds were uttered first, and when did language evolve from those humble beginnings? These questions have long fascinated people, especially in tracing the evolution of modern humans and what makes us different from other animals. George Poulos has spent most of his academic career researching the phonetic and linguistic structures of African languages. In his <a href="https://www.amazon.com/ORIGINS-HUMAN-SPEECH-LANGUAGE/dp/B096ZZ3YKR/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=">latest book</a>, On the Origins of Human Speech and Language, he proposes new timelines for the origins of language. We asked him about his findings.</em></p>
<h2>When and where did human speech evolve?</h2>
<p>Research carried out for this <a href="https://www.amazon.com/ORIGINS-HUMAN-SPEECH-LANGUAGE/dp/B096ZZ3YKR/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=">study</a> indicates that the first speech sounds were uttered about 70,000 years ago, and not hundreds of thousands or millions of years ago, as is sometimes claimed in the <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aaw3916">literature</a>. </p>
<p>While my research has been primarily based on phonetic (speech sounds) and linguistic (language) analyses, it has also taken into account other disciplines, like palaeoanthropology (the study of human evolution), archaeology (analysing fossils and other remains), anatomy (the body) and genetics (the study of genes). </p>
<p>The transformation of <em><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Homo-sapiens">Homo sapiens</a></em> (modern humans) from a “non-speaking” to a “speaking” species happened at about the same time as our hunter-gatherer ancestors <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/incredible-human-journey-9781408810910/">migrated</a> out of Africa. </p>
<p>When those early adventurers migrated beyond the African continent, they took with them the greatest gift ever acquired by our species – the ability to produce speech sounds, enabled by the creation of a “speech” gene. It was that ability, more than anything else, that catapulted them into a world in which they would dominate all other species. </p>
<h2>Which speech sounds were first uttered?</h2>
<p>The very first speech sounds ever produced were not just random involuntary sounds. Underlying these speech sounds was a fledgling network that connected certain areas of the brain to different parts of the vocal tract. Various anatomical and environmental factors contributed to <em>Homo sapiens’</em> ability to produce speech sounds for the first time ever. </p>
<p>Another interesting factor was an apparent change in the <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Human+Brain+Evolution:+The+Influence+of+Freshwater+and+Marine+Food+Resources-p-9780470452684">diet</a> of our early ancestors and the possible effect it might have had on the human brain. The change to what was essentially a marine diet rich in omega 3 fatty acids occurred when those early humans migrated from the interior to the <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-the-sea-saved-humanity-2012-12-07/">coastlines</a> of the continent. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499319/original/file-20221206-16-59tzsq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499319/original/file-20221206-16-59tzsq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499319/original/file-20221206-16-59tzsq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499319/original/file-20221206-16-59tzsq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499319/original/file-20221206-16-59tzsq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499319/original/file-20221206-16-59tzsq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1139&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499319/original/file-20221206-16-59tzsq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1139&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499319/original/file-20221206-16-59tzsq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1139&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">George Poulos</span></span>
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<p>The vocal tract developed gradually over a long period, and the different stages in its development determined the types of sounds that could be produced. At the time of the “out of Africa” migration, the only part of the vocal tract that was <a href="https://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/49-2/Lieberman.pdf">physiologically developed</a> to produce speech sounds was the oral cavity (mouth area).</p>
<p>The only speech sound that could be produced entirely in the mouth at the time was the so-called “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/ORIGINS-HUMAN-SPEECH-LANGUAGE/dp/B096ZZ3YKR/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=">click</a>” sound. The airstream could be controlled within the mouth. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6WO5XabD-s">Clicks</a> are the only known speech sounds that behave in this manner. They still occur today in a few African languages – predominantly in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Khoisan">Khoisan</a> languages spoken in parts of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. </p>
<p>Clicks occur in less than 1% of the languages of the world. They also occur in a few isolated instances in East Africa and in certain languages of South Africa that adopted the clicks when they came into contact with the Khoisan. Clicks have also been noted in one instance outside the African continent, in an extinct ceremonial language register known as Damin in Australia. </p>
<p>An example of a click speech sound is the so-called “kiss” (or bilabial) click where the lips are brought together, and the back part of the tongue is raised against the back of the mouth. The lips are then sucked slightly inwards, and when released a click sound is produced.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499301/original/file-20221206-3886-zfofy1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A diagram of the human head showing the mouth and three stages of sound being produced." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499301/original/file-20221206-3886-zfofy1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499301/original/file-20221206-3886-zfofy1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=266&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499301/original/file-20221206-3886-zfofy1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=266&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499301/original/file-20221206-3886-zfofy1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=266&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499301/original/file-20221206-3886-zfofy1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499301/original/file-20221206-3886-zfofy1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499301/original/file-20221206-3886-zfofy1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The production of the alveolar click.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy George Poulos</span></span>
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<p>My research suggests that the “kiss” click was probably the first speech sound ever produced by <em>Homo sapiens</em>. As time moved on, the various parts of the tongue became more and more manoeuvrable, making it possible for other click sounds to be produced in the mouth as well. </p>
<h2>So, when did the other speech sounds evolve?</h2>
<p>This study demonstrates that the production of all the other human speech sounds (the other consonants, as well as all the vowels) began to take place from approximately 50,000 years ago. This was dependent on the gradual development of a <a href="https://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/49-2/Lieberman.pdf">well-proportioned vocal tract</a> which included the mouth, the area behind the mouth (the pharynx), the nasal passages, and the all-important larynx with its vocal cords. Three airstream mechanisms evolved for the production of all speech sounds, and they evolved gradually in successive stages. </p>
<h2>How did humans communicate before clicks?</h2>
<p>Before this, the only sounds humans could produce were the so-called “vocalisations” or vocal calls. Those were imitations or mimics of various actions or sounds that humans were exposed to in their environment. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-first-ever-dictionary-of-south-africas-kaaps-language-has-launched-why-it-matters-165485">The first-ever dictionary of South Africa's Kaaps language has launched - why it matters</a>
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<p>They may have also been involuntary sounds which expressed various emotions or the involuntary sounds made when yawning, sneezing etcetera. These must not be confused with the very intricate mechanisms that are involved in the production of the speech sounds which form the foundations of what we recognise today as human language. </p>
<h2>And the use of full grammatical language?</h2>
<p>As the different speech sounds evolved, they combined in various ways to form syllables and words. And these in turn combined with each other in different ways to generate the structural types of grammatical sentences that characterise modern languages.</p>
<p>The initial ability to produce speech sounds was the spark that led to the gradual evolution of language. Grammatical language did not evolve overnight. There was no “single silver bullet” that generated language. </p>
<p>The indication is that human language was a fairly late acquisition of <em>Homo sapiens</em>. It is argued in this study that language, as we know it today, probably began to emerge about 20,000 years ago. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499987/original/file-20221209-24-mesb90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in traditional hunting clothing crouches to apply paint with his finger on a boy child's cheeks." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499987/original/file-20221209-24-mesb90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499987/original/file-20221209-24-mesb90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499987/original/file-20221209-24-mesb90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499987/original/file-20221209-24-mesb90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499987/original/file-20221209-24-mesb90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499987/original/file-20221209-24-mesb90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499987/original/file-20221209-24-mesb90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A San elder paints a child’s face.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hoberman/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</span></span>
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<p>We observed earlier that the first speech sounds were uttered by the ancestors of the speakers of present-day Khoisan languages. In the light of this observation, it would be reasonable to assume that they had a head start in being the first to speak a grammatical language as well. </p>
<p>To date there is no substantial phonetic or linguistic evidence to indicate that other species such as the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Neanderthal">Neanderthals</a> could have ever spoken a grammatical language. They did not have the <a href="https://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/49-2/Lieberman.pdf">required vocal tract dimensions</a> for speech sound production, let alone the morphological and syntactic structures that were required for grammatical language. </p>
<h2>Why does this all matter?</h2>
<p>The utterance of the very first speech sounds about 70,000 years ago was the beginning of a journey that was to lead to the evolution of human language. </p>
<p>Language has provided the medium of communication that has played a pivotal role in the momentous developments that have taken place from the earliest known “written” records that we have access to (some 5,500 years ago), to the highly sophisticated technological advances that we are witnessing today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194372/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>George Poulos does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The first speech sounds were uttered about 70,000 years ago and not hundreds of thousands of years ago as is sometimes claimed.George Poulos, Professor Emeritus, University of South AfricaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1913832022-10-24T12:27:43Z2022-10-24T12:27:43ZWhy do people have slips of the tongue?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489240/original/file-20221011-14578-5pytfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=29%2C29%2C2753%2C1831&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What's he trying to say?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/lost-the-train-of-thought-royalty-free-image/172429241">nojustice via iStock / Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Have you visited Yew Nork? Does your stummy ache? What dog of bag food will we get? </p>
<p>In case you’ve wondered what causes such speech errors or slips of the tongue, you might like to know that all speakers – of all ages and abilities – make them sometimes. Even people who use <a href="https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/faq-what-sign-language">a sign language</a> produce what some call “slips of the hand.” Slips are a common feature of language.</p>
<p>As a developmental psycholinguist who studies how people use language, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Z_oZBy8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">I</a> am interested in what speech errors tell us about the human mind. Research shows that language users store and retrieve different units of language. These include small ones like single consonants, and big ones like phrases made of several words.</p>
<h2>Exchanges and blends of sounds and words</h2>
<p>One way to think about speech errors is in terms of the linguistic units that each involves. Another way to think about them is in terms of the actions affecting these units. </p>
<p>The “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110888423">Yew Nork</a>” slip shows consonant sounds switching places – a sound exchange. Notice that each of the consonants is first in its own syllable. The “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110888423">dog of bag food</a>” slip shows a word exchange. Notice that both words are nouns. Vowel sounds can also switch places, as when a speaker who meant “feed the pooch” said, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110888423">food the peach</a>.”</p>
<p>The “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110888423">stummy</a>” slip blends the synonyms “stomach” and “tummy.” Phrases can also blend, as in “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Linguistics_the_Cambridge_Survey/JXFhzfy9SZAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=merrill+f+garrett+1980&pg=PA69&printsec=frontcover">It depends on the day of the mood I’m in</a>.” The speaker who said this had in mind both “the day of the week” and “the mood I’m in,” but with only one mouth for the two messages to pass through, he blended the phrases.</p>
<h2>Substitutions by meaning</h2>
<p>Another way to think about speech errors is in terms of what influences them. Substitutions of one word for another can illustrate.</p>
<p>Someone who meant to refer to fingers said instead, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110888423">Don’t burn your toes</a>.” The words “toe” and “finger” don’t sound alike, but they name similar body parts. In fact, Latin used the same word, “digitus,” to refer to digits of the hands and digits of the feet. </p>
<p>This word substitution – and thousands like it – suggests that our mental dictionaries link words with related meanings. In other words, semantic connections can influence speech errors. The speaker here was trying to get the word “finger” from the body-part section of his mental dictionary and slipped over to its semantic neighbor “toe.” </p>
<h2>Substitutions by sound</h2>
<p>Another type of word substitution reveals something else about our mental dictionaries. Someone who meant to refer to his mustache said instead, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.52020-0">I got whipped cream on my mushroom</a>.” The words “mustache” and “mushroom” sound similar. Each word starts with the same consonant and vowel, denoted as “[mʌ]” in <a href="https://www.internationalphoneticalphabet.org/ipa-sounds/ipa-chart-with-sounds/">the International Phonetic Alphabet</a>. Each word is two syllables long with stress on the first syllable. But the meanings of these two words are not similar. </p>
<p>This word substitution – and thousands like it – suggests that our mental dictionaries also link words with similar sounds. In other words, phonological connections can influence speech errors. The speaker here was trying to get the word “mustache” from the “[mʌ]” section of his mental dictionary and slipped over to its phonological neighbor “mushroom.”</p>
<h2>Insights from variety</h2>
<p>Psycholinguists who <a href="https://www.mpi.nl/dbmpi/sedb/sperco_form4.pl">collect and analyze speech errors</a> find many ways to categorize them and to explain how and why people make them. </p>
<p>I like to compare that effort with how <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/6/l_016_02.html">Charles Darwin studied Galápagos finches</a>. Studying speech errors and finches in detail reveals how tiny variations distinguish them.</p>
<p>Theories of how people talk seek to explain those details. Psycholinguists distinguish slips by the linguistic units that they involve, such as consonants, vowels, words and phrases. They describe how and when speakers use such information. This can help us understand how language develops in children and how it breaks down in people with certain impairments. </p>
<p>These theories also describe <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262620895/speaking/">different stages for planning and producing sentences</a>. For example, psycholinguists hypothesize that speakers start with what they want to convey. Then they retrieve word meanings from a mental dictionary. They arrange the words according to the grammar of the language they’re speaking. How words sound and the rhythm of whole sentences are later stages. If this is right, the “finger-toe” substitution reflects an earlier stage than the “mustache-mushroom” substitution.</p>
<p>The study of speech errors reminds us that glitches happen now and then in every complex behavior. When you walk, you sometimes trip. When you talk, you sometimes slip.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191383/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cecile McKee has received funding from the National Science Foundation and the James S. McDonnell Foundation. Her research on language production is in collaboration with Merrill F. Garrett (University of Arizona) and Dana McDaniel (University of Southern Maine).</span></em></p>A psycholinguist explains what’s really going on when people misspeak.Cecile McKee, Professor of Linguistics, University of ArizonaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1325922020-04-20T20:00:50Z2020-04-20T20:00:50ZCurious Kids: why might you wake up without a voice?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320329/original/file-20200313-26986-4o75uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=34%2C25%2C5716%2C3802&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sunny Studio/ Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p><strong>Why do you lose your voice approximately 12 hours after you scream too much? If I scream a lot one day the next morning I can barely speak. However, I can speak right after I scream. Kheenav, age 11, from Glen Waverley, Victoria</strong></p>
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<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/curious-kids-36782"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291898/original/file-20190911-190031-enlxbk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=90&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="100%"></a></p>
<p>Hi Kheenav, thank you for your question! </p>
<p>First, I’ll explain a bit about your voice. Then we can look at what happens after shouting or screaming.</p>
<h2>How does your voice work?</h2>
<p>When you talk, sing, shout, or scream, the voice sounds you make happen because of the very fast vibration of your vocal cords. </p>
<p>These vocal cords are two small folds of muscle in your voice box which is in the front of your neck. </p>
<p>Your vocal cords make sound by vibrating many times each second. </p>
<p>If you gently put your fingers around your voice box and say “ahhh”, you will feel your vocal cords vibrating. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320335/original/file-20200313-27012-1llkw2q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320335/original/file-20200313-27012-1llkw2q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320335/original/file-20200313-27012-1llkw2q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320335/original/file-20200313-27012-1llkw2q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320335/original/file-20200313-27012-1llkw2q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320335/original/file-20200313-27012-1llkw2q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320335/original/file-20200313-27012-1llkw2q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320335/original/file-20200313-27012-1llkw2q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">See if you can feel the vibration.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If you then say “ahhh” and make your voice go up and down, you will feel your voice box go up and down.</p>
<h2>Your voice works hard</h2>
<p>When you make sounds, your vocal cords open and close many times each second (move apart and together again) to make the air vibrate. </p>
<p>The opening and closing is like putting your palms together, and then separating them but keeping the tips of your fingers touching. Each opening and closing is one vibration. </p>
<p><strong>Vocal cords: the first is open, the second is closed</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327942/original/file-20200415-153318-tqfa3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327942/original/file-20200415-153318-tqfa3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=222&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327942/original/file-20200415-153318-tqfa3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=222&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327942/original/file-20200415-153318-tqfa3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=222&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327942/original/file-20200415-153318-tqfa3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327942/original/file-20200415-153318-tqfa3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327942/original/file-20200415-153318-tqfa3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/anatomy-larynx-118506337">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A grown man’s vocal cords open and close about 120 times each second when singing “ahhh”. </p>
<p>A kid’s vocal cords open and close more times per second than an adult’s. Their vocal cords are also smaller. This is why children’s voices sound higher. </p>
<p>As an 11 year old boy, your vocal cords will open and close about 237 times each second when you sing “ahhh”. This means if you said “ahhh” for a minute, that would be 14,220 vibrations! </p>
<p>An hour of voice would be 853,200 vibrations! </p>
<p>Now think how much you normally talk, and you can see that your vocal cords are vibrating many thousands of times over a whole day.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-how-do-voices-come-out-of-our-mouths-130286">Curious Kids: how do voices come out of our mouths?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>So what happens when you shout or scream?</h2>
<p>When you yell or scream, you are bashing your vocal cords together extra hard with each vibration. This can make you get a hoarse voice. </p>
<p>If you imagine doing that with your hands many times over, they would get red, sore and swollen. </p>
<p>This is what is happening to your vocal cords. They can’t vibrate properly when they are swollen so the sound of your voice will change.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320337/original/file-20200313-26986-1bm86hj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320337/original/file-20200313-26986-1bm86hj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320337/original/file-20200313-26986-1bm86hj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320337/original/file-20200313-26986-1bm86hj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320337/original/file-20200313-26986-1bm86hj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320337/original/file-20200313-26986-1bm86hj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320337/original/file-20200313-26986-1bm86hj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Your age affects how your voice sounds.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sometimes, the swelling and soreness continues to develop for a few hours after screaming. </p>
<p>This is why you might be able to talk right after yelling but only notice losing your voice the next day. </p>
<h2>Now what?</h2>
<p>The best thing you can do if you wake up having lost your voice is to be gentle with your voice, talk less, talk quietly (but not whispered as this can also push your cords together) and drink plenty of water.</p>
<p>Walk over to someone to talk to him or her rather than yell across a distance. Talking over noise means you are probably shouting without realising it so try not to talk loudly.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-do-we-have-tonsils-98771">Curious Kids: Why do we have tonsils?????</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>With these changes, your voice should return to normal. </p>
<p>If it is not better after a couple of days, go and see your doctor just to make sure there is no medical reason for your voice problem. </p>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132592/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deborah Hersh is an Associate Professor of Speech Pathology at Edith Cowan University (ECU) and is part of research teams which have received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and the UK Stroke Association. In 2018, she led the ECU Seeing Voices team funded by an ECU Learning and Teaching Grant. Deborah is a Fellow of Speech Pathology Australia and also volunteers as a Board member for the Australian Aphasia Association, a not-for-profit organisation. </span></em></p>When we yell, our vocal cords bash together extra hard, causing them to get sore and swollen. The swelling can develop over a few hours so you might notice hoarseness more the next day.Deborah Hersh, Associate Professor, Speech Pathology, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1302862020-01-30T19:03:16Z2020-01-30T19:03:16ZCurious Kids: how do voices come out of our mouths?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312742/original/file-20200130-41516-1bocfr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=93%2C116%2C5083%2C3329&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">You open your mouth and sound comes out but what's happening in your body?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/little-girl-boy-have-decided-take-256017862">InesBazdar/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p><strong>How do our voices come out of our mouths? Ziggy, age 4, from Springwood NSW</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/curious-kids-36782"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291898/original/file-20190911-190031-enlxbk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=90&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="100%"></a></p>
<p>Hi Ziggy, what a great question! </p>
<p>We can all communicate in lots of different ways – using our hands to gesture or sign, writing letters, typing text messages, drawing pictures or even sending emojis. </p>
<p>But if we want to communicate by speaking then we need to use our voice. </p>
<p>Our voice makes sound when we use air from our lungs to vibrate our vocal cords, which sit inside your voice box.</p>
<p>To find your voice box, feel for the bony lump at the front of your throat. We sometime call this an “Adam’s apple” in men.</p>
<p>The air from the lungs causes the vocal cords to move really quickly. This is called vibration and feels a bit like buzzing. </p>
<p>See if you can vibrate your vocal cords, like this boy in the photo. Try saying “ahh” – then, gently place your fingers on your throat. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312745/original/file-20200130-41507-1uhxbmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312745/original/file-20200130-41507-1uhxbmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312745/original/file-20200130-41507-1uhxbmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312745/original/file-20200130-41507-1uhxbmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312745/original/file-20200130-41507-1uhxbmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312745/original/file-20200130-41507-1uhxbmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312745/original/file-20200130-41507-1uhxbmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Place your fingers over the bump in your throat to feel the vibration.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/editor/image/preteen-handsome-boy-make-singing-exercises-330949919">Lapina/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>You should be able to feel the vibration of your vocal cords. </p>
<h2>Picture this</h2>
<p>Another way to think about this process is to imagine your lungs are a balloon, full of air. </p>
<p>Now imagine the opening of the balloon is your vocal cords. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312747/original/file-20200130-41532-rofyml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312747/original/file-20200130-41532-rofyml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312747/original/file-20200130-41532-rofyml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312747/original/file-20200130-41532-rofyml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312747/original/file-20200130-41532-rofyml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312747/original/file-20200130-41532-rofyml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312747/original/file-20200130-41532-rofyml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If your lungs were a balloon, your vocal cords would be the opening.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/brilliant-blue-balloon-realistic-tie-ribbon-755669677">Brilliantist Studio/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When the balloon is tied up, vocal cords are closed and no air escapes. </p>
<p>When the balloon isn’t tied, the vocal cords are open, and all air comes out. That’s like breathing out. </p>
<p>But if you stretch the opening of a balloon sideways, you can control the amount of air that escapes. The opening vibrates, and it makes a noise. </p>
<p>That’s similar to what your vocal cords do when they vibrate.</p>
<h2>Then what happens?</h2>
<p>The voice continues to vibrate as it travels up through your throat and into your mouth and/or your nose. </p>
<p>You can then control the flow of air using your lips, tongue, teeth, and the roof of your mouth to make different sounds. </p>
<p>When you say “ahh”, for example, you’re making your vocal cords vibrate with your mouth wide open and using the roof of your mouth to stop air escaping out through your nose. </p>
<p>If you say “eee” or “ooo”, the air still vibrates in your mouth but because you change the shape of your mouth, you make a different sound. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-how-do-babies-learn-to-talk-111613">Curious Kids: how do babies learn to talk?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Some sounds are different</h2>
<p>Some sounds that we use to produce speech don’t use the voice from our vocal cords.</p>
<p>Compare the sounds “sssss” to “zzzzz”, for example. </p>
<p>The shape of the mouth and position of tongue, lips, teeth and roof of the mouth are the same but the “s” sound doesn’t use our voice, and the “z” sound does. </p>
<p>Try saying “sssss” and then “zzzzz” out loud and feel the difference in vibration on your throat. </p>
<p>We also use our voice differently when we whisper. We don’t vibrate our vocal cords at all, we just use air from our lungs and move our mouth, tongue and lips.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-how-did-spoken-language-start-109190">Curious Kids: how did spoken language start?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130286/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Hewat receives research funding from NSW Ministry of Health.
Sally is an Associate Professor in Speech Pathology at the Unievsrity of Newcastle, Australia, on the Boiard of Directors of Trinh Foundation Australia (a not-for-profit organisation supporting the development of speech therapy in Vietnam) and consults to Orient Speech Therapy in China. Sally is also an accreditor of speech pathology university training programs for Speech Pathology Australia.</span></em></p>The sound comes from our lungs and our voice box, which is at the front of the throat. Here’s how it works.Sally Hewat, Associate Professor in Speech Pathology and Assistant Dean International, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1285142019-12-11T19:03:31Z2019-12-11T19:03:31ZExamining how primates make vowel sounds pushes timeline for speech evolution back by 27 million years<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306429/original/file-20191211-95149-1bal81j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=303%2C720%2C4251%2C2916&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Baboons make sounds, but how does it relate to human speech?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/baboon-relaxed-sitting-tree-1536555830?studio=1">Creative Wrights/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sound doesn’t fossilize. Language doesn’t either.</p>
<p>Even <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_writing">when writing systems have developed</a>, they’ve represented full-fledged and functional languages. Rather than preserving the first baby steps toward language, they’re fully formed, made up of words, sentences and grammar carried from one person to another by speech sounds, like any of the perhaps <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-human-beings-speak-so-many-languages-75434">6,000 languages spoken today</a>.</p>
<p>So if you believe, as we linguists do, that language is the foundational distinction between humans and other intelligent animals, how can we study its emergence in our ancestors?</p>
<p>Happily, researchers do know a lot about language – words, sentences and grammar – and speech – the vocal sounds that carry language to the next person’s ear – in living people. So we should be able to compare language with less complex animal communication.</p>
<p>And that’s what we and our colleagues <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/12/eaaw3916">have spent decades investigating</a>: How do apes and monkeys use their mouth and throat to produce the vowel sounds in speech? Spoken language in humans is an intricately woven string of syllables with consonants appended to the syllables’ core vowels, so mastering vowels was a key to speech emergence. We believe that our multidisciplinary findings push back the date for that crucial step in language evolution by as much as 27 million years.</p>
<h2>The sounds of speech</h2>
<p>Say “but.” Now say “bet,” “bat,” “bought,” “boot.”</p>
<p>The words all begin and end the same. It’s the differences among the vowel sounds that keep them distinct in speech.</p>
<p>Now drop the consonants and say the vowels. You can hear the different vowels have characteristic sound qualities. You can also feel that they require different characteristic positions of your jaw, tongue and lips.</p>
<p>So the configuration of the vocal tract – the resonating tube of the throat and mouth, from the vocal folds to the lips – determines the sound. That in turn means that the sound carries information about the vocal tract configuration that made it. This relationship is the core understanding of speech science.</p>
<p>After over a half-century of investigation and of developing both anatomical and acoustical modeling technology, speech scientists can generally model a vocal tract and calculate what sound it will make, or run the other way, analyzing a sound to calculate what vocal tract shape made it.</p>
<p>So model a few primate vocal tracts, record a few calls, and you pretty much know how human language evolved? Sorry, not so fast.</p>
<h2>Modern human anatomy is unique</h2>
<p>If you compare the human vocal tract with other primates’, there’s a big difference. Take a baboon as an example.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306195/original/file-20191210-95173-1t2mbr7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306195/original/file-20191210-95173-1t2mbr7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306195/original/file-20191210-95173-1t2mbr7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306195/original/file-20191210-95173-1t2mbr7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306195/original/file-20191210-95173-1t2mbr7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306195/original/file-20191210-95173-1t2mbr7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306195/original/file-20191210-95173-1t2mbr7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306195/original/file-20191210-95173-1t2mbr7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The vocal tract of a baboon has the same components – including the larynx, circled in green – as that of a person, but with different proportions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Laboratory of Cognitive Psychology (CNRS & Aix-Marseille University) and GIPSA-lab (CNRS & University Grenoble-Alpes)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From the baboon’s larynx and vocal folds, which is high up and close to their chin line, there’s just a short step up through the cavity called the pharynx, then a long way out the horizontal oral cavity. In comparison, for adult male humans, it’s about as far up the pharynx as it is then out through the lips. Also, the baboon tongue is long and flat, while a human’s is short in the mouth, then curves down into the throat.</p>
<p>So over the course of evolution, the larynx in the human line has moved lower in our throats, opening up a much larger pharyngeal cavity than found in other primates.</p>
<p>About 50 years ago, researchers seized on that observation to formulate what they called the laryngeal descent theory of vowel production. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.164.3884.1185">In a key study</a>, researchers developed a model from a plaster cast of a macaque vocal tract. They manipulated the mouth of an anesthetized macaque to see how much the vocal tract shape could vary, and fed those values into their model. Then finally they calculated the vowel sound produced by particular configurations. It was a powerful and groundbreaking study, still copied today with technological updates.</p>
<p>So what did they find?</p>
<p>They got a schwa – that vowel sound you hear in the word “but” – and some very close acoustic neighbors. Nothing where multiple vowels were distinct enough to keep words apart in a human language. They attributed it to the lack of a human-like low larynx and large pharynx.</p>
<p>As the theory developed, it claimed that producing the full human vowel inventory required a vocal tract with about equally long oral and pharyngeal cavities. That occurred only with the arrival of anatomically modern humans, about 200,000 years ago, and only adults among modern humans, since babies are born with a high larynx that lowers with age.</p>
<p>This theory seemed to explain two phenomena. First, from the 1930s on, several (failed) experiments had <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.162.3852.423">raised chimpanzees in human homes</a> to try to encourage human-like behavior, particularly language and speech. If laryngeal descent is necessary for human vowels, and vowels in turn for language, then chimpanzees would never talk.</p>
<p>Second, archaeological <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_modernity">evidence of “modern” human behavior</a>, such as jewelry, burial goods, cave painting, agriculture and settlements, seemed to start only after anatomically modern humans appeared, with their descended larynxes. The idea was that language provided increased cooperation which enabled these behaviors.</p>
<h2>Rethinking the theory with new evidence</h2>
<p>So if laryngeal descent theory says kids and apes and our earlier human ancestors couldn’t produce contrasting vowels, just schwa, then what explains, for instance, Jane Goodall’s observations of clearly contrasting vowel qualities in the <a href="https://youtu.be/BF0qIy4ZnSU">vocalizations of chimpanzees</a>?</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BF0qIy4ZnSU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Chimpanzees shift between vowel sounds before maxing out in a scream.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But that kind of evidence wasn’t the end of the laryngeal descent idea. For scientists to reach agreement, especially to renounce a longstanding and useful theory, we rightly require consistent evidence, not just anecdotes or hearsay.</p>
<p>One of us (L.-J. Boë) has spent upward of two decades assembling that case against laryngeal descent theory. The multidisciplinary team effort has involved <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2014.07.002">articulatory and acoustic modeling</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2013.04.001">child language research</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1006/jpho.2002.0170">paleontology</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3726/b12405">primatology</a> and more. </p>
<p>One of the key steps was our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169321">study of the baboon “vowel space.”</a> We recorded over 1,300 baboon calls and analyzed the acoustics of their vowel-like parts. Results showed that the vowel quality of certain calls was equivalent to known human vowels.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306253/original/file-20191211-95138-1hyal6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306253/original/file-20191211-95138-1hyal6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306253/original/file-20191211-95138-1hyal6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306253/original/file-20191211-95138-1hyal6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306253/original/file-20191211-95138-1hyal6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306253/original/file-20191211-95138-1hyal6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306253/original/file-20191211-95138-1hyal6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306253/original/file-20191211-95138-1hyal6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A schematic comparing the vocal qualities of certain baboon calls (orange ellipses) with selected vowel sounds of American English, where the phonetic symbols / i æ ɑ ɔ u / represent the vowels in beat, bat, bot, bought, boot.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Louis-Jean Boë, GIPSA-lab (CNRS & University Grenoble-Alpes)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our latest review <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/12/eaaw3916">lays out the whole case</a>, and we believe it finally frees researchers in speech, linguistics, primatology and human evolution from the laryngeal descent theory, which was a great advance in its time, but turned out to be in error and has outlived its usefulness.</p>
<h2>Speech and language in animals?</h2>
<p>Human language requires a vocabulary that can be concrete (“my left thumbnail”), abstract (“love,” “justice”), elsewhere or elsewhen (“Lincoln’s beard”), even imaginary (“Gandalf’s beard”), all of which can be slipped as needed into sentences with internal hierarchical grammar. For instance “the black dog” and “the calico cat” keep the same order whether “X chased Y” or “Y was chased by X,” where the meaning stays the same but the sentence organization is reversed.</p>
<p>Only humans have full language, and arguments are lively about whether any primates or other animals, or our now extinct ancestors, had any of language’s key elements. One popular scenario says that the ability to do grammatical hierarchies arose with the speciation event leading to modern humans, about 200,000 years ago.</p>
<p>Speech, on the other hand, is about the sounds that are used to get language through the air from one person to the next. That requires sounds that contrast enough to keep words distinct. Spoken languages all use contrasts in both vowels and consonants, organized into syllables with vowels at the core.</p>
<p>Apes and monkeys can “talk” in the sense that they can produce contrasting vowel qualities. In that restricted but concrete sense, the dawn of speech was not 200,000 years ago, but some 27 million years ago, before the time of our last common ancestor with Old World monkeys like baboons and macaques. That’s over 100 times earlier than the emergence of our modern human form.</p>
<p>Researchers have a lot of work to do to figure out how speech evolved since then, and how language finally linked in.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The authors have also published a <a href="https://theconversation.com/la-parole-ne-serait-pas-apparue-avec-homo-sapiens-et-ce-sont-les-singes-qui-nous-le-disent-128708">version of this article in French</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128514/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Researchers say it’s time to finally discard a decades-old theory about the origins of human language – and revise the date when human ancestors likely were able to make certain speech noises.Thomas R. Sawallis, Visiting Scholar in New College, University of AlabamaLouis-Jean Boë, Chercheur en Sciences de la parole au GIPSA-lab (CNRS), Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1135992019-03-14T18:01:27Z2019-03-14T18:01:27ZSofter, processed foods changed the way ancient humans spoke<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263968/original/file-20190314-28492-1aak8om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=557%2C108%2C4506%2C2903&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Milling grain meant less wear and tear on neolithic teeth, which had other effects on language.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/jaen-spain-december-29th-2017-neolithic-1053014084">Juan Aunion/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The human capacity for language divides our species from the rest of the animal kingdom. Language has not only allowed us to conquer all corners of the globe, but to devise writing, mathematics and all things thereafter.</p>
<p>But researchers can find many of language’s basic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hockett%27s_design_features">design features</a> in the communication systems of other animals. For example, many animals have particular calls for specific objects and meanings, and some even seem to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2006425">combine calls</a> in meaningful, albeit rudimentary ways. These lines of continuity, however thin, drive home the point that, at its essence, language is part of our biology. </p>
<p>Our new research suggests that a biological perspective is indeed necessary to resolve why languages have the range of sounds they have. We draw on evidence from paleoanthropology, speech biomechanics, ethnography and historical linguistics to suggest that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aav3218">new speech sounds emerged in our ancient ancestors</a> as their jaws and teeth evolved to deal with new kinds of diets.</p>
<h2>Biology and language</h2>
<p>To study the origins of language and understand how it evolved into the remarkable faculty that we have today, it makes sense to investigate language from a perspective that includes biology as well as culture. But language doesn’t figure into the typical biology curriculum. It’s mostly considered a purely intellectual and cultural phenomenon, grouped together with literature and art as part of the humanities.</p>
<p>But this categorization is peculiar because, like the communication systems of other animals, language is simply part of our nature. We process it with the neural wiring in our brains, and we produce it with our bodies: mostly with our mouths, but in the case of sign languages, also with our hands and other gestures.</p>
<p>Language is also often seen as a fixed skill – it arose with the emergence of our species and has been stable in its basic design since its origin.</p>
<p>This traditional view is part of what researchers call the <a href="https://www.ling.upenn.edu/%7Ebeatrice/110/pdf/ringe/uniformitarian-principle.html">uniformitarian assumption</a> in linguistics and anthropology. The assumption is that languages today are the same – in terms of their types and distributions of linguistic structures – as they were in the past.</p>
<h2>Food and language</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.comparativelinguistics.uzh.ch/en.html">Our research group’s</a> work directly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aav3218">challenges this uniformitarian assumption</a>. We believe the range of available speech sounds used in human language has not remained stable since its origin. Our research shows that labiodental sounds – such as “f” and “v,” which are made by raising the bottom lip to the upper teeth – began to arise only after the transition to agriculture, between 10,000 and 4,000 years ago (depending on the world region).</p>
<p>While labiodentals are rather common today and appear in roughly half of the world’s languages, we show that in the case of Indo-European languages, they’ve been innovated mainly since the Bronze Age.</p>
<p>Why? What caused this sudden emergence of a new class of speech sounds?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263947/original/file-20190314-28471-64u083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263947/original/file-20190314-28471-64u083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263947/original/file-20190314-28471-64u083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263947/original/file-20190314-28471-64u083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263947/original/file-20190314-28471-64u083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263947/original/file-20190314-28471-64u083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263947/original/file-20190314-28471-64u083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263947/original/file-20190314-28471-64u083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The difference between a Paleolithic edge-to-edge bite (left) and a modern overbite/overjet bite (right).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tímea Bodogán</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To understand the relevant processes, we need to quickly dive into some biological anthropology. All primates start with an overbite and overjet bite configuration – colloquially a scissors bite – both with their baby teeth and their permanent teeth. Then a traditional diet of tough foods naturally develops the scissors bite of a young individual into an edge-to-edge bite by adulthood.</p>
<p>The invention of food processing technologies – like milling and fermentation – that gained steam with the development of agriculture allowed people to move toward a softer diet. And those softer foods meant people retained the scissors bite well into adulthood. For example, the archaeological evidence shows <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/29540105">adult skulls with the scissors bite</a> as early as 4,300 years ago in what is today Pakistan.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263946/original/file-20190314-28475-qgui5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263946/original/file-20190314-28475-qgui5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263946/original/file-20190314-28475-qgui5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263946/original/file-20190314-28475-qgui5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263946/original/file-20190314-28475-qgui5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263946/original/file-20190314-28475-qgui5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263946/original/file-20190314-28475-qgui5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263946/original/file-20190314-28475-qgui5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Biomechanical model of producing an ‘f’ sound with an overbite/overjet (left) versus an edge-to-edge bite (right).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Scott Moisik</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This rather recent change in the human bite paved the way for labiodentals to be incorporated into spoken languages. This process gradually began to appear in geographic areas including Europe and South Asia where there was increased access to softer foods through food processing technologies.</p>
<p>But these new sounds didn’t emerge everywhere: Retention of the overbite and overjet only facilitates the ease of producing labiodentals and increases the probability for producing them accidentally – it does not mandate it. So across diverse regions, societies and cultures, many groups slowly developed a new class of speech sounds, <a href="https://phoible.org/inventories/view/384">but others did not</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263945/original/file-20190314-28487-rjgon9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263945/original/file-20190314-28487-rjgon9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263945/original/file-20190314-28487-rjgon9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=243&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263945/original/file-20190314-28487-rjgon9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=243&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263945/original/file-20190314-28487-rjgon9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=243&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263945/original/file-20190314-28487-rjgon9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263945/original/file-20190314-28487-rjgon9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263945/original/file-20190314-28487-rjgon9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Probabilities of labiodental articulations of various sounds in the history of the Indo-European languages.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Balthasar Bickel</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Ideas to chew on</h2>
<p>A biological perspective on language evolution allows us to ask exciting new research questions, like how did the current diversity of speech sounds develop over evolutionary time?</p>
<p>At present, there are over <a href="https://phoible.org/">2,000 different speech sounds</a> that play a role in the world’s roughly <a href="https://glottolog.org/">7,000 or so spoken languages</a>. These speech sounds range from the omnipresent cardinal vowels (<em>i</em>, <em>a</em> and <em>u</em>) found in most languages to the rare click consonants found in a handful of languages spoken in southern Africa. Why is there such immense diversity in the sounds of the world’s languages?</p>
<p>Recent research suggests that the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1600723">basic anatomical conditions for speech were in place</a> long before the emergence of <em>Homo sapiens</em>. According to those results, it was chiefly a matter of neural development that allowed the sophisticated motor control that human beings now have over their speech organ. But our new findings now hint that researchers might have underestimated the importance of fine anatomical details: While the basics may have been set, some sounds may be older than others in the hominin and primate lineage, simply because of anatomical conditions and independent of motor control.</p>
<p>We believe that our discovery opens a new chapter in the quest for the origins of humanity’s most distinctive faculty, language, a quest that has been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199244843.003.0001">called the hardest problem in science</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113599/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Balthasar Bickel receives funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven Moran does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Considering language from a biological perspective led researchers to the idea that new food processing technologies affected neolithic human beings’ jaws – and allowed new language sounds to emerge.Steven Moran, Postdoctoral researcher, Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of ZurichBalthasar Bickel, Professor of General Linguistics, University of ZurichLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/790702017-07-19T06:44:08Z2017-07-19T06:44:08ZProtecting your smartphone from voice impersonators<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177937/original/file-20170712-19675-910rmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is this an impostor trying to break into your phone with his voice?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/man-recording-voice-message-smartphone-541649137">Georgejmclittle/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s a lot easier to talk to a smartphone than to try to type instructions on its keyboard. This is particularly true when a person is trying to log in to a device or a system: Few people would choose to type a long, complex secure password if the alternative were to just say a few words and <a href="https://thenextweb.com/apps/2015/03/25/wechat-on-ios-now-lets-you-log-in-using-just-your-voice/">be authenticated with their voice</a>. But voices can be recorded, simulated or even imitated, making voice authentication vulnerable to attack.</p>
<p>The most common methods for securing voice-based authentication involve only ensuring that analysis of a spoken passphrase is not tampered with; they securely store the passphrase and the <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/428970/securing-your-voice/">authorized user’s voiceprint in an encrypted database</a>. But securing a voice authentication system has to start with the sound itself.</p>
<p>The easiest attack on voice authentication is impersonation: Find someone who sounds enough like the real person and get them to respond to the login prompts. Fortunately, there are automatic speaker verification systems that <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.4879257">can detect</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/TMM.2014.2300071">human imitation</a>. However, those systems <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.specom.2014.10.005">can’t detect more advanced machine-based attacks</a>, in which an attacker uses a computer and a speaker to simulate or play back recordings of a person’s voice.</p>
<p>If someone records your voice, he can use that recording to create a computer model that can generate any words in your voice. The consequences, from impersonating you with your friends to dipping into your bank account, are terrifying. The research my colleagues and I are doing uses <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6be6/00d60f4d3210d20567c0ab8f3d78324ab5d4.pdf">fundamental properties of audio speakers, and smartphones’ own sensors</a>, to defeat these computer-assisted attacks.</p>
<h2>How speakers work</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175656/original/file-20170626-29070-1tmcqg1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175656/original/file-20170626-29070-1tmcqg1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175656/original/file-20170626-29070-1tmcqg1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175656/original/file-20170626-29070-1tmcqg1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175656/original/file-20170626-29070-1tmcqg1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175656/original/file-20170626-29070-1tmcqg1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175656/original/file-20170626-29070-1tmcqg1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The architecture of conventional loudspeaker showing the magnet, coil and cone used for loudspeaker operations.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Conventional speakers contain magnets, which vibrate back and forth according to <a href="http://www.physics.org/article-questions.asp?id=54">fluctuations of electrical or digital signals</a>, converting them into sound waves in the air. Putting a speaker up against the microphone of a smartphone, for example, means moving a magnet very close to the smartphone. And most smartphones contain a magnetometer, an electronic chip that can detect magnetic fields. (It comes in handy when using a compass or navigation app, for example.)</p>
<p>If the smartphone detects a magnet nearby during the process of voice authentication, that can be an indicator that a real human might not be doing the talking.</p>
<h2>Making sure it’s a person talking</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178145/original/file-20170713-18558-rh6r8z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178145/original/file-20170713-18558-rh6r8z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178145/original/file-20170713-18558-rh6r8z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178145/original/file-20170713-18558-rh6r8z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178145/original/file-20170713-18558-rh6r8z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178145/original/file-20170713-18558-rh6r8z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178145/original/file-20170713-18558-rh6r8z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178145/original/file-20170713-18558-rh6r8z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An outline of how our process works.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6be6/00d60f4d3210d20567c0ab8f3d78324ab5d4.pdf">The Conversation (via Lucidchart), after Kui Ren et al.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That’s just one part of our system. If someone uses a smaller speaker, like a set of headphones, the magnetometer might not detect its smaller magnets. So we use machine learning and advanced mathematics to examine physical properties of the sound as it arrives at the microphone.</p>
<p>Our system requires a user to hold the smartphone in front of his or her face and move it from side to side in a half-circle while speaking. We combine the sound captured by the microphone with movement data from gyroscopes and accelerometers inside the smartphone – the same sensors apps use to know when you’re walking or running, or changing direction. </p>
<p>Using that data, we can calculate how far away from the microphone the sound is being generated – which lets us identify the possibility of someone using speakers at a distance so its magnets wouldn’t be detected. And we can compare the phone’s movement to the changes in the sound to discover whether it is created by a sound source roughly the size of a human mouth near the phone.</p>
<p>All of this, of course, could be defeated by a skilled impersonator – an actual human who mimics a user’s voice. But recall that existing speaker verification methods can catch impersonators, using machine learning techniques that identify <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.4879257">whether a speaker is modifying or disguising</a> his or her normal voice. We include that capability in our system as well. </p>
<h2>Does detection work?</h2>
<p>When we put our system to the test, we found that when the sound source is 6 centimeters (2 inches) from the microphone, we can always distinguish between a human and a computer-controlled speaker. At that distance, the magnet in a normal loudspeaker is strong enough to clearly interfere with the phone’s magnetometer. And if an attacker is using earphone speakers, the microphone is close enough to the sound source to detect it.</p>
<p>When the sound source is farther from the microphone, it’s harder to detect magnetic interference from a speaker. It’s also more difficult to analyze the movement of the sound source in relation to the phone when the distances are greater. But by using multiple lines of defense, we can defeat the vast majority of speaker- and human-based attacks and significantly improve the security of voice-based mobile apps. </p>
<p>At the moment, our system is a stand-alone app, but in the future we’ll be able to integrate it into other voice authentication systems.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79070/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kui Ren receives funding from US National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>You can log in to your smartphone by talking to it. Current security systems don’t protect enough against imitators. The best way to ensure voice authentication is secure is to start with the sound.Kui Ren, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, University at BuffaloLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/664922016-11-16T19:08:24Z2016-11-16T19:08:24ZBilingual babies are better at detecting musical sounds, research shows<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144510/original/image-20161104-25319-jyry4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Exposing babies to multiple languages can help them detect differences in musical sounds from an early age.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Exposure to multiple languages may sharpen infants’ music sensitivity in the first year after birth, <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10339-016-0780-7?wt_mc=Internal.Event.1.SEM.ArticleAuthorOnlineFirst">new research</a> has found.</p>
<p>Compared to <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010027714001140">infants learning one language (monolinguals)</a>, those who grow up with <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bilingualism-language-and-cognition/article/perception-of-tones-by-bilingual-infants-learning-non-tone-languages/925F52054483F773DE34727927CAEA0B">more than one language (bilinguals/multilinguals)</a> are more sensitive to the subtle pitch variations in language.</p>
<p>To understand whether such sensitivity is specific to language in nature, we further tested monolingual and bilingual infants’ sensitivity to music pitch.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.readcube.com/articles/10.1007/s10339-016-0780-7?author_access_token=gzMUDhYPodnZyHxgVvvCDPe4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY5btlkACfA-Cz1U8YZaxmPTF1J1Vkg34n7NLtgo8QwxzNb8sxhmMowjoh3qV2NP6RopuA7mSOHiDgJCs3iDZe2KW9AfSozQw2ZHwmYMjKVaLA%3D%3D">Results</a> showed that infants growing up in bilingual environments are more able to distinguish between two violin notes than their monolingual counterparts.</p>
<p>These findings suggest <a href="http://ijb.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/02/03/1367006914566082.abstract">heightened acoustic sensitivity</a> for bilingual infants. That is, infants’ multilingual experiences may make them better at detecting the small differences in sounds in the ambient environment than monolinguals, whether the sounds are coming from language or music.</p>
<p>It has been shown that <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23273798.2016.1156715">speaking a tone language</a> like Chinese will facilitate music perception probably due to the extensive usage of pitch on words in that language. The current research suggests that bilingual experience may yield a similar effect.</p>
<h2>Sensitivity to sounds</h2>
<p>When a child learns two different languages, they form a more complex, detailed system, with overlapping sounds enabling better comprehension of acoustics in general.</p>
<p>These infants may benefit from their experience of detecting and distinguishing subtle differences between two languages, and transfer this ability to non-speech sound perception, like music.</p>
<p>Infants may also pay <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bilingualism-language-and-cognition/article/perception-of-tones-by-bilingual-infants-learning-non-tone-languages/925F52054483F773DE34727927CAEA0B">more attention to input acoustic details</a> than monolinguals, with the constant switching between languages serving as a frequent exercise for the ears and the brain.</p>
<h2>Benefits of bilingualism</h2>
<p>The effect of bilingualism is not restricted to the language domain. When bilinguals talk, all languages they know are activated by the brain. </p>
<p>A bilingual’s brain is constantly working on this language suppression and activation process. </p>
<p>Many scholars argue that bilinguals have better cognitive abilities such as <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/pag/19/2/290/">executive control</a>. This practice generates <a href="http://www.neurology.org/content/81/22/1938.short">life-long cognitive benefits</a>, and makes bilinguals think more <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661312000563">adaptively</a>, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/001002779090030N">abstractly</a>, and <a href="http://ijb.sagepub.com/content/17/4/431.short">creatively</a>.</p>
<p>Benefits surface early in infancy. Apart from their heightened acoustic sensitivity to <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bilingualism-language-and-cognition/article/perception-of-tones-by-bilingual-infants-learning-non-tone-languages/925F52054483F773DE34727927CAEA0B">language</a> and <a href="http://www.readcube.com/articles/10.1007/s10339-016-0780-7?author_access_token=gzMUDhYPodnZyHxgVvvCDPe4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY5btlkACfA-Cz1U8YZaxmPTF1J1Vkg34n7NLtgo8QwxzNb8sxhmMowjoh3qV2NP6RopuA7mSOHiDgJCs3iDZe2KW9AfSozQw2ZHwmYMjKVaLA%3D%3D">music</a>, bilingual infants have also been shown to outperform monolinguals in their:</p>
<ul>
<li>Ability to attend to, identify and <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.12271/full">detect new information</a></li>
<li>Ability to suppress the initially learned rules and <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/106/16/6556.short">switch to new rules, responses, targets</a></li>
<li>Degree of <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0093934X11001027">brain plasticity</a>, showing neural sensitivity when encountering sounds from a non-native language</li>
<li>Discrimination or <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010027797000401">recognition between languages</a></li>
<li>Learning of <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/325/5940/611">two speech structures simultaneously</a></li>
<li>Interpretation of speakers’ <a href="http://pss.sagepub.com/content/26/7/1090.short">intended meaning</a></li>
<li><a href="http://pss.sagepub.com/content/23/9/994.short">Sensitivity to visual cues</a> in language </li>
<li>Social communication <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/desc.12420/full">skills</a></li>
<li><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2012.1184.x/full">Working memory</a> capacity
and <a href="http://www.bilingualcentre.com/">many more</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Are there any drawbacks?</h2>
<p>Regardless of anecdotes claiming that children growing up bilingually will have a slower developmental trajectory than monolinguals, researchers have found that bilingual children have the ability to <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0305000900013490">separate their two languages early on</a>, and that their pace of language development is <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0305000910000759">not different</a> from monolingual children given <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01660.x/full">adequate exposure</a>.</p>
<p>Whether it is learning a new language, picking up a language you used to speak, or raising your child bilingually, becoming bilingual may change your <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0163638314001180">perception</a>, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=EMp5AgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=bilingual+cognition&ots=4dHWylVG4K&sig=EZ8k19k2pC1lXxTw7G0fRnMXfHM#v=onepage&q=bilingual%20cognition&f=false">cognition</a>, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00902.x/full">learning</a> and even <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v431/n7010/abs/431757a.html">brain structures</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66492/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liquan Liu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For bilingual children, the constant switching between languages is like a frequent exercise for the ears and the brain.Liquan Liu, Lecturer in Child development, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/663052016-10-03T11:00:42Z2016-10-03T11:00:42ZHow science is giving voice to mummies such as Ötzi the Iceman<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139800/original/image-20160929-27047-yzf52h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ötzi the Iceman has come to life.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Simon Claessen/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Researchers recently managed to <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3802753/Hear-voice-5-300-year-old-mummy-Scientists-recreate-tzi-s-vocal-tract-CT-scans-uncover-sounds-Stone-Age-vowels.html">recreate the voice</a> of 5,300-year-old <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/10/131016-otzi-ice-man-mummy-five-facts/">Ötzi the iceman</a> by recreating his vocal tract. The technology is promising and could be used to digitally produce the voices of other mummified remains. But how does it work and what else could it be used for? </p>
<p>When you make a vowel sound (aah, ee, oh, ooh and so on), three parts of your anatomy play important roles: your lungs, your larynx and the tube made from your throat and mouth. Your lungs provide the airflow that powers the sound. If the flow becomes too weak it will turn into a whisper instead.</p>
<p>Your larynx, or voice box, sits about midway between your lungs and your lips, just behind your Adam’s apple. The part you can feel from the outside is the cartilage protecting and supporting the vocal folds (or vocal cords) inside. These are a pair of soft, lip-like structures that run from your Adam’s apple to the back of your windpipe.</p>
<p>You can bring these folds firmly together across your windpipe to close it off completely – you do this when you cough or choke. You can also bring them across so they just touch, and if you do that and then breathe out they vibrate in much the same way your lips do if you blow a raspberry. These vibrating vocal folds are the source of sound for a vowel. If you say aah while you press your fingers gently either side of your Adam’s apple you can feel the vibrations in your larynx.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139807/original/image-20160929-27034-1evrl94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139807/original/image-20160929-27034-1evrl94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139807/original/image-20160929-27034-1evrl94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139807/original/image-20160929-27034-1evrl94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139807/original/image-20160929-27034-1evrl94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139807/original/image-20160929-27034-1evrl94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139807/original/image-20160929-27034-1evrl94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vocal tract.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">wikimedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Everyone’s voice has a natural pitch based on the size of their larynx and in particular the length and thickness of their vocal folds. Your natural pitch is what comes out when your throat muscles are fairly relaxed and you don’t try to speak too loudly. Women have shorter, thinner vocal folds than men and so they have generally a higher natural pitch. </p>
<p>If your windpipe ended just above the larynx then you would just be able to produce buzzing sounds. The lowest frequency in the buzzing sound is part of your natural pitch, but there is also energy at many higher frequencies included in that sound. It’s the airway that shapes the buzz sound into a particular vowel. </p>
<p>We can think of this airway as a tube. You can change the length of that tube by protruding your lips, as you do when you say ooh, or by moving your tongue. When you say aah, your tongue rolls back out of your mouth and into your throat so the lower half of the tube is narrow and the upper half is wide, for example.</p>
<p>Every tube has a series of resonance frequencies that relates to its length and its cross-sectional area. These are the frequencies of sound that pass along the tube most easily and with least energy loss, so if we have a buzz sound generated at the larynx end of the tube, the sound at the lips’ end will be the original buzz, but with the resonance frequencies of the tube sounding much louder than any other frequencies in the buzz. </p>
<p>When you listen to a vowel sound it’s these resonance frequencies you are using to decide which vowel you are hearing. Changing the position of your tongue and lips changes the length and cross-section of the tube, which changes the resonances and ultimately the vowel you hear.</p>
<h2>Ötzi and his peers</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139802/original/image-20160929-27014-8pkoia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139802/original/image-20160929-27014-8pkoia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139802/original/image-20160929-27014-8pkoia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139802/original/image-20160929-27014-8pkoia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139802/original/image-20160929-27014-8pkoia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1213&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139802/original/image-20160929-27014-8pkoia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1213&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139802/original/image-20160929-27014-8pkoia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1213&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Good for his age.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">wikimedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To know how Ötzi the Iceman sounded we need to know how long and how thick his vocal folds were – that tells us about the natural pitch of his voice. We also need to know how long his airway was and about the cross-sectional area to work out the resonance frequencies. His tongue and lips will have been preserved in one particular position which will only give us information about a single vowel sound. So if we are to work out how he sounded for other vowels we also need to know a bit about the size of his tongue and where it joined to his windpipe. Knowing this allows us to work out the other possible tube-shapes he could make and calculate their related resonances.</p>
<p>But how can you actually work all this out? It’s pretty simple, all you really need is a CT scan, which uses X-rays to create detailed images of the inside of the body. This allows us to measure all these anatomical dimensions. We can then use that information to make a computer model to synthesise what his voice might have sounded like. </p>
<p>The first use of X-rays to explore mummified remains <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4968187/">is thought to have been</a> by Walter Konig in 1896, very soon after X-rays were first discovered. CT scans have been conducted on mummies for more than 40 years, with the popularity of the technique increasing rapidly over the last decade or so. However, the study of Ötzi the Iceman seems to be the first time the CT data has been used to synthesise a voice.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_FUH4xpYUMs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Listen to Otzi.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21739193">a study of 137 mummies</a> published in the Lancet in 2013, CT scans were used to show that, contrary to much current thinking, disease of the arteries was common in many pre-industrial populations. For speech, the CT scanning technique could similarly provide us with valuable information about the dimensions of the vocal system for any mummified body. And with enough different sets of scans we might be able to track trends in voice over time, such as changes in the typical natural frequency due to nutrition and body size. </p>
<p>One of the big open questions about speech is exactly when the ability to communicate in this way evolved, and there is quite a controversy about whether <a href="https://thehumanevolutionblog.com/2015/02/09/did-neanderthals-speak/">Neanderthals, for example, could speak</a>. Sadly the CT scanning techniques can’t help us with this as they rely on the preservation of soft tissue. The earliest hominid remains are fossilised which means only the bone structure has survived. The absence of lung, larynx, airway or tongue information in these fossils makes our ability to predict their capacity for speech very much less certain. At about 5,300-years-old Ötzi is the earliest European mummy in existence, but deliberately mummified bodies as old as 7,000 years have been found in South America. <a href="http://www.ancient-origins.net/history/spirit-cave-mummy-incredible-discovery-kennewick-man-006748">Spirit Cave Man</a>, found in North America in 1940, has been dated at 9,000-years-old, so if CT scans were made, even older voices than Ötzi’s could perhaps be heard one day.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66305/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Barney received funding from the European Commission in a grant to the HANDTOMOUTH project (FP6, Contract no. 29065, NEST-2004-PATH-HUMAN).</span></em></p>Here’s what one man from around 3,300BC actually sounded like.Anna Barney, Associate Dean Education, Professor of Biomedical Acoustic Engineering, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/585682016-05-13T00:59:08Z2016-05-13T00:59:08ZCould early music training help babies learn language?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122367/original/image-20160512-16410-1i0hrpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Early music activities?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/doegox/1499953615/in/photolist-3hxDXe-nyGVcJ-atmpCC-2XjDJ4-7GFgTS-oi9tP5-6hP3Tc-5E8Uqu-7mADMC-8dtCab-6hP2aV-6hTaAW-HrAD-5rWsrw-GzZa4-kkfmL-9BFhE5-2vtRWH-Ltuau-yC8qD-8dqmse-65zZh-F9TsT-afX8g1-dgjaPU-ouLpkd-9oPFX9-yC8rc-5QbASb-5rWskU-GzVVs-5fwqUe-2vtSSH-2wEdW-REDz-8yFeFG-h2Wonh-f2ZrRF-dJUJmK-2wEdk-2wEf9-5pgzoX-7A4Ch8-nMr6s5-8mAf5q-REDy-e7xPFk-dEtw8b-6H4hdR-6e8quE">PROPhilippe Teuwen</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Growing up in China, I started playing piano when I was nine years old and learning English when I was 12. Later, when I was a college student, it struck me how similar language and music are to each other.</p>
<p>Language and music both require rhythm; otherwise they don’t make any sense. They’re also both built from smaller units – syllables and musical beats. And the process of mastering them is remarkably similar, including <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2013.08.011">precise movements, repetitive practice and focused attention</a>. I also noticed that my musician peers were particularly good at learning new languages.</p>
<p>All of this made me wonder if music shapes how the brain perceives sounds other than musical notes. And if so, could learning music help us learn languages?</p>
<h2>Music experience and speech</h2>
<p>Music training early in life (before the age of seven) can have a wide range of benefits <a href="http://doi.org/10.1126/science.1238414">beyond musical ability</a>.</p>
<p>For instance, school-age children (six to eight years old) who participated in two years of musical classes four hours each week showed better brain responses to consonants compared with their peers who started one year later. This suggests that music experience <a href="http://www.brainvolts.northwestern.edu/documents/Krausetal_Harmony_JNeuro2014.pdf">helped children hear speech sounds</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122369/original/image-20160512-16407-ix2m8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122369/original/image-20160512-16407-ix2m8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122369/original/image-20160512-16407-ix2m8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122369/original/image-20160512-16407-ix2m8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122369/original/image-20160512-16407-ix2m8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122369/original/image-20160512-16407-ix2m8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122369/original/image-20160512-16407-ix2m8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Music may have a range of benefits.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/breezy421/246072891/in/photolist-nKbU4-fAb4QL-5hKv3Y-o6JXA9-e4zVes-o6L8X6-cQyA8G-pEmuVH-fwp1Q3-dpszxq-qbYXxf-amiPzy-ahy9L3-6ujp5f-bkigxw-78PNHz-ouL6Hw-j4UHbL-e4uiUM-2mJWzQ-bPh5bH-V7Ah-9JPKpf-fi6E97-4iggQE-adgcTK-npqeSK-cegyjN-as4uqw-e4uiSe-7XqpCp-7xunJ7-adj29W-9AVaY6-ixLBFd-61gdpM-5QbKEW-6KzbgM-7wBcJ9-pEmvgc-ooeGYe-9hvRcp-bi9KTB-9AY4m9-9A8WER-4o635v-n8ikw5-bAnqrL-obCmhM-6cKxWd">Breezy Baldwin</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But what about babies who aren’t talking yet? Can music training this early give babies a boost in the steps it takes to learn language? </p>
<p>The first year of life is the best time in the lifespan to learn speech sounds; yet no studies have looked at whether musical experience during infancy can improve speech learning. </p>
<p>I sought to answer this question with <a href="http://ilabs.uw.edu/institute-faculty/bio/i-labs-patricia-k-kuhl-phd">Patricia K. Kuhl</a>, an expert in early childhood learning. We set out to study whether musical experience at nine months of age can help infants learn speech.</p>
<p>Nine months is within the peak period for infants’ <a href="http://ilabs.washington.edu/kuhl/pdf/Kuhl_etal_2006.pdf">speech sound learning</a>. During this time, they’re learning to pay attention to the differences among the different speech sounds that they hear in their environment. Being able to differentiate these sounds is key for <a href="http://ilabs.washington.edu/kuhl/pdf/Kuhl_etal_2008.pdf">learning to speak later</a>. A better ability to tell speech sounds apart at this age is associated with producing more words at 30 months of age. </p>
<h2>Here is how we did our study</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/04/20/1603984113.full">In our study</a>, we randomly put 47 nine-month-old infants in either a musical group or a control group and completed 12 15-minute-long sessions of activities designed for that group.</p>
<p>Babies in the music group sat with their parents, who guided them through the sessions by tapping out beats in time with the music with the goal of helping them learn a difficult musical rhythm. </p>
<p>Here is a short video demonstration of what a music session looked like.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/whzxMNvHBD4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>Infants in the control group played with toy cars, blocks and other objects that required coordinated movements in social play, but without music. </p>
<p>After the sessions, we measured the babies’ brains responses to musical and speech rhythms using <a href="http://ilabs.washington.edu/what-magnetoencephalography-meg">magnetoencephalography (MEG)</a>, a brain imaging technique.</p>
<p>New music and speech sounds were presented in rhythmic sequences, but the rhythms were occasionally disrupted by skipping a beat. </p>
<p>These rhythmic disruptions help us measure how well the babies’ brains were honed to rhythms. The brain gives a specific response pattern when detecting an unexpected change. A bigger response indicates that the baby was following rhythms better. </p>
<p>Babies in the music group had stronger brain responses to both music and speech sounds compared with babies in the control group. This shows that musical experience, as early as nine month of age, improved infants’ ability to process both musical and speech rhythms. </p>
<p>These skills are important building blocks for learning to speak. </p>
<h2>Other benefits from music experience</h2>
<p>Language is just one example of a skill that can be improved through music training. Music can help with social-emotional development, too. An earlier study by researchers <a href="http://ilabs.washington.edu/postdoctoral-fellows/bio/i-labs-tal-chen-rabinowitch-phd">Tal-Chen Rabinowitch</a> and <a href="http://psychology.huji.ac.il/en/?cmd=faculty.113letter&act=read&id=49">Ariel Knafo-Noam</a> showed that pairs of eight-year-olds who didn’t know each other <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0120878">reported feeling more close and connected with one another </a> after a short exercise of tapping out beats in sync with each other. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122373/original/image-20160512-16431-1uznhb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122373/original/image-20160512-16431-1uznhb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122373/original/image-20160512-16431-1uznhb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122373/original/image-20160512-16431-1uznhb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122373/original/image-20160512-16431-1uznhb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122373/original/image-20160512-16431-1uznhb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122373/original/image-20160512-16431-1uznhb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Music helps children bond better.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=uJYROpBefFjhdSvE2y48Bw&searchterm=children%20%20music&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=121424038">Boy image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another researcher, <a href="http://trainorlab.mcmaster.ca/people/cirelllk">Laura Cirelli</a>, showed that <a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12193">14-month-old babies</a> were more likely to show helping behaviors toward an adult after the babies had been bounced in sync with the adult who was also moving rhythmically. </p>
<p>There are many more exciting questions that remain to be answered as researchers continue to study the effects of music experience on early development. </p>
<p>For instance, does the music experience need to be in a social setting? Could babies get the benefits of music from simply listening to music? And, how much experience do babies need over time to sustain this language-boosting benefit? </p>
<p>Music is an essential part of being human. It has existed in human cultures for thousands of years, and it is one of the most fun and powerful ways for people to connect with each other. Through scientific research, I hope we can continue to reveal how music experience influences brain development and language learning of babies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58568/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research described here was supported by the National Science Foundation Science of Learning Center Program grant to the UW LIFE Center (P.K.K., PI: Grant No. SMA-0835854), the Ready Mind Project at the UW Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, and the Washington State Life Science Discovery Fund (LSDF).
</span></em></p>What effect does music have on the developing brains of babies who haven’t even learnt to talk?Christina Zhao, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.