Human vocal folds evolved as lung-protecting valves, not for communication
Evidence
Professional singing is a complex task that extends the action of the instrument used for speech. It is salutary to note that the prime function of the vocal folds is to act as a valve to protect the lungs and not to provide the sound source basic to human communication by means of speech and song. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1373
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to soundscape history of voice as signal vs. biological origin, and to the evolution-of-speech literature. Also a plausible SEED: ‘your voice box is a repurposed organ’ — evolutionary exaptation stories as ready-made essay material.
- SEED: Essay angle: exaptation — the voice as a repurposed breathing-protection organ, paralleling how many ‘human’ traits are biological accidents later co-opted.
- corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1373
Related
- Different voice qualities result from distinct vocal fold modes (similarity 0.79)
- A huge variety of speech sounds can be made without vocal folds (similarity 0.78)
- The singing voice reduces to a source plus a shapeable vocal-tract filter (similarity 0.78)