Piriform sinuses add spectral zeroes that boost the singer’s formant

Evidence

It should also be noted that the piriform sinuses, two small pear-shaped cavities just above the larynx (there to capture food and drink to prevent them getting to the lungs), also have an acoustic effect on the vocal output that tends to enhance the singer’s format cluster by adding spectral dips, or zeroes, in the 4 to 5 kHz region (Delvaux and Howard, 2014). — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1369

Categorization

• CANDY: The deglutition-protection cavities above your larynx are secretly tuning your singing voice — a clean elevator fact about anatomy doubling as acoustics.
• SHARE: Narrow enough that it belongs with anyone who sings or has had voice training and wonders why the ‘ring’ is so hard to manage.
• XREF: connects to: A singer’s formant boosts a distinct energy band near 2.4-3.5 kHz; The singer’s formant arises from a quarter-wave resonator in the larynx; The singer’s formant arises from a laryngeal cavity resonance shaped by false vocal folds — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 1684 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• A singer’s formant boosts a distinct energy band near 2.4-3.5 kHz #expands (0.95)
• Formants are standing-wave resonances of the vocal tract itself #expands (0.95) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1355
• The singing voice reduces to a source plus a shapeable vocal-tract filter #expands (0.85) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1339
• Overtone singing selects harmonics with sharp vocal-tract resonances to create melodies #expands (0.85) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 632
• The singer’s formant arises from a quarter-wave resonator in the larynx #complicates (0.75)
• The singer’s formant arises from a laryngeal cavity resonance shaped by false vocal folds #complicates (0.75) — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 1684
• Throat singers create melodies by shaping vocal-tract resonances #expands (0.75)
• Horn throats boost output by constructive interference with the source #expands (0.75) — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 527
• Vocal tract resonances measurably shape wind instrument timbre #expands (0.75)
• Two frequencies can mechanically generate sum and difference frequencies in the ear #expands (0.75)
• The voice drives the tract noninteractively whereas trumpet lips receive feedback #complicates (0.75)