Human Voice Pitch Evolved From ‘Thinning’ Our Vocal Cords, Says Study

A recent research by a team of experts from Europe as well as Japan has shown that the development of the larynx has played a role in the consistency of human vocalization. Contrary to what one would think, these alterations do not involve the formation of new tissues but instead the disappearance of certain laryngeal vocal folds or cords. However, strangely, as the complexities of human interaction have expanded, our vocal architecture has become more straightforward.

Developmental variations in human cognitive development have been at the center of a long-running scientific controversy about why chimps, as well as other nonhuman primates, are unable to talk or sing, resembling humans. The evolution of the human voice box, which may have contributed to our ability to make more nuanced sounds, has recently received more research focus.

Many primates possess vocal membranes that extend from their vocal folds in the shape of a slender strip. Humans, in contrast to chimps and other primates, have a steady voice clarity and a regulated voice pitch because these air pouches have been eliminated.

The development of human speech required the larynx to undergo evolutionary changes. This study reveals that vibrational control is enhanced when vocal fold morphology is simplified. The larynx of a monkey or chimp at work reveals active tissue oscillations that produce screams. Humans may have sped up the development of their language by preventing this volatility and therefore achieving steady origin sounds.

Utilizing the comparative approach to recreate our biological history, we have learned that if humans are unique in lacking vocal membranes, a property shared by practically all nonhuman primates, then we may have shed it in our late ancestry despite having a shared progenitor.

Although other alterations, such as those in our minds, were necessary to acquire languages, this reduction of our anatomy likely facilitated the rapid development of vocal and linguistic precision.