In the section on the question Why does helium change the voice? and what gas makes the voice rough? given by the author Dude on BMX The best answer is Helium is 7 times lighter than air, sound travels 3 times faster, in hydrogen it is 4 times faster. Frequency higher than sound vibrations. Heavy gases such as xenon, krypton, sulfur hexafluoride make the voice harsh
Answer from Throw[guru]
When ingested, the gas affects the vocal cords, causing them to contract. The result is a thin “mouse” voice. To be precise, it’s all about the nature and properties of the voice.
The human voice is sound waves created by the vibration of the vocal cords. The density of helium exceeds the density of the air we usually breathe. The timbre of the voice directly depends on this very density, and the frequency of vibration of the ligaments determines the pitch of the sound emitted.
Accordingly, any gas that is heavier than air makes the voice rougher.
A gas called sulfur hexafluoride. If helium is much lighter than air, then sulfur hexafluoride is 6 times heavier than air. Inhaling this gas “coarsens” the voice, making it low and raspy.
Answer from make christ[guru]
Tobacco
The density of helium is almost 7 times less than that of ordinary air. When this inert gas is inhaled by the vocal cords, their vibration frequency increases and the voice sounds in a higher pitch. The sounds produced resemble the voice of a cartoon character for some, and the squeak of a mouse or the speech of a baby for others. But, in any case, it becomes .
But after inhaling sulfur fluoride, a heavy gas that is 5 times higher, even girls begin to speak in a low bass voice.
Is inhaling helium safe?
In general, it is considered quite safe, since oxygen enters the human body along with the gas. In addition, it is difficult to recognize a person who has inhaled, except perhaps for the moment when he begins to say something.
And the gas itself cannot be determined - it has neither smell nor taste. However, there may be some side effects from helium.
Some people may experience signs of oxygen deprivation, such as dizziness, headache, breathing, nausea. The vocal cords vibrate at a higher frequency when inhaling helium, which produces the desired effect, but they can be damaged as a result, a process that is considered irreversible.
Deep and frequent breaths of this inert gas can provoke the formation of helium bubbles in the blood. Once they reach the brain, they can cause a stroke and even be fatal.
The usual oversaturation of the lungs with helium may also turn out to be unsafe, when the oxygen content in the human body is significantly reduced.
Here's another interesting fact: if a person is temporarily placed in a chamber that is filled only with helium, after a while he will suffocate. This is due to the fact that such a gas contains only oxygen vapor.
In addition to this, we can add that pampering is especially dangerous for women, not only for the expectant mother, but also for her baby. Therefore, it is best to simply admire the light balls without trying to inhale the gas contained in them.
If you decide to try the effect of laughing gas on yourself, do not inhale a large amount of helium at one time. It’s better to take a few small breaths, and when the effect of the gas wears off, try again, just don’t overdo it, because health and life are the most important thing.
No person is completely satisfied with what nature has given him. One is offended by the lack of thick hair, another complains about an imperfect figure, the third is the shape of the nose, but there are those who are not satisfied with the sound of their own voice. Men with a high, thin voice, which is in dissonance with their internal image of a brutal macho, suffer especially.
Not everyone is lucky enough to be born with a deep, velvety baritone, but developing and making a deeper, rougher voice is possible through perseverance, determination and desire.
Why do you need a low voice?
- Those with a low timbre look more representative and authoritative. When we hear a person without seeing him, we subconsciously draw a physiological and psychological portrait. By the way it “sounds” one can determine the role of activity, intelligence, temperament and character type. A person with a deep voice inspires more confidence and looks smarter. Large companies take this fact into account.
- A rough voice is a sexual weapon in the battle for hearts. The higher the level of the male hormone (testosterone), the lower the voice of the stronger half. Women feel this at the genetic level. Such a man becomes more sexually attractive in contrast to the male, even with the prefix “alpha,” who begins to speak shrilly, breaking into the crow of a cock.
- A low, rough voice is a salvation from stuttering. While studying stuttering, scientists came to the conclusion that people with low voices are less likely to suffer from this problem. A person who stutters tries to squeeze out a sound, strains his vocal cords, and his voice sounds unnaturally high. Such people are recommended to lower their sound tone and speak in a “deacon” bass.
What does the pitch of the voice depend on?
The sound produced by a person originates in the larynx, an important part of which is the vocal cords. The sound of the voice depends on their length, width and thickness. In women and children, the folds are lighter than in men, and in bass singers their mass is 4 times greater than in soprano singers.
The cavity of the pharynx, mouth and nose form an extension tube, which changes its size and shape over the years. During adolescence, the voice breaks down. The pharynx goes down, manifests itself as an Adam's apple (Adam's apple), the nasal tube becomes longer, the ligaments are more powerful, and speech is rougher.
Ways to lower your voice
Before you decide whether you want to change the timbre of your voice or not, test yourself, listen to the sound of your own speech from the outside.
There is no point in refuting the opinion that tobacco makes a smoker’s voice rough - this is true. Just don’t forget that the speech of tobacco lovers is accompanied by a cough, the voice becomes hoarse (smoky) - this is not the effect that you want to achieve. There are much more pleasant methods of fighting to reduce timbre without harming your health.
- A technique with the original name “from toes to crown.” When pronouncing words using this method, it is necessary to focus not on the vocal cords, but on the muscles of the diaphragm. We speak from within ourselves, from the inside, unnaturally protruding our stomach while inhaling, rather than retracting it. Basic exercise: lie on your back with a volume of a book on your stomach and breathe, while inhaling, raise your abs along with the load.
- Imitates the sound of a vinyl record when braking. The slower we speak, the lower the voice sounds, like a vinyl record, when it is slowed down, it begins to bass. Carry out a small experiment: pronounce the letters of the alphabet to the sound of the record, do the same when it slows down, and so on several times. Gradually you will notice a decrease in the timbre of your voice.
- Relaxation of the vocal cords and increase in the length of the extension tube. We relax the ligaments with an exercise: sit on a chair or stand straight near a wall in a relaxed state. We lower our chin to our chest and say “and”, slowly raise our head while holding the vowel sound. We repeat this several times a day so that the pitch of the sound with the head lowered and tilted back becomes the same in sound.
- We lower the larynx. During a yawn and half-yawn, the larynx moves down; if we try to make a sound, it will be rough and low. When speaking, try to fix the oral apparatus, larynx, and diaphragm in the yawning position and you will see real changes in your voice. The great Chaliapin, through the efforts of his will and brain, transformed his body into one loud-sounding biblical trumpet of Jericho, and he succeeded. After all, by nature the timbre of his voice was not the same as what the audience heard; the vocalist developed “paradoxical” breathing, the secret of which was known only to him.
Psychologists and doctors advise not to get carried away with lowering your voice too much, so as not to break it. You need to choose a middle ground at which it will sound harmonious and natural.
Contact an endocrinologist
If your testosterone levels are low, your doctor will prescribe pills and medications, after treatment, your voice will become rougher and more masculine.
Surgical intervention
Vocal cord surgery is performed on an outpatient basis if there are no contraindications. As a result, you will get the desired tone of voice. Surgery carries certain health risks and large financial investments.
From all that has been said, we conclude:
- To lower the sound of your voice, you need to breathe through your nose and diaphragm, and not through your chest; people call it “chest voice.”
- When talking, relax, remove nervousness.
- Speak as calmly as possible, a little slower than usual.
- Watch your posture, a flexible person who has good control of his body, as a rule, has a low, rough voice.
Everything in the world is relative; success in life and work was achieved not only by men who spoke rudely, in a low voice, but also by a high one (tenor, countertenor). If you are still dissatisfied with the sound and color of your speech, consult a physiatrist, do some exercises, and the result will not take long to come.
Video: how to make your voice rougher and lower
Sound is the propagation of waves in an elastic medium (gas, liquid, solid) and is born from vibrations of something (a ruler clamped in a vice, a loudspeaker membrane, air in a pipe, a string, etc.). The higher the vibration frequency (the greater the number of vibrations per second), the higher (thinner) the sound. On the contrary, the lower the vibration frequency, the lower (rougher) the sound. We cannot hear too high a sound (ultrasound, with a frequency above 20 kHz). The human ear also cannot perceive sounds that are too low (infrasound, with a frequency below 16 Hz).
If you inhale helium (it is better to exhale deeply before doing this), then the ligaments will not be in a normal air environment, but in a helium environment. Helium is a very light gas, which under normal conditions has a density 7 times less than that of air. In a less dense environment, ligaments (like strings, for example) vibrate at a higher frequency. Imagine clapping your hands in water and in air - just like it is easier for ligaments to vibrate in helium than in air, which is seven times more dense.
It can be assumed that if you breathe in some gas (harmless, of course), the density of which is greater than that of air, then your voice, on the contrary, will become lower.
Such a harmless and colorless gas exists and is often used in physical demonstrations. This is sulfur hexafluoride (or sulfur fluoride (VI), SF 6). Its density under normal conditions is 5 times higher than the density of air. The ligaments in it vibrate with less frequency and the voice therefore becomes rougher.
Let us note as additional information that in addition to its high density, sulfur hexafluoride has a high breakdown voltage (89 kV/cm), i.e., it is a very good insulator (this is shown in the video). This property is used in high-voltage electrical engineering, and one of the names of this gas - SF6 - is an abbreviation for "electric gas", which was given in the USSR, where this property was discovered in the 30s.
It is also interesting to know what frequencies the human voice is capable of producing. The best voices are trained, trained singing voices. The lowest sounds are in the bass (80 Hz-350 Hz), the highest are in the soprano (up to 1400 Hz). Some singers are able to hit the F note of the third octave ( Aria of the Queen of the Night in Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute") - 1396.9 Hz and even the G note of the third octave (aria " Io non chiedo, eterni Dei" for soprano and orchestra, Mozart KV316) - 1568 Hz.
There are also incredible records for hitting the lowest or highest notes. Thus, the lowest note, practically inaudible by the ear, was recorded in the performance of Tim Storms from the USA - 8 Hz. Singer Mariah Carey sang a note up to the 4th octave (2093 Hz). In 2014, a national record was set in Ukraine (Kyiv) - singer Svetlana Podyakova took it up to 5 octaves! And in 2008, Adam Lopez played the note C-sharp of the fifth octave, for which there is not even a key on the piano (the rightmost key of the piano is up to the 5th octave) - this is more than 4000 Hz!
And this without any helium and sulfur hexafluoride!
It would seem that this topic has nothing to do with vocals. More likely to chemistry... Or physics... Or acoustics, as part of physics... And yet the influence HELIUM(and not only him, as you will learn from the article) on VOICE shows the validity of the view of how the human voice arises and what laws it obeys.
So, when inhaling a light inert gas - helium, for example, from balloons, a person’s voice completely changes. Don't you know about this yet? Yes, yes, amazing things are nearby...
Sounds really funny! The effect is so interesting that even such famous people as the hosts of the “MythBusters” program on the Discovery Channel did not pass by. But!
The video is in English, but it’s not scary, there is a completely suitable translation:
“I promise it will be cool, but you have to promise that NEVER You won't repeat this at home! OK? OK! And now... Everyone knows that my voice will sound higher if I inhale helium! This is because it is 6 times lighter than air, which means my vocal cords will vibrate faster and this makes my voice sound much higher!
And now... I’ll breathe in sulfur hexafluoride, which is 6 times heavier than air, and my voice will sound something like this...
My voice sounded much lower...
And I'm still having fun!
THIS IS SCIENCE !!!»
An inquisitive and curious person would naturally like to know WHY is this happening? And there are so many answers to this question... One of them has already been given - my vocal cords will vibrate faster... But is this really so?
There are also other “reasons” - the difference in air and helium pressure, “compression” of the vocal cords, and even the fact that INERT(!) gas somehow affects the STRUCTURE vocal cords! It's mind boggling!
People don’t know physics... Not at all...
But the true reason is quite simple and has long been studied by science. Yes, in fairness it must be admitted that ligaments operating in a medium not of air, but of helium (and, of course, sulfur hexafluoride) vibrate a little faster (slower). But only A LITTLE! And this degree of change in the speed of oscillations cannot in any way affect the voice SO MONSTROUS! The main factor is different.
Think for yourself, if the vocal cords themselves experienced any impact, then the voice could be higher or lower, but its timbre would not change! The voice would still be there HUMAN, albeit lower or higher. But something completely different is observed - INHUMANITY vote! It is the change VOLUME in the direction of its “pinocchio”, “cartoonishness” causes uncontrollable laughter! The same effect occurs when the voice is “lowered” – “demonic”, “monstrous”, but in any case – there is no resemblance to the human voice.
But TIMBRE human voice - a set of formants, as described in the article “What are formants?” . The formants themselves are impossible without the participation RESONATOR SYSTEMS human body. And not only! Higher HUMAN a voice is a complex sound wave consisting of the same formants, but not only the formants themselves are modified, but also their individual location in the spectrum of the voice. Therefore, we hear, although high (or low), but, most importantly, a human voice. Change ENVIRONMENTS, replacing air with another gas does not lead to a change in the configuration of the resonator cavities; as a result, the formants do not shift relative to each other, but simply change their frequency. The hearing records this as an “artificial” voice.
This is the confirmation of both the existence of the resonator system itself and its fundamental influence on the phenomenon of voice itself. Well, to clarify the process from the point of view of physics... If you please:
“The human vocal tract consists of vocal cords and a resonator filled with air (or helium): lungs, respiratory tract, cranial cavities. The cords generate a weak sound; without a resonator we might not hear it. The resonant frequencies of the vocal tract depend on its volume and shape. Helium has a lower density than air, so the speed of sound in it is higher (965 m/s versus 331). Frequency, wavelength and speed of sound in gases are related by certain relationships. This results in the fact that, although the resonator configuration does not change, higher frequencies become resonant, and the overall spectrum of the voice shifts to the higher frequency region. In musical terms, helium does not change the pitch of the voice, but its timbre. More precisely, the height changes, but very little - it depends mainly on the tension of the vocal cords, and when exhaling helium it is slightly different than when exhaling air.”
“... the pharynx is, from an acoustics point of view, a volumetric resonator tuned to a certain wavelength (not frequency!). And if a person breathes air, then a sound (voice) of a certain frequency is obtained... But if now instead of air we take helium, then FOR THE SAME WAVELENGTH due to the higher speed of sound, a different frequency will be obtained - a higher one. And when moving from one environment to another (from a helium-filled throat to normal air), the frequency of sound no longer changes.”