Question to the scientist: Why does helium distort the voice? Why, after inhaling helium, a person begins to talk in a funny voice How gas manages to change the voice.
Who among us has not tried to inhale the contents of helium balloons and then talk in a funny cartoon voice? Many are even sure that they understand why the voice is so...
Who among us has not tried to inhale the contents of helium balloons and then talk in a funny cartoon voice? Many are even sure that they understand why the voice changes so dramatically.
Here are the most common versions:
- Helium is less dense, so it makes the vocal cords vibrate more. Hence the higher squeaky voice.
- Helium is lighter than air and escapes faster. The speed of the movement of sound changes the voice.
- Helium changes the structure of the vocal cords, which entails a change in voice.
If you don't want to sound stupid, don't say that.
What is really going on?
These indicators are related by the formula:
Wave propagation speed = wave frequency * wavelength
It is the frequency of the sound wave that affects the characteristics of the voice, its individuality.
The vocal apparatus includes the oral and nasal cavities, pharynx, larynx, lungs and trachea. The vocal cords are located in the larynx. The vocal cords are folds in the mucous membrane of the larynx. They really fluctuate under the pressure of the air exhaled from the lungs. A sound wave is formed, that is, sound. But! It's not a voice. We don't even hear this sound.
What do we hear? Due to the vibration of the vocal cords, the air in the lungs and larynx also begins to vibrate. There is a resonance. This is a sharp increase in the amplitude of the oscillations of a sound wave. It is the resonance that makes the sound louder. These amplified sound waves we hear and call voice. Resonance occurs in different people at different frequencies with a specific sound wavelength. Usually at four or five frequencies. Therefore, each person has a different voice. This is called the timbre of the voice. It is the timbre of the voice that changes when we inhale helium.
Why does the timbre of the voice change?
So, we inhale helium. What changed? The environment has changed. Helium is indeed less dense than air. The speed of a sound wave increases in a less dense medium, but its length remains the same (after all, the size of the mouth, pharynx, larynx did not change). What indicator is changing? Let's look at the formula. Correctly! Frequency. Resonance now occurs at higher frequencies of the sound wave. And we hear a different timbre of voice. Squeaky and funny.
Surely you will have fun with your friends more than once, speaking in the voice of a cartoon character. The effect of helium is so amazing that even an adult is hard to resist the temptation to inhale the contents of the balloon. Try to surprise your friends next time with an understanding of the nature of this phenomenon. No one doubts that laughter prolongs life, but only knowledge fills it with meaning.
Helium: changing a person's voice from helium?
Many in childhood did a “trick” with a gel ball, becoming a cartoon character for a while. So why does helium change the voice, and how long can we maintain such an effect?
No one can say the name of the first person who dared to inhale foreign gas and experience changes in vocal cords. However, many follow the path of "pioneers" and at parties show the skill of conversation in a sweet voice. There are a huge number of videos on the Internet that allow you to extend the effect of helium by 10-20 seconds. The average duration of the action of gas with one breath is 30 seconds, which is quite enough for telling a little joke or staging a parody.
Each of us asked ourselves questions about why the voice changes from helium, and on what factors it depends. First, helium belongs to the group of inert gases, whose density is higher than the density of the air that we all breathe. Secondly, when a certain amount of helium is inhaled, an active effect on the vocal cords begins: air masses "compress" them, and as a result, the interlocutor's speech changes to a child's.
So, the human timbre depends on many factors. However, an important role is played by the density of the air that a person inhales. If this indicator of inhaled content is less than a certain mark, then abrupt changes in speech may not be observed.
Thus, one can conclude the fact that the voice due to the inhalation of helium is changed solely due to the density of the foreign gas. Using this fact, a person can independently control the time of "mouse" speech.
Why else could the sonorous voice of the interlocutor familiar to everyone change? Similarly, the timbre would change not only under helium, but also under the influence of other air masses, whose density would be higher than the density of air familiar to us. One can imagine how a person could speak on the Sun or on the Moon if he inhaled the local air.
Note: Helium is one of the addictive gases. But in small doses, it does not pose any danger to humans. However, you should not abuse the inhalation of this element, as this can adversely affect your well-being.
Launches the Question to the Scientist project, in which experts will answer interesting, naive or practical questions. In the new issue, Candidate of Chemical Sciences Pyotr Obraztsov explains the cause of voice distortion when inhaling helium.
Why does helium distort the voice?
Pyotr Alekseevich Obraztsov
Candidate of Chemical Sciences, scientific columnist for Russian Journal and Science and Life journal
Helium gas, first discovered on the Sun and named after our star named Helios, is used to fill balloons, to replace nitrogen in pressure chambers and scuba tanks, to create superconductivity, etc. In the first case, the inertness of helium and its low density are used , in the second case, helium does not create a state of intoxication among divers at depths of tens of meters, like ordinary nitrogen. In addition, at high pressures, nitrogen dissolves in the diver's blood, and during a rapid ascent from a depth, it is released from the blood in the form of bubbles that clog the vessels. There is a so-called caisson disease. And helium doesn't behave like that.
The most important properties of helium - low density and viscosity - are the reasons for such a funny feature of this gas as an increase in voice tone. And in a low-density gaseous medium, consisting of oxygen and helium instead of nitrogen, the speed of sound is much greater than in ordinary air. And the volume of the oral cavity and the upper part of the throat (resonator) remains unchanged. As a result, both the frequency of the ligaments and the frequency of the sound propagating in this resonator increase, which means the appearance of a sort of squeaky sound.
The reverse effect of lowering the frequency is possible when inhaling mixtures with inert gases heavier than nitrogen, for example, inert krypton or xenon. Breathing such a mixture, an ordinary extras of the opera would have eclipsed Chaliapin himself with his bass.
However, if anyone reading these lines wants to reproduce this effect (helium is available, they are inflated air balloons) , he must remember that with prolonged inhalation of helium-containing mixtures, oxygen starvation and loss of consciousness. You need to immediately catch your breath in the fresh air.
It would seem that this topic has nothing to do with vocals. Rather, to chemistry ... Or physics ... Or acoustics, as part of physics ... And yet the influence HELIUM(and not only him alone, as you will learn from the article) on VOICE shows the validity of the view on 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. You don't know about it yet? Yes, yes, amazing - nearby ...
Sounds really funny! The effect is so interesting that even such famous people as the hosts of the MythBusters program on the Discovery TV channel did not pass by. But!
roller on English language, but it's not scary, there is quite a suitable translation:
"I promise it will be cool, but you have to promise that NEVER don't repeat this at home! Okay? Okay! 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 it makes my voice sound much higher!
And now ... I will breathe in sulfur hexafluoride, which is 6 times heavier than air, and the voice will sound something like this ...
My voice sounded much lower...
In general, I still have fun!
THIS IS SCIENCE !!!»
An inquisitive and curious person would naturally like to know WHY is this happening? And there are no answers to this question ... One of them has already been given - my vocal cords will fluctuate faster ... But, is it really so?
There are other "reasons" - the difference in air and helium pressures, "compression" of the vocal cords, and even the fact that INERT(!) gas somehow affects itself STRUCTURE vocal cords! Mind unbelievable!
People don’t know physics… Absolutely…
And the true reason is quite simple and has long been studied by science. Yes, in fairness it must be admitted that bundles operating in a medium not of air, but of helium (and, of course, sulfur hexafluoride) oscillate a little faster (slower). But only LITTLE! And this degree of change in the speed of vibrations cannot affect the voice in any way. SO MONSTERIOUS! The main factor is different.
Think for yourself, because 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 HUMAN, albeit higher or lower. But something quite different is observed - INHUMANITY vote! It is the change TEMBRA in the direction of his "pinocchio", "cartoon" causes uncontrollable laughter! The same effect occurs when the voice is “lowered” – “demonic”, “monstrous”, but in any case, there is no resemblance to a human voice.
But TIMBRE the human voice - a set of formants, as described in the article "What are formants?" . The formants themselves are impossible without the participation RESONATORY 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 arrangement in the spectrum of the voice. Therefore, we hear, though high (or low), but, most importantly, a human voice. Change the same ENVIRONMENTS, the replacement of 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. Rumor fixes this as the "artificiality" of the voice.
This is the confirmation of both the existence of the resonator system itself and its fundamental influence on the very phenomenon of the voice. Well, the refinement of the process from the point of view of physics ... Excuse me:
“The human vocal tract consists of vocal cords and a resonator filled with air (or helium): lungs, respiratory tract, cranial cavities. The ligaments generate a faint 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). The 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 higher frequencies. In musical terms, helium does not change the pitch of the voice, but its timbre. More precisely, the pitch changes, but very little - it depends mainly on the tension of the vocal cords, and when helium is exhaled, it is slightly different than when air is exhaled.
“... the throat is, from the point of view of acoustics, a cavity 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 we take helium instead of air, then FOR THE SAME WAVE LENGTH due to the higher speed of sound, a different frequency will result - a higher one. And when moving from one medium to another (from a helium-filled pharynx to normal air), the sound frequency no longer changes.
So, dear reader, the links do not change in any way! The whole thing is in ENVIRONMENT! And the main "builder" of our voice is resonance.
The use of materials from the site is allowed subject to the obligatory reference to the source
Helium is a noble gas that has a number of specific properties. And in particular, it allows you to change the voice of a person, making him squeaky, like cartoon characters. But why is this happening, and what other properties does this gas have? Is it safe to inhale it, and can there be side effects? How studied is this substance, where is it used?
Helium is used in many ways, the easiest way to find it is from balloon sellers who use it extensively. This is a well-studied substance about which quite a lot can be said.
Helium Features
Helium is an inert gas and has all the features characteristic of this group. It does not have a typical smell or taste, it is colorless, a helium cloud will not differ in appearance from the surrounding air. The element has a feature that is fixed only in it - at a temperature of -268.9 degrees Celsius, it liquefies, but to achieve its transformation into solid state under normal earth conditions will not succeed. To do this, it is necessary not only to lower the temperature to 1 K, but also to increase the atmospheric pressure to 25 atmospheres. But this has nothing to do with the ability of gas to change a person's voice.
Another feature of this substance will be more interesting within the framework of the question under consideration. Helium is an extremely light gas, only hydrogen is lighter. It is very common in nature, accounting for approximately 23 percent of all substances in the universe known to man. Matter is born in stars during nuclear fusion. This gas is 7 times less dense than air. earth's atmosphere, being the second lightest among all existing ones. Only hydrogen is ahead of him.
Interesting fact: it is the low density that makes helium interesting for balloon sellers. By filling balloons with it, people provide them with the opportunity to rush up into the sky. Thanks to gas, it is possible to lift into the sky not only balloons, but also entire airships. Less dense matter tends upward, these are the laws of physics.
How does the gas manage to change the voice?
To understand the issue of voice changes under the influence of helium, it is necessary to take into account the fact of its low density and consider one more nuance - how a person manages to make sounds, speech. Any type of sound, including the human voice, is a vibration. As for human speech, these sounds are produced by the movement of the vocal cords, which are located in the larynx. The timbre of the voice is formed by the frequency of oscillations, the higher this indicator, the higher the voice.
Interesting:
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In a normal air environment, a person's voice remains familiar, sounds are produced and transmitted in a standard way. But if the indicators of the environment change, then the voice can also change - in a significant or insignificant way. Some people note that voices can sound slightly different even in heavy fog, when the humidity of the environment changes. And this is not a subjective opinion. When an inert gas is inhaled, the vocal cords are compressed, the frequency of their vibrations increases significantly. With an increase in the frequency of vibrations, the voice also changes, it becomes higher, funny.
There is a substance that gives the opposite effect. If sulfur fluoride is inhaled, the voice will sound lowered, the female voice will be perceived as a male bass. It is one of the heavy gases, its density is 5 times higher than that of air.
Is helium safe?
AT in general terms inhalation of helium can be considered relatively safe fun, if you breathe not only helium, but also ordinary air, and do not indulge in entertainment with special zeal. Indeed, otherwise you can get oxygen starvation. The first signs of this are nausea, dizziness, headache, and breathing problems. In addition, you should not do this regularly, because there is a risk of damage to the vocal cords. They must be protected, damage in this area can be irreversible, damaging the voice, or making it impossible to talk. The human voice apparatus is highly sensitive.