Character
The air moves from outside the body through the tracheostoma directly to the lungs, without passing through the upper respiratory organs of the nose, mouth, and throat. Because it bypasses the vocal folds, speech is severely impaired, and the development of an esophageal voice becomes necessary. Esophageal speech is produced without an artificial larynx, and is achieved by pumping air from the mouth into the upper esophagus. The esophagus is slightly expanded. The air is then released in a regulated manner through the mouth, with simultaneous articulation of words.
Esophageal speech is quieter and more strenuous than laryngeal speech, and fewer words can be produced successively. Good esophageal speakers can produce an average of 5 words per breath and 120 words per minute.
Because of the large, vibrating pharyngo-esophageal segment, the pitch of esophageal speech is very low--between 50 and 100 Hz. In esophageal speech, pitch and intensity correlate: a low-pitched voice is produced with low intensity and a high-pitched voice is produced with high intensity. The production of the latter is more exhausting.
The voice of a speaker without a larynx has a nasal tone to it.
Read more about this topic: Esophageal Speech
Famous quotes containing the word character:
“The image cannot be dispossessed of a primordial freshness, which idea can never claim. An idea is derivative and tamed. The image is in the natural or wild state, and it has to be discovered there, not put there, obeying its own law and none of ours. We think we can lay hold of image and take it captive, but the docile captive is not the real image but only the idea, which is the image with its character beaten out of it.”
—John Crowe Ransom (1888–1974)
“Pity the man who has a character to support—it is worse than a large family—he is silent poor indeed.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)