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:
“Whoever has the luck to be born a character can laugh even at death. Because a character will never die! A man will die, a writer, the instrument of creation: but what he has created will never die!”
—Luigi Pirandello (1867–1936)
“In my experience, persons, when they are made the subject of conversation, though with a Friend, are commonly the most prosaic and trivial of facts. The universe seems bankrupt as soon as we begin to discuss the character of individuals. Our discourse all runs to slander, and our limits grow narrower as we advance. How is it that we are impelled to treat our old Friends so ill when we obtain new ones?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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—Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)