DID YOU KNOW?

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Male vocal folds are between 17mm and 25mm –roughly the width of a £1 coin. Females are smaller at 12 - 17.5mm which is smaller than a 5p coin. So tiny and yet so powerful! 

The vocal folds vibrate when we are speaking but when we are whispering they stay still. Sometimes we might whisper a secret to someone but the habit of whispering can be harmful to the voice.

To give us voice,  the vocal cords need to vibrate quickly. In fact, female vocal folds can vibrate around 200 times a minute!

The current world record for the loudest voice is 121 decibels which is the same as a jet engine!

 The longest spoken note is recorded at 1 min 52 seconds. This is about the same length of time needed to walk 100m at a gentle pace - imagine a single note lasting that long! 

The vocal folds don't just give us noise. They help to protect our airway so if food or drinks 'go down the wrong way'  the vocal folds will shut to stop anything going right down in to our lungs. Clever, eh??

Not all mammals have vocal folds. Dolphins make noise through their nose  instead and although giraffes do have vocal folds the pitch of their voice is too low for humans to hear.