How naturally humans speak: speech is the main instrument of communication. In addition, it supports perception, thinking and the brain in solving problems. Over 100 muscles and quite a few organs are involved in speaking. If children do not learn to speak properly or if speech is disturbed in adults due to illness, then speech therapy comes into play.
Learning to speak is a process
In fact, in a normal conversation, one speaks about 120 words per minute. Each word, each sound requires a different coordination and position of the muscles and organs involved.
Speaking is a very complex activity that is completed in children between the ages of four and five. So it is a long way from the first “dada” of one-year-olds to the perfect “beautiful” in five-year-olds.
Learning to speak and breathing
One important organ is the larynx, which is slightly lower in humans than in other mammals. It is made up of cartilage, tendons, and muscles. During the first two years of life, however, the larynx is still higher. This allows children to swallow and breathe at the same time. Only the later descent enables speech.
At the same time, children learn a new breathing technique: diaphragmatic breathing is joined by thoracic breathing, which then develops into so-called speech breathing. Speech breathing requires a larger volume of air, which is inhaled quickly and exhaled slowly.
How does speech breathing work?
Breathing, vocalization, and pronunciation make up the speech process. The whole body cooperates – more than 100 muscles work together. The coordination is controlled by the brain.
To make a sound, you first inhale. To speak, air is forced from the lungs through the trachea to the larynx, where the vocal folds are located. They consist of a pair of narrow muscle bands and are located in the larynx.
When these muscles are slightly tensed and air is expelled at the same time, these muscle bands begin to vibrate. This is vocalization or phonation.
The sound that is produced here gets its tone from the resonant chambers that lie above the larynx in the pharynx, mouth, and nose – and from pronunciation – articulation.
