Vocal change is a voice change that occurs in both boys and girls during puberty. During this process, the voice becomes deeper. There are hormonal disorders that lead to the absence of a voice change.
What is the voice change
Voice change is a change in voice that occurs in both boys and girls during puberty. Voice change is also called voice change or mutation (change). Here, the term mutation should not be confused with a genetic change. It is only a mutation of the voice. The typical voice change is pronounced in boys from the age of 11 to 16. This is the time when puberty takes place. The voice of girls also becomes deeper. However, this happens to a lesser extent than in boys. In male adolescents, the voice changes by an average of one octave to lower tones. Female adolescents experience a voice change of a third to lower tones. Because of the smaller change, the general perception often does not consciously register that girls also experience a voice change. In boys, the voice changes with the appearance of “breaks.” Thus, a change between high and low pitches often takes place. This manifests itself in a changeover from children’s voices to men’s voices and vice versa.
Function and task
The voice change is part of sexual maturation. A process of voice change takes place over a period of years. However, the actual voice change lasts only about half a year. Female adolescents also experience a change in voice, but to a lesser extent and therefore more evenly. The cause of the deepening of the voice is the hormone testosterone. It is responsible for the formation of secondary male sexual characteristics. During this process, a final growth spurt takes place. Muscle and bone growth is stimulated. As part of these processes, the larynx also enlarges and the vocal folds grow. They lengthen and become thicker. Before vocal fold growth, their length is between 12 and 13 millimeters in a boy about ten years old. During the change of voice, they grow by one centimeter with a simultaneous increase in thickness. As a result, the sounds produced become deeper, because the vibration frequency of the vocal folds decreases with their size and thickness. Overall, this results in a deepening of the voice by one octave. However, because the vocal folds do not grow evenly, breaks in the voice occur during the period of vocal change. The tones sound distorted when speaking or singing. In addition, there is a constant change between high and low voice pitches. During puberty, the adolescent’s throat grows, with the larynx placed further down the throat. The external sign of growth is the enlargement of the Adam’s apple. The deep sound of the voice is also caused by the lower position of the larynx, because it is now closer to the chest. This forms the resonance chamber of the voice. However, the depth of the voice varies. For example, about two-thirds of all male adolescents develop a bass voice. A tenor voice develops in one third of pubescents. The transitions from low to high voices are fluid and both forms occur in both males and females. On a statistical average, the vocal folds grow by about one centimeter in males and between one and three millimeters in females during the voice change. Therefore, the female voice deepens by about a third.
Diseases and complaints
During puberty, voice change is one of the normal changes that occur during the transition from child to adult. For the pubescent adolescent, these changes are unfamiliar. Therefore, psychological problems may occasionally occur during this period. However, these problems are temporary. More serious is when sexual maturation does not occur at all. There are hormonal disorders that lead to the absence of puberty. In most cases, the lack of production of sex hormones is due to genetic causes. A too low level of testosterone or other sex hormones is called hypogonadism. A well-known example is the genetically caused Kall syndrome. In Kall syndrome, there is a deficiency of testosterone that prevents puberty from occurring. At the same time, there is also no change in voice.Well-known singers such as Jimmy Scott, who suffered from this disease, retained a high soprano voice throughout their lives. They were called natural castrati. Historically, boys were often castrated before puberty to preserve their high-pitched voice for a singing career. Many boys did not survive this surgical procedure due to complications that arose. Also, surviving castration was no guarantee of their success as singers. Only a few so-called castrati were able to inspire the audience with their unusual voice. In addition to failing to change their voices, many suffered from the effects of testosterone deficiency for the rest of their lives. Nevertheless, there were some very famous castrati in church music as well as in secular music, who enjoyed high reputation. Today, in the context of so-called acceleration (acceleration of development), puberty is generally brought forward. This means that the change of voice now also begins earlier than in the past.
