vocal tract
Speech production anatomy
The vocal tract is the air passage from the larynx through the mouth and nose, used in producing speech.
It includes the throat, tongue, lips, and nasal cavity—the chambers and surfaces that shape breath into distinct sounds.
Differences in vocal tract anatomy give each person their characteristic voice quality.
Speech-producing throat organ
- pharynxMuscular throat cavity
- epiglottisWindpipe-covering throat cartilage
- glottisVocal cord opening
- nasal cavityAir channel in nose
oral cavity · tongue · palate · uvula · trachea · velum · soft palate · hard palate
Clear vocal expression
- phonemesMinimal sound distinctions
- consonantsLetters that aren't vowels
- vowelsLetters with unblocked airflow
- fricativesConsonants with audible turbulence
plosives · nasals · glides · liquids · allophones · manner of articulation · aspiration · pharyngealization
Manner of speaking words
- articulationClear vocal expression
- enunciationClarity of spoken words
- dictionChoice of words
- fluencySmooth linguistic command
prosody · intonation · stress · accent · dialect · speech therapy · dysarthria · apraxia
Frequencies above the fundamental
- frequencyRate of recurrence
- pitchFrequency of sound
- timbreSound's distinctive character
- resonanceAmplified oscillation at natural frequency
sound waves · spectrogram · amplitude · waveform · overtones · impedance · sonority · vibration
Movement of atmosphere
- lung capacityBreath volume measurement
- diaphragmMuscle separating chest, abdomen
- exhalationBreathing out air
- inhalationTaking breath in
pulmonic · breath control · respiration · expiration · inspiration · aerodynamics · pressure differential
larynx
Speech-producing throat organ
- pharynxMuscular throat cavity
- epiglottisWindpipe-covering throat cartilage
- glottisVocal cord opening
nasal cavity · oral cavity · tongue · palate · uvula · trachea · velum · soft palate · hard palate · hyoid bone
articulation
Clear vocal expression
- phonemesMinimal sound distinctions
- consonantsLetters that aren't vowels
- vowelsLetters with unblocked airflow
fricatives · plosives · nasals · glides · liquids · allophones · manner of articulation · aspiration · pharyngealization · nasalization
pronunciation
Manner of speaking words
- articulationClear vocal expression
- enunciationClarity of spoken words
- dictionChoice of words
fluency · prosody · intonation · stress · accent · dialect · speech therapy · dysarthria · apraxia · stuttering
harmonics
Frequencies above the fundamental
resonance · sound waves · spectrogram · amplitude · waveform · overtones · impedance · sonority · vibration · acoustic energy
airflow
Movement of atmosphere
- lung capacityBreath volume measurement
- diaphragmMuscle separating chest, abdomen
- exhalationBreathing out air
inhalation · pulmonic · breath control · respiration · expiration · inspiration · aerodynamics · pressure differential
- voiceutterance, sound, tone, larynx, pitch
- phoneticsphonemes, phoneme, consonants, vowels, vibration
- speech soundsvowel, diphthong, nasal, monophthong, fricative
- vocal tractlarynx, pharynx, glottis, tongue, palate
- voice analysisvoiceprint, frequency range, spectrogram, spectral analysis, jitter
- voice technologyspeech recognition, virtual assistants, digital assistant, AI assistant, speech synthesis