The larynx (plural larynges), colloquially known as the "voice box", is an organ in the neck of mammals involved in protection of the trachea and sound production. It manipulates pitch and volume. The larynx houses the vocal folds, which are an essential component of phonation. The vocal folds are situated just below where the tract of the pharynx splits into the trachea and the esophagus.
Contents:
1. Anatomical position and
description
2. Function
3. Innervation
4. Intrinsic muscles associated with
the larynx
5. Extrinsic muscles associated with
the larynx
6. Descended larynx
7. Disorders of the larynx
8. Cartilages
9. Non-mammalian larynges
10. Images
11. See also
12. References
| Larynx | |
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| Anatomy of the larynx, anterolateral view | |
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| Endoscopic image of larynx |
1. Anatomical position and description
The larynx is found in the anterior neck at the level of the C3-C6 vertebrea. It connects the inferior part of the pharynx (hypopharynx) with the trachea. The laryngeal skeleton consists of nine cartilages: three single (thyroid, cricoid, and epiglottic) and three paired (arytenoid, corniculate, and cuneiform). The hyoid bone is not part of the larynx, though it is connected to it. The larynx extends vertically from the tip of the epiglottis to the inferior border of the cricoid cartilage. The intristic and extrinsic muscles and paired and unpaired cartilages are listed and described below.
2. Function
Sound is generated in the larynx, and that is where pitch and volume are manipulated. The strength of expiration from the lungs also contributes to loudness. [1]
Fine manipulation of the larynx is used to generate a source sound with a particular fundamental frequency, or pitch. This source sound is altered as it travels through the vocal tract, configured differently based on the position of the tongue, lips, mouth, and pharynx. The process of altering a source sound as it passes through the filter of the vocal tract creates the many different vowel and consonant sounds of the world's languages as well as tone, certain realizations of stress and other types of linguistic prosody. The larynx also has a similar function as the lungs in creating pressure differences required for sound production; a constricted larynx can be raised or lowered affecting the volume of the oral cavity as necessary in glottalic consonants.