Varying human whistle pitch without varying oral cavity shape while enlarging the larynx using a vocal tract model

Abstract

The principle of sound production in human whistling is not adequately understood. In a previous study, we built a physical model of a human vocal tract on whistling developed using an X-ray computed tomography (CT) image of the vocal tract during whistling. This study investigates the effects of variations in the larynx on whistling. To this end, we expanded the cross-sectional plate area corresponding to the larynx of the vocal tract model during human whistling. We found that whistle pitch can vary without varying the oral cavity shape when the larynx was enlarged.