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Why do older boys’ voices crack? |
If you have an older brother or cousin, you might have noticed some changes in his voice. Have you ever answered the phone to your 13 year old brother but thought it was your dad? At this age, sometimes a boy’s voice will sound deeper, more adult, but then at other times it will crack and pitch upwards like a yo-yo.
You might find it weird, and for a boy this age it can be pretty annoying, but there’s a good reason for it. Around the ages of 10-14, most boys start going through puberty. During puberty, kids go through all kinds of growth – and it’s not just bones that are growing! Muscles and tendons, including the ones that make a boy’s voice work, are growing too.
You see, both boys and girls have a voice box that helps you make sounds when you talk. There are vocal chords stretched over an opening at the back of your throat like strings on a guitar. Air rushing past them causes them to reverberate, giving them the tone and pitch you know as your voice. As you grow, the chords and muscles around them grow, too. This makes the sound deeper. As a boy going through puberty grows, it can take a few months for his brain to get used to the change. Until that happens, his voice may wobble a little bit as he talks!
Make your own voice (shoe)box!
You will need:
-Some rubber bands
-A shoebox without a lid
Take a rubber band and stretch it around an open shoebox. Now strum the rubber band with your finger. Can you hear the noise it makes? The band is like the vocal chords on your voice box. The noise comes from the reverberation of the band.
Now see if you can change how it sounds. Pull the band tighter and strum. Do you hear the pitch get higher? Loosen the band and strum. Notice it get lower?
Try it again with different sizes and shapes of rubber bands to see how different the sound can be.