Not So Distant Relatives: Evolution of Human Vocal Production

Humans and nonhumans are closely related to one another through physical form, but what exactly differentiates them from one another. Several people argue that there is not much difference between humans and nonhuman primates, but the most obvious difference is the way they communicate. Compared to humans, nonhumans’ ways of communicating is very simple. While both have their ways of communicating with their members, their vocal communication systems are also similar and different in terms of how they produce their vocal sounds and how they are structured, how complex they are able to produce their sounds and what they mean, how it relates to their societies, and what they intentionally use their signals for.
Humans and nonhumans have generally comparable structure and basic mechanics of voice production. Voice production includes the larynx, where it is combined with a sound filter categorized by the vocal-tract air ways above the larynx (Ghazanfar & Rendall R457). These components of the vocal structure interact in complex ways to generate a variety of sounds. The vocal folds that are in the larynx vibrate which helps produce complex, highly enhancing, sounds (Ghazanfar & Rendall R457). While voice productions are similar, there are differences between the production of human speech and nonhuman primate vocalizations which includes the larynx, increased thoracic innervation, and laryngeal air sacs. The human larynx lies lower compared with nonhumans creating a second large cavity known as the pharynx which can only be found in humans (Ghazanfar & Rendall R458). In addition to having another cavity, humans are able to articulate complex vocalizations when combined with tongue, mandible, and lip movements. Another distinct feature...

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...d. The basic structure of both physical, cognitive and vocals are both present in both humans and nonhumans today. The complexity of human communication and simplicity of nonhuman communication are not too distant from one another, instead one has just evolved highly compared to the other.

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