• Question: why do boys voices brake?

    Asked by oliviaeganx to Damien, Suzi, Tim on 23 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by chloetaylorx.
    • Photo: Suzi Gage

      Suzi Gage answered on 23 Jun 2011:

      Hi @oliviaeganx and @chloetaylorx
      Thanks for the question. As a girl, I didn’t experience this myself!
      When boys hit puberty, their body starts releasing a lot of a hormone called testosterone. This is the big ‘male’ hormone. Cartilage is very sensitive to the effect of testosterone, so their larynx (vocal chords) grow a lot more than girls’ do, and as they grow, they produce a deeper pitched sound.

      Also, at puberty a boy’s face will get wider, which increases the size of the hollow areas in the head (the sinuses), allowing the voice to resonate (bounce around basically) more, making it sound deeper too.

      Hope this answers your question!

    • Photo: Tim Fosker

      Tim Fosker answered on 23 Jun 2011:

      Hi @oliviaeganx and @chloetaylorx

      Great answer from Suzi so I can’t really add anything, but I have being doing some cool research on peoples voices. Not looking at when boy’s voices break, but looking at the differences between children’s and adult’s voices. Children have higher pitched voices because their vocal tract is shorter than adults. Voice tract length is thought to increase from 6-15 cm in females and 8-18 cm in males, so everyone’s voice gets slightly deeper as they get older! 😀

Comments