It has long been established by nature that a person should communicate. Almost all children are born with thin voices, and by adolescence the voice begins to break down. In fact, this process affects both male and female ligaments, although in girls it is not so noticeable.

What does the process look like?

The beginning of the air wave comes from the lungs, reaches the ligaments and causes them to vibrate. As for the chest and nasopharynx, they act as resonators. The pitch of the sound depends on the thickness of the vocal cords - the thinner they are, as in girls, the higher the voice, and vice versa - the thicker the cords, as in boys, the lower.

Nature has made sure that parents always hear their child. Therefore, from birth, every person has small and thin ligaments.

As they grow, they increase in size and thicken, and accordingly, the sound changes its tonality.

But during puberty, the speed and degree of growth has gender differences. The female larynx changes twice, while the male larynx changes by 70%.

This is why teenagers have such significant differences in timbre, both by gender and between each other. But it’s worth saying right away that this process is absolutely individual, which is why some boys have had bass for 12 years, while others still communicate in tenor at 15.

There are three main stages of mutation.

1. Pre-mutation period. At this time, the body is preparing for future changes, and at this stage all systems are involved.

• the sound becomes more hoarse;
• hoarseness and tickling, which are accompanied by a slight cough, are noted.

But it is worth noting that if a boy or girl sings, then such symptoms may manifest themselves somewhat differently, because singers have more trained ligaments. Firstly, high notes will not come as easily as before. Secondly, the child may begin to complain of pain in the larynx while singing.

The vocal teachers themselves will begin to make comments about the “dirt” in the sound. Although in a “quiet” state such signs may not be observed. The vocal cords need rest at this time, since the process of restructuring and the simultaneous load on them can lead to a person simply losing “his sound.”

1. Voice breaking. At this time, the larynx begins to swell, and mucus may be released. Such moments provoke the onset of the development of inflammatory processes.

Therefore, if you look into a teenager’s mouth, you will see that the surface of the vocal cords has turned red. It is this condition that requires rest, since increased load can lead to underdevelopment of the organ.

During such a period, it is worth taking special care to protect yourself from colds and viral diseases, otherwise, after adolescence has passed, there is a risk that boys will still have a tenor sound.

1. Post-mutation period. This is an individual process. Many factors play a role here, from nationality to personal physiological and sometimes genetic characteristics. It can happen differently in boys and girls and take different amounts of time. Usually, towards the end of the development of “own sound”, the child begins to complain about rapid fatigue of the vocal cords. But now it will become more noticeable that the voice no longer has fluctuations, it becomes more stable.

The teenage period is characterized by rapid activation of hormonal processes. It is these substances that are responsible for external and internal changes in the human body - in boys, hair begins to actively grow throughout the body, puberty develops, wet dreams are observed, and a sharp increase in skeleton and muscle mass is observed. As for girls, their breasts begin to grow, their body shape changes, and menstruation begins.

The vocal cords are also very dependent on hormones. If during adolescence they do not receive enough of their components, they will not be able to acquire “adult” sizes - to become more elongated and dense. Accordingly, the young man’s voice will not break, which means that the young man’s voice will remain quite high.

By the way, it is always higher in girls, since they do not produce sex hormones in the same quantities as in boys, and they are also completely different. It is interesting to note that with old age, a man's voice becomes higher and a woman's voice lower. And all these points are due to the fact that the hormonal background does not receive enough of its components.

Voice failure is associated not only with physiological, but also with psychological discomfort. And both boys and girls. But female ligaments grow a little slower, so when puberty comes, they are still short compared to male ones. Therefore the mutation is not so obvious.

A sharp change in timbre in a girl may be associated with a hormonal imbalance. But in this case, parents are obliged to show their daughter to an endocrinologist, because this may indicate serious endocrine diseases. If the girl does not have obvious symptoms of voice failure, then the mutation process occurs naturally and there is no need to worry about anything.

Most teenagers don't even notice how their voice breaks. This is due to the fact that such a process simply does not cause them any discomfort.

Different children of the same age may have different voice tones because their larynxes will be at different stages of development. But regardless of what condition the child is in, parents should know what actions are permissible during this period, and why they should refrain.

1. moderate load. Here the advice applies more to parents of boys than of girls. Excessive stress on the vocal cords provokes the formation of nodules, which subsequently lead to hoarseness. Such a defect may go away on its own, but in some cases surgery cannot be avoided;
2. During the mutation period, it is worth protecting the child from colds. This may prolong the loss of voice. If a young man continues to have high tones for a long time, then parents are advised to show him to a specialist such as a phoniatrist;
3. parents must explain to the child that “own sound” is unique, and it will be the same as intended by nature. Very often, little boys try to imitate this or that hero. Such fanaticism can lead to the young man overloading his ligaments and they simply “break.”

Nature itself lays down this or that tone of voice, and no one can change it. Therefore, you should take your timbre as a given and not resist it. And there is no way to speed up the breakdown of the voice, because this process is natural and cannot be influenced.

All you have to do is be patient and follow the recommendations so that this process goes faster and, if possible, without complications.

Voice breaking

The appearance of a voice in a person occurs through several organs: vocal cords, larynx, nasopharynx, chest, lungs. Air escaping from the lungs causes the vocal folds to vibrate, and the nasopharynx and chest are resonators. The pitch of the sound depends on the thickness and length of the vocal cords - the larger and thicker they are, the lower the sound. In children, the larynx is small and the vocal folds are small, so children's voices are high and ringing.

When and why do boys' voices break?

At the age of 12-14 years, boys begin to experience age-related changes in their bodies; under the influence of sex hormones, the ligaments begin to grow, thicken and lengthen. At this time, they show signs of voice breakdown - it switches from a high timbre to a low one and vice versa. This is what is called voice mutation. Often at this time a problem arises, but not physiological, but rather psychological: the boy is accustomed to the sound of his high voice, but an adult bass voice sometimes scares him. But for most boys, voice mutation is a completely natural process and it lasts on average for several months.

What to do if your voice breaks?

Parents should know about three features of teenage voice mutation:

• during the withdrawal period, you cannot load the vocal cords; due to overstrain, nodules appear on the folds, as a result of which the voice becomes hoarse;
• avoid colds - the mutation may be delayed;
• It is not known what voice a teenager will have in adulthood: what is inherent in nature cannot be changed.

Teenagers are often interested in how they can speed up the loss of their voice. So, this cannot be done in any way because mutation is a natural physiological process, and, as you know, it is not worth interfering with nature.

Do girls' voices break?

The thing is that the vocal folds in girls grow more slowly than in boys, and by the beginning of puberty they are even much shorter in girls. Girls' voices also break, but not as clearly and not as quickly as in boys. This process cannot be called a mutation because such a loss of voice is not associated with hormonal changes in the girl’s body.

This or that timbre of voice is inherent in a person by nature and must be taken for granted. It will take time for a growing child to get used to his new voice. Explain to your child that voice loss is a kind of beginning of the path to adulthood. And if parents take the teenager seriously during the mutation of his voice and support him with practical advice, then this process will be less painful and much faster.

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Adolescence is one of the most important periods in the life of every child: during this time, many complex changes occur in the growing body. Similar transformations include voice loss in boys. And even as adults, many men do not like to remember the time when a pleasant youthful bass voice treacherously gave way to a semi-childish treble.

How is a voice born?

A person gets the opportunity to “speak out” thanks to several organs at once: the larynx, lungs, chest, nasopharynx, vocal cords. The latter are a kind of strings that allow a person’s voice to sound, while all other “components” serve as resonators. Interestingly, the quality of sound can vary: the thicker and longer a person’s ligaments, the lower his voice will be. In “little adults” the vocal folds are still small - accordingly, the children’s voices are ringing and high-pitched. But this is how nature intended it: every baby should be heard despite the “weakness” of his sound-producing system.

Voice changes in childhood - when and how?

The so-called voice breakdown is a change in its tone due to the growth and thickening of the vocal cords. This happens under the influence of growth hormones... As a result, the boy's voice may decrease by 5-6 tones. At the same time, the male Adam's apple (Adam's apple) begins to develop. When does this happen?

Most often, such transformations overtake a child’s body at the age of 13-14, but variations are also possible... At this time, the child needs to “make friends” with his enlarged ligaments and learn to produce sounds in a new way. However, while the boy is learning the intricacies of a different mechanism of speech formation - he can speak in a high and low voice alternately. Such an unpleasant period for every young man lasts several months.

Note to parents...

Adults should know something about the difficulties that await a child during vocal mutation.

• Although colds can prolong the period of voice loss, one should not think that a red throat is always a sign of a progressive infection. The active development of the vocal cords is accompanied by increased blood circulation - this is why the tissues acquire a crimson tint.
• The mutation “does not tolerate” high load on the vocal folds. Therefore, you need to explain to your son that frequent tension in the ligaments leads to the formation of so-called “screamer’s knots” on them. Because of them, the vibration process is modified, and the voice becomes hoarse. One part of the nodules can resolve over time, while the other can only be dealt with by surgeons.
• Sometimes a beautiful clear voice after mutation becomes the most ordinary, not standing out in any way in terms of timbre or strength. Therefore, if a child is passionate about singing, his future is in question. Naturally, in this difficult time, parents must support the little singer psychologically.
• For the most part, teenagers quickly become accustomed to the “adult” mechanism of sound production, but sometimes the help of a phonopedist is also useful (even one lesson can be of practical benefit).

What about the girls?

In young ladies, the vocal cords grow somewhat more slowly than in boys. And although the timbre of girls’ voices also changes, it is more gradual and less obvious than in future men. And since such a transformation is practically not associated with hormonal changes in the girl’s body, experts are not inclined to call it a voice mutation.

And further…

Interestingly, hormonal changes also affect the voice of older people. “Older” ladies and gentlemen lose some of the hormones characteristic of their own sex, so the vocal folds “become naughty”: women begin to “sound” lower, and men begin to “sound” higher and louder.

Puberty is one of the most difficult periods in life. There are so many changes happening at this time that it is difficult for the psyche to cope with them. During this period, children become teenagers. One of the main sexual changes in boys is a loss of voice. Many people do not like to remember this period, because then they were often embarrassed about their voice.

Voice loss is caused by growth of the larynx. At the same time, the vocal cords lengthen and thicken, causing the voice to become deeper. The vocal cords grow under the influence of hormones. In fact, the voice does not break, but simply changes. The pitch of the voice decreases by 5-6 tones. The so-called Adam's apple, the male Adam's apple, develops.

When does voice loss occur?

The growth of vocal cords in boys begins around 13-14 years of age. But this is middle age, like puberty, it is individual. The difficulty is that the child is accustomed to his old voice and the new one scares him. The ligaments have grown and now require a different speech mechanism. The voice becomes lower and rougher. But while the boy gets used to the new way of producing sounds, a low voice will alternate with a high one.

This time is necessary for the voice to stabilize. The teenager is very vulnerable because he worries about his voice. The boy needs to be explained that this is a normal process, and everything he experiences is the path to becoming a man. Shrill notes may appear in the voice, and the tonality is constantly changing. During voice failure, boys cannot sing at all. They can try, but it won’t work. You need to be prepared for the fact that losing your voice can take six months.

During voice failure, you need to take care of the cords

If a boy screams loudly and tries to forcibly change his voice, he will injure his ligaments. Most boys are noisy by nature; it is impossible for them not to scream during games and communication. A loud scream often turns into a squeal, the vocal cords become overstrained. Nodules appear on damaged ligaments, causing the voice to become hoarse and hoarse. Fortunately, they resolve and the vocal cords return to normal. Severe nervous shock can cause loss of voice. If suddenly such a nuisance occurs, take the boy to a speech therapist or phoniatrist.

Throat is red during voice change

Growing ligaments require a lot of blood, so the larynx becomes red. If there are no other signs of a cold, then you don’t even need to start treating it. After all, medications can slow down the process of voice loss.

It is impossible to predict what your voice will be like after withdrawal.

Therefore, you should not plan a singing career for your child. After all, very often after withdrawal, the musical voice disappears. Be prepared for the teenager's voice to be completely normal. Have a conversation with your child so that he is ready for changes.

Since children grow unevenly, one guy may still be small, but his bass voice is already breaking through with all his might, while the other has grown a mile tall, and his larynx is still small, his voice is still childish. These are the boys who have the hardest time; they are the most embarrassed about their voice. What happens to the voice and at what age?

Otorhinolaryngologist and phoniatrist, MD, tells: Gennady Ivanchenko.

Whistles and flutes

The voice is born using several systems of the body: the larynx, vocal folds (in everyday speech they are called ligaments), lungs, chest and nasopharynx. A stream of air escaping from the lungs causes the vocal folds to vibrate at a certain frequency, with the chest and nasopharynx serving as resonators. The larger and thicker the vocal folds, the lower the sound. Not always though. Caruso, for example, had vocal folds twice as large as another bass profundo, and Caruso sang in a tenor.

In boys, like in girls, the larynx is small, the folds are small, and only their edges vibrate under the action of a stream of air. Experts call this the falsetto mechanism of sound creation. The larynx is like a whistle. Nature designed it this way so that a child, whose sound-producing systems are still small, can still be heard. And in fact, the squeals of children are so clearly audible that if you walk into school during a break, for example, you can simply go deaf.

Folds are a hormone-dependent structure

But at the age of 13-14, under the influence of various hormones, mainly sex hormones, boys’ vocal folds begin to grow, lengthen and thicken. These folds are a hormone-dependent structure. It is not for nothing that eunuchs have a high-pitched, childlike voice - they themselves have the build of fully grown men, and the vocal folds do not reach adult sizes, because the body does not produce sex hormones.

For the same reason, older people’s voices become higher - because there are less and less sex hormones in the body. And in women, in old age, on the contrary, the voice sounds in lower tones; again, there are not enough hormones, only female ones, which change the folds so that the sound is high and ringing.

An adult can speak and sing in falsetto even with a normally developed vocal apparatus. True, without habit it is not very convenient. But it’s fashionable, it’s not for nothing that some radio hosts say so and Presnyakov Jr. sings. For an adult, such a mechanism of sound formation is still more natural, when the entire fold vibrates, the vocal wave travels both horizontally and vertically. Therefore, an adult voice turns out to be deeper, more beautiful, and varied in color. In ordinary speech, we use 2-3 tones above and below our fundamental tone. And the singer takes two octaves.

Fear of the new

For a teenager, switching from falsetto to a full-fledged sound formation process is difficult. But the problem here is more likely not a problem, but a psychological one: the boy is accustomed to the sound of his childhood voice, but a new voice - a baritone or bass - scares him. When talking, he uses either the old mechanism of sound generation or the new one.

Since children grow unevenly, one guy may still be small, but his bass voice is already breaking through with all his might, while the other has grown a mile tall, and his larynx is still small, his voice is still childish. It’s these boys who are ahead of their peers or behind them who have the hardest time; they are the most embarrassed about their voices. But for most people, voice loss is a normal physiological process: the voice becomes lower and rougher - well, okay. Most quickly discover a new mechanism for producing sounds. In rare cases, any teenager needs the help of a phonopedist - a voice specialist who usually works with singers. Perhaps only a few of those who grow up surrounded by women alone. These boys have no one to even imitate, no one to take an example from. But for them, one lesson is usually enough, during which a doctor or phonopedist will show you exercises for establishing and strengthening a normal male voice.

Three features

There are three features of teenage mutation that are useful for parents to know.

● When breaking your voice, there is no need to load the vocal folds. But the boys, unfortunately, do not take care of them, they strain them at every step: either while playing football they scream like crazy, or they sing songs at the top of their lungs with a guitar... Due to overstrain, nodules can appear on the folds, doctors call them that - screamer knots. These nodules change the vibration of the folds and the voice becomes hoarse. Some nodules then resolve on their own if the loads drop, but sometimes you have to remove them - microsurgical operations.

● Colds can prolong the mutation. A red throat in a teenager is not always a sign of a respiratory infection. When the larynx grows, blood circulation increases in it, the tissues become redder, and it seems that the child has laryngitis. They begin to treat the boy for a cold, give him medicine, take him to doctors... But it’s just a normal physiological process.

If the mutation has been prolonged, that is, the boy has already stopped growing upward, and his voice has not become low like a man, the teenager must be shown to a phoniatrist. The longer a guy speaks in falsetto, the more difficult it will be for him to switch to adult tones.

● We are not destined to know what kind of “adult” voice a beautifully singing little boy will have. In childhood, there is a high, clear voice, but a mutation has occurred, and the voice turns out to be the most banal - both in color, and in timbre, and in strength. A well-known example is Robertino Loretti. And nothing can be done: what is given is given.

Interesting

A curious case. Once, an officer, and not of the lowest rank, turned to phoniatrists - doctors who study the peculiarities of the functioning of the vocal apparatus. Quite an adult, and his voice is like that of a boy. It turns out to be frivolous. Doctors helped him and taught him to speak in a baritone voice.

Voice is a person’s natural ability to produce a variety of sounds, which is extremely important for full communication in society. All babies are born with thin voices, but over time the characteristics of their sound change. And this is especially noticeable in boys, since there is a significant difference between the male and female voices. And today we are talking about how voice loss occurs in boys, we will look at its symptoms, and also answer the question: how to speed up this process, and how long it normally lasts.

Experts in human anatomy claim that the height of our voice is determined by the thickness of the vocal cords. For girls, they are thinner, so their voice sounds higher, and for boys, they are thicker, so their voice sounds lower. The ligaments increase in size and also become thicker in both sexes. But in girls they change only twice, and in boys by almost seventy percent. And this process of change is precisely called voice breaking.

It is worth noting that the processes of voice loss in boys follow approximately the same scenario. But the age at which such changes occur may vary. Sometimes the voice breaks already at the age of twelve, and sometimes such changes have not yet been observed in fifteen-year-olds. Symptoms depend on the period of mutation.

Thus, in the pre-mutation period, the teenager’s body is only preparing for the upcoming changes, using all organs and systems. At the same time, the boy's voice takes on a more hoarse sound. Readers of Popular Health may notice the occurrence of hoarseness, tickling and mild cough.

However, it is worth noting that when practicing vocals, such changes may manifest themselves somewhat differently, due to the training of the ligaments. So, in this case, the child may have difficulty trying to hit high notes. In addition, he may be bothered by pain in the larynx that occurs during vocal practice. The teacher may notice “dirt” in the sound.

Next comes the period of actual voice breaking. At the same time, the larynx naturally swells, and active mucus synthesis is possible. Such changes contribute to the addition of all kinds of inflammatory processes. If parents look into their teenager's mouth, they may see reddened vocal cords with their own eyes. In this condition, the child’s voice needs rest; increased stress can cause underdevelopment of the vocal cords. It is extremely important to protect yourself from all kinds of colds, acute respiratory infections and acute respiratory viral infections. After all, their addition is fraught with disruption of the voice and even inhibition of this process. In such a situation, the boy may have the sound of a tenor for all the years of his life.

After the actual loss of voice, the so-called post-mutation period begins. And its course depends on many factors, ranging from nationality and ending with genetic or physiological characteristics. This stage can last for varying amounts of time. As practice shows, towards the end of the formation of a completely “own” voice, the child begins to periodically complain that his vocal cords quickly get tired. However, parents may notice that voice fluctuations no longer occur and the sound becomes stable.

The duration of this period is quite individual. It may take two to four months to complete all the stages described above. But quite often this period can increase to six months.

Doctors strongly do not recommend interfering with the natural processes of change in the vocal cords. Parents should have information on how to help develop their voice and how to prevent the occurrence of various problems.

So, first of all, load limitation plays an extremely important role. Excessive loads on the changing vocal cords are fraught with the formation of nodules, and this in turn leads to the development of hoarseness. It is possible that such a defect will go away on its own, but in some cases even surgical assistance is necessary to correct it.

During the period of voice failure, it is worth remembering the increased likelihood of a child developing various acute respiratory infections and acute respiratory viral infections. Diseases can disrupt or delay the processes of change in the vocal cords. Therefore, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, strengthening the immune system and activating the body’s defenses play an extremely important role. If the child’s voice does not break for a long time, you need to consult a phoniatrist.

Parents must explain to the teenager that the sound obtained as a result of voice damage will be unique, and its sound features are pre-determined by nature. Quite often, children try to copy some heroes, and such attempts during the period of change in the vocal cords can lead to the fact that the changing areas are overloaded, and the withdrawal process is disrupted.

Therefore, both parents and teenagers should be patient and let nature take its course. The period of voice withdrawal does not last that long.