Ever wondered how you’re able to speak and communicate using words? It’s all thanks to the different parts of your body working together in harmony. From your lungs providing air to your mouth shaping sounds, speech wouldn’t be possible without several organs teaming up.
In this article, we’ll explain what the organs of speech are, and how they collaborate to create the words you say each day. From your vocal cords to your teeth, you’ll learn exactly how your organs of speech turn thoughts into understandable language. You’ll be amazed at how complex speech really is once you understand what’s going on behind the scenes.
What are the Organs of Speech?
The organs of speech are the parts of your body involved in producing speech. Your lungs, voice box or larynx, tongue, palate, lips, and jaw all work together to make the sounds of speech.
These are the Organs of speech:
- Larynx
- Hard palate
- Pharynx
- Lung
- Palate
- Tooth
- Tongue
- Alveolar process
- Lips
- Articulation
- Glottis
- Speech
- Nasal cavity
- Uvula
- Soft palate
Larynx
The larynx, also known as the voice box, is a crucial organ of speech. It contains vocal cords that vibrate when you speak to produce sound. The larynx is located in the throat, above the trachea or windpipe.
When you speak, exhaled air from the lungs passes through the larynx, causing the vocal cords to vibrate and make sound. The larynx also closes when you swallow to prevent choking. Different positions of the vocal cords produce different speech sounds, from high-pitched sounds when the cords are tight to low bass tones when they’re more relaxed.
The larynx is made up of cartilage, muscles, and ligaments that work together to produce speech. Conditions that affect the larynx, like laryngitis which causes inflammation, can make speech difficult or impossible. Protecting your larynx from irritation will help keep your voice healthy and strong.
Pharynx
Your pharynx, or throat, is the passageway for both air and food. It’s responsible for allowing you to breathe and swallow. The pharynx contains your vocal cords, which vibrate to produce speech. When you talk, your pharynx changes shape to make different speech sounds. It works with your mouth, nose, and lungs to create the sounds of speech.
Oral Cavity
The oral cavity, also known as the mouth, or buccal cavity is the first part of the vocal tract. It contains the tongue, teeth, and lips which are responsible for modifying the sounds produced by the larynx into speech.
Tongue
The tongue is a muscular organ in the mouth that is attached to the mandible and hyoid bone. It is divided into the apex, dorsum, sides and root. The tongue is essential for speech as it modifies the flow of air from the lungs into different sounds. It also helps in chewing and swallowing food. It raises to touch the roof of your mouth for ‘t’, ‘d’ and ‘n’ sounds, cups backwards for ‘k’ and ‘g’, and curls up for ‘r’.
Lips
The lips are fleshy folds surrounding the opening of the mouth. They are controlled by muscles and are important for speech as they can modify the flow of air and shape of the mouth to produce different speech sounds. The lips are also used to emphasize certain sounds like ‘b’ and ‘p’. Your lips round to say ‘oo’ as in ‘boot’, spread wide for ‘ee’ in ‘feet’, and press together for ‘m’ and ‘b’ sounds.
Teeth
The teeth provide rigid bracing for the lips and tongue. Your upper and lower teeth come together to form your bite, which is also important for speech. If your bite is misaligned, it can impact your ability to produce certain sounds. An overbite, underbite or crossbite should be evaluated by a dentist or orthodontist to determine if treatment is needed to improve speech or prevent future problems.
The teeth help in chewing, tearing and grinding food as well as in the pronunciation of certain speech sounds like ‘th’ and ‘s’. Your teeth and palate also help direct the flow of air and shape your speech. Without the movements and positions of the articulators in your mouth, speech would not be possible.
The oral cavity thus contains all the necessary organs to produce the full range of speech sounds in humans. Proper development and functioning of these organs is critical for clear speech and communication.
Alveolar ridge
The alveolar ridge is the bony ridge located behind your upper front teeth. When you run your tongue along the roof of your mouth, you can feel the alveolar ridge. This organ of speech is essential for producing certain speech sounds like ‘d’, ‘t’, ‘s’, ‘z’, ‘l’ and ‘n’.
To make these sounds, you place your tongue on the alveolar ridge. For ‘d’ and ‘t’ sounds, you briefly touch the ridge with the tip of your tongue. For ‘s’, ‘z’ and ‘l’ sounds, you press the sides and tip of your tongue against the ridge. For ‘n’, you press the middle of your tongue against the ridge. By manipulating the flow of air over and around your tongue placed on the alveolar ridge, you are able to produce these different speech sounds.
Without an alveolar ridge, it would be nearly impossible to pronounce most English speech sounds correctly. So next time you speak, appreciate this small but important organ that helps give you a voice.
Glottis
The glottis is the space between the vocal cords in the larynx. Also known as the voice box, the larynx contains the vocal cords which produce speech. The glottis opens and closes rapidly during speech to produce different sounds. When the vocal cords are drawn apart, the glottis opens to allow air to pass through for consonant sounds. When the vocal cords are brought together and vibrate, the glottis closes to produce vowel sounds.
The size of the glottal opening depends on the type of speech sound being produced. For example, a larger glottal opening is needed to produce ‘h’ and ‘s’ sounds versus the nearly closed glottis needed for ‘i’ or ‘u’ sounds. The glottis works with the diaphragm, lungs, and respiratory system to provide an air stream and create the sounds of speech. Proper functioning of the glottis and vocal cords is essential for fluent speech and communication.
Palate
The palate is the roof of your mouth, separating the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. The hard bony front part is the hard palate, while the soft fleshy rear part is the soft palate. The soft palate moves up and down depending on whether you’re breathing through your mouth or nose.
When you speak or swallow, your soft palate lifts up to close off the nasal passageways, preventing food and liquid from entering your nose. The palate also helps in producing certain speech sounds by blocking off parts of the nasal cavity. Consonant sounds like ‘k’ and ‘g’ are made when the soft palate briefly blocks air flow through the nose.
The palate, along with your lips and tongue, allows you to create the wide range of sounds used in speech. Damage or dysfunction of the palate can lead to speech impediments, difficulty swallowing, and nasal regurgitation of foods and liquids.
Hard palate
The hard palate is the bony front part of the roof of your mouth. It’s made up of two palatine bones that fuse together during childhood. The hard palate plays an important role in speech production and swallowing. When you speak, the hard palate helps shape the airflow from your lungs into distinct speech sounds. It also separates your nasal cavity from your oral cavity, allowing you to produce oral speech sounds that aren’t nasalized.
During swallowing, the hard palate, along with your tongue, helps push food back toward your throat and esophagus. Damage or defects in the hard palate can lead to speech impairments and difficulties with eating and swallowing. Cleft palate, where the two plates of the hard palate fail to fuse during development, is a common birth defect that requires corrective surgery to fix these issues.
Velum (Soft palate)
The velum, also known as the soft palate, is a muscular flap in the back of the mouth that separates the nasal cavity from the oral cavity. When you swallow or speak, the velum moves to direct air flow and food either into the nasal passage or down into the throat. The velum is responsible for producing nasal consonant sounds like ‘m’ and ‘n’. When you make these sounds, the velum lowers to allow air to pass through your nose.
For non-nasal sounds, the velum lifts to close off the nasal passage so air flows out of your mouth instead. Proper movement and function of the velum is important for speech and swallowing. If the velum does not move properly, it can lead to speech problems, feeding difficulties in infants, and issues with food or liquid escaping from the nose.
Vocal cords
Vocal cords, also known as vocal folds, are two bands of elastic muscle tissue located in the larynx (voice box) that vibrate to produce speech. When you speak, air from your lungs passes between the vocal cords, causing them to vibrate and produce sound. The pitch of your voice depends on the thickness and tension of your vocal cords.
Uvula
The soft tissue that hangs down from the back of your soft palate is known as the uvula. Its main function is to produce certain sounds, especially those made in the back of the mouth. The uvula vibrates when you make throaty sounds like “ah” or guttural sounds. It prevents liquids and foods from entering your nasal passageways during swallowing. The uvula also secretes saliva and helps move food into your esophagus when swallowing.
Without a uvula, throaty and guttural sounds are more difficult to produce and swallowing problems can arise. An inflamed or enlarged uvula can cause discomfort during swallowing or speaking. This condition is known as uvulitis and may require treatment like steroids to reduce inflammation. In rare cases, a severely enlarged uvula may need to be surgically removed, a procedure known as uvulectomy.
Nasal Cavity
The nasal cavity is the hollow space behind the nose. It is lined with mucous membranes and fine hairs called cilia. The nasal cavity warms and humidifies the air you breathe in, and the cilia help filter out dust and other particles.
The nasal cavity also plays an important role in speech. When you make “m”, “n”, and “ng” sounds, the air flow is redirected through your nose. This gives those speech sounds their distinctive nasal quality. Without a nasal cavity, you would not be able to pronounce these kinds of nasal consonant and vowel sounds correctly.
So the next time you say words like “mom”, “noon”, or “ring”, appreciate how your trusty nasal cavity helps you speak properly and also helps keep the air you breathe clean!
Lungs
Your lungs are one of the main organs of speech. They provide the air flow and pressure to produce sounds. As you exhale, the air from your lungs passes over your vocal cords, causing them to vibrate and make sounds. Your lungs are essential for speech. As you exhale, the air from your lungs vibrates your vocal cords in your larynx to produce sounds. The strength and duration of your exhale controls the volume and length of your speech.
Take a deep breath before you speak. Fill your lungs to give your words power and allow you to speak longer sentences. Exhale fully and steadily as you speak. Don’t mumble, enunciate your words!
Your lung capacity and breath control improve with practice. Read aloud daily to exercise your lungs. Start with just 5-10 minutes a day and build up as your lung endurance improves. Work on taking deep inhales and exhaling slowly. With regular practice, your lung performance and speech will become effortless.
Jaw
The jaw, also known as the mandible, is the only movable bone in the skull. It contains the lower teeth and forms the lower jaw. The jaw allows you to chew and break down food as the first step in digestion. It also enables speech by manipulating tongue and lip positions.
The jawbone is connected to the temporal bone of the skull on each side by the temporomandibular joints (TMJs). These flexible joints, along with the jawbone itself, allow you to open and close your mouth, move your lower jaw forward, backward, and side to side for speech and chewing. Several muscles also attach to and control the movement of the jawbone, including the masseter, temporalis, medial pterygoid, and lateral pterygoid muscles.
Proper functioning of your jawbone and TMJs is essential for speaking, eating, even breathing correctly. Any injury, misalignment, or disorder of these structures can significantly impact your quality of life. Take good care of your jaw and be aware of symptoms like pain, clicking sounds, locking, or limited mobility that could indicate a TMJ disorder or other issue needing treatment.
Esophagus
The esophagus is a muscular tube that connects the pharynx to the stomach. Its main function is to transport swallowed food and liquids from the mouth to the stomach. The esophagus is located in the neck and chest, behind the trachea. When you swallow, the epiglottis covers the trachea to prevent choking, while food passes down the esophagus.
Peristalsis, which are wave-like muscle contractions, push the food downwards. The esophagus has an upper esophageal sphincter and lower esophageal sphincter, which act as valves to control the movement of food. The esophagus is around 10 inches long in adults and lined with moist tissue. If the esophagus gets inflamed or irritated, it can lead to conditions like acid reflux or gastroesophageal reflux disease.
Epiglottis
The epiglottis is a flap of cartilage located behind the tongue that covers the glottis (the opening between the vocal cords) during swallowing. Its main function is to prevent food and liquids from entering the trachea (windpipe) during swallowing.
When you swallow, the epiglottis closes over the glottis, directing the bolus of food or liquid into the esophagus and away from the airway. Once the swallowing act is over, the epiglottis opens again, allowing you to breathe. Damage or malformation of the epiglottis can lead to choking and aspiration (food/liquid entering the airway).
The epiglottis works in conjunction with other anatomical parts like the soft palate, tongue, pharynx, and larynx during the complex act of swallowing. Without this small but important flap of cartilage, eating and drinking would be very difficult and dangerous.
Trachea
The trachea, commonly known as the windpipe, is a tube that carries air from your mouth and nose to your lungs. As an organ of speech, the trachea allows you to produce speech sounds by regulating the airflow from your lungs.
The trachea is made up of C-shaped rings of cartilage that hold the trachea open to allow air to pass through. The cartilage rings are connected by muscle and elastic tissue, which allows the trachea to expand and contract during breathing and speaking. The trachea starts at the bottom part of your throat and connects to the bronchi in your lungs.
As you speak, the vocal folds in your larynx vibrate to produce speech sounds, and the trachea carries the airflow needed to pronounce those sounds. The trachea also helps produce consonant sounds by constricting the airflow at different points. So the flexible, expandable trachea plays an important role in allowing you to speak clearly and naturally.
Conclusion
So there you have it, the amazing organs that allow us to speak and communicate. From our lungs that power it all, to our vocal cords that produce sound, to our tongue and lips that shape that sound into words, speech is an intricate process. But as complex as it is, we often take it for granted. Next time you open your mouth to talk, take a moment to appreciate the complex coordination that’s allowing you to express yourself. Whether you’re cheering on your favorite sports team or telling someone you love them, remember just how incredible the gift of speech really is.