The Brain and the Voice in Speech and Song

tical portion is formed by the larynx and pharynx, the horizontal by the mouth. The length

us membrane. This portion of the resonator passage can be enlarged to a slight degree by traction upon the larynx below (sterno-thyroid muscle), by looseness of the pharyngeal muscles, and still more by the forward placement of the tongue; the converse is true as regards diminution in size. The horizontal portion of the resonator tube (t

and if a mirror be placed under the nostrils it will be seen by the vapour on it that the sound waves have issued from the nose; consequently the nasal portion of the resonator has imparted its characteristic quality to the sound. The air sinuses in the upper jaws, frontal bones, and sphenoid bones act as accessory resonators; likewise the bronchi, windpipe, and lungs; but all these are of le

ntains the vocal cords, must have greater influence on the sound vibrations without participating in the articulation of words. While the vocal cords serve the purpose of the reed, the resonator forms the body of the vocal instrument. Every sound passe

ation in the manner previously described, the air is expelled through the open glottis into the resonating cavity, which (as fig. 13 shows) is placed under different conditions according to the particular vowel sound whispered. In all cases the mouth is opened, keeping the front teeth about one inch apart; the tongue should be in contact with the lower dental arch and lie as flat on the floor of the mouth as the production of the particular vowel sound will permit. When this is done, and a vowel sound whispered, a distinctly resonant note can be heard. Helmholtz and a number of distinguished German physicists and physiologists have analysed the vowel sounds in the whispering voice and obtained very different results. If their experiments show nothing else, th

ou will observe a distinct difference in the pitch of the note produced. I will first produce the vowel sound oo and proceed with the vowel sounds to i; you will observe that the pitch rises an octave; that this is due to the changes in the form of the resonator is shown when I percuss the resonator in the position of the different vowel sounds. You will observe that I start the scale of C with oo on f and proceed through a series of vowel sounds as in whispering who, owe, or, on, ah. I rise a fifth from f to c, and the diagram shows the change in the form of the resonator cavity to be mainly due to the position of the dorsum of the tongue. Proceeding from ah to the middle tone of the speaking r

outside of the right cheek, then striking it with the tip of the middle finger

g.

Diagram a

e and lips in the production

of the tongue in the production

ch vowel sound when a particular note was sung. The flame manometer of K?nig (vide fig. 14) shows that if the same note be sung with different vowels the serrated flame image in the mirror is different for each vowel, and if a more complicated form of this instrument be used (s

g.

brane to the gas in the capsule at the back of the resonator; but the gas is connected with the lighted jet, the flame of which is reflected in the mirror, the result being that the flame vibrates. When the mirror is made to revolve by turning the handle the reflected image shows a

fundamental note c on some particular vowel sound; the resonators corresponding to the particular harmonics of the vowel sound are thus set in action, and a glance at the revolving mirror shows which

econd harmonic (the octave c') very strong,

damental note, the second harmonic, weak;

e octave above, the second harmonic, is weak, and the third

h harmonics, especially the f

h of the resonator. They are not the same in all individuals; for they depend also upon the timbre of the voice of the person

particular overtones, he ought to be able to produce synthetically these vowel sounds by combining the series of overtones

ortion of the instrument-and the quality, timbre, or "klang" upon the resonator, I will pass on to the

s of certain easily movable portions of the mouth and throat; and they have a

the opposition of the tip of the tongue to the anterior portion of the hard palate or the posterior surface of the dental arch. (3) At the fauces, the constriction being due to approximation of the root of the tongue and the soft palate. Consonants can only be produced in conjunction with a vowel sound, consequently the air is thrown into sonorous waves of

h of the places of inter

ce, p, t, k; (b) with the aid of voice, b, d, g. When one of these consonants begins a syllable, opening of the resonator is necessary, e.g. pa; wh

the passage in front is closed by elevation of the tongue against the upper dental arch so that the air can only escape at the sides between the molar teeth: sh is formed by the expulsion of the current of air through two narrow slits, viz. (1) between the front of the tongue and the hard palate, the other between the nearly c

alate is not raised at all and the sound waves produced in the larynx find a free passage through the nose, while the mouth

but in the English language it is produced by the vibration of the tip of the tongue i

e been grouped by

Dentals.

xplo

ut the v

the vo

spir

ice F S (hard), L

e V Z, L, Th, Zh

ants M N

nds Labial R Lin

ynx by the quick rushing of the ai

s the speaking voice, but Aikin classifies the consonants from the singing p

ON OF CONSON

y open H

open T,

losed, lips

d, upper lip on

losed S, Z,

of closures that it is difficult to keep the resonator open, and

with its two open vowel sounds. The vowel sound ah on the note c is the middle tone of the speaking register, and as we know, can be used all day long without fatigue; therefore in training the voice the endeavour should be made to develop the register above and below this middle tone. In speaking there is always a tendency under emotional excitement, especially if associated with anger, to raise the pitch of t

CHANGES PRODUCING SPEECH D

of phonation. Take, for example, bulbar paralysis, a form of progressive muscular atrophy, a disease due to a progressive decay and destruction of the motor nerve cells presiding over the movements of the tongue, lips, and larynx, hence often called glosso-labial-laryngeal palsy. In this disease the lips, tongue, throat, and often the larynx are paralysed on both sides. "The symptoms are, so to speak, grouped about the tongue as a centre, and it is in this organ that the earliest symptoms are usually manifested." (

of modulated, articulate sounds, speech is broken up into a succession of irregular, jerky, syllabic fragments, without modulation, and often accompanied by a tremulous vibration of the voice. Syllables are unconsciously dropped out, blurred, or run into one another, or imperfectly uttered; especially is difficulty found with consonants, particularly explosive sounds, b, p, m; again, linguals and dentals are difficult to utter. Similar defects occur in written as in vocal speech; the syllables and even the letters are disjointed; there is a fine tremor in the writing, and inco-ordination in the movements of the pen. Silent thoughts leave out syllables and words in the framing

MECHANISM OF

ys expresses a judgment. Even in the simple psychic process of recalling the name aroused by the sight of a common object in daily use, and in affixing the verbal sign to that object, a judgment is expressed. But that judgment is based upon innumerable experiences primarily acquired through our special senses, whereby we have obtained a knowledge of the properties and uses of the object. This statement implies that the whole brain is consciously and unconsciously in action. There is, however, a concentration of psychic action in those

guage is essentially a human attribute, we can only study the relation of the Brain to Speech by observations on human beings who during l

knowledge of the one as compared with the other. The cultured being descended from cultured beings inherits tendencies whereby particular modes of motion or vibration which have been experienced by ancestors are more readily aroused in the central nervous system; when similar stimuli producing similar modes of motion affect the sense organs. But suppose there were an island inhabited only by deaf mutes, upon which a ship was wrecked, and the sole survivors of the wreck were infants who had never used the voice except for crying, would these infants acquire articulate speech and musical voca

matter, the grey matter being internal. The grey matter consists for the most part of nerve cells (ganglion cells), and the white matter consists of nerve fibres; it is white on account of the phosphoretted fatty sheath-myelin-that covers the essential axial conducting portion of the nerve fibres. If, however, the nervous system be examined microscopically by suitable staining methods, it will be found that the grey and white matters are inseparably connected, for the axial fibres of the nerves in the white matter are really prolongations of the ganglion cells of the grey matter; in

g.

e dendrons) form but a minute speck of protoplasm, the nerve fibre which arises from it, although microscopic in diameter, extends a ve

being always present; and around these fissures which are constantly present are situated fibre systems and communities of neurones having particular functions (vide fig. 16.) Thus there is a significance in the convolutional pattern of the brain. But just as there are no two faces alike, so there are no two brains alike in their pattern; and just as it is rare to find the two halves of the face quite symmetrical, so the two halves of the bra

g.

forming the upper surface of the temporal lobe. Behind this is the angular gyrus which is connected with visual word memory. The half-vision centre, and by this is meant the portion of brain which receives impressions from each half of the field of vision, is situated for the most part on the inner (unseen) surface of the occipital lobe. In front of the central fissure is situated the motor area, or that region destruction of which causes paralysis of the muscles moving the structures of the opposite half of the body. If the situations indicated by black dots be excited by an interrupted electric current, movements of the limbs, trunk, and face oc

ariably act together may thus be innervated from either hemisphere,

rts of the brain are relatively more developed and the hemispheres less developed than in man; in man, the hemispheres so surpass in development those of animals that we can find no analogy. Gall therefore argued that we must consider the cerebral hemispheres to be the seat of the higher functions of the mind. We must moreover acknowledge that the following deductions of Gall are quite sound: "The convolutions ought to be recognised as the parts where the instincts, feelings, thoughts, talents, the affective qualities in general, and the moral and intellectual forces are exercised." The Paris Academy of Science appointed a commission of inquiry, May, 1808, which declared the doctrine of Gall to be erroneous. Gall moreover surmised that the

D RIGHT-H

heir left cerebral hemisphere as the executive portion of the brain in speech. Subsequently it was shown that when left-handed people were paralysed on the left side by disease of the right hemisphere, they lost their powers of speech. But the great majority of people are born right-handed, consequently the right hand being especially the instrument of the mind in the majority of people,

resentations on the sun-baked clay records of Assyria, and the drawings on rocks, tusks, and horns of animals of the flint-weapon men of prehistoric times show that man was then right-handed. There is a difference of opinion whether anthropoid apes use the right hand in preference to the left. Professor Cunningham, who made a special study of this subject, asserts that they use either hand indifferently; so also does the infant at first, and the idiot in a considerable number of cases. Then why should man, even primitive, have chosen the right hand as the instrument of the mind? Seeing that there is no apparent anatomical reason, we may ask ourselves the question: Is it the result of an acquired useful habit to which anatomical conditions may subsequently have contributed as a co-efficient? Primitive man depended largely upon gesture language, and the placing of the hand over the heart is universally understood to signify love and

F SPEECH CENTR

e revival of the motor images, and has been termed by Dr. Bastian "the glosso-kin?sthetic centre," or the cortical grey matter, in which the images of the sense of movement of the lips and tongue are formed (vide fig. 17). A destruction of a similar portion of the cortex in a right-handed person produces no loss of speech; but if the person is left-handed there is aphasia, because he, being left-handed, uses the third right in

left hemisphere cause speech defects (vide fig. 17). All neurologists, M. Marie included, admit this, and the whole question therefore is: Is a destruction of certain limited regions of the s

ou will observe that it is situated in the posterior third of the first temporal convolution, but this does not comprise nearly the whole of it, for there is an extensive surface of grey matter lying unseen within the fissure, called the transverse convolutio

g.

nce in front of the central fissure gives rise to what is termed Motor Aphasia and Motor Agraphia, because the patient no longer recalls the images of the movements necessary for expressing himself in articulate speech or by writing. Destructive lesions behind the central fissure may damage the p

rtion, and a posterior, which supplies the posterior sensory portion. The anterior divides into two branches and the posterior into three branches, consequently various limited portions of the speech zone may be deprived of blood supply by blocking of on

of the great brain may undergo destruction, giving rise to certain localising symptoms, according to the situation of the area which has been deprived of its blood supply. Upon the death of the patient, a correlation of the symptoms observed during life and the loss of brain substance found at the post-mortem examination has enabled neurologists to associate certain parts of the brain surface with certain functions; but M. Marie very rightly says: None of the older observations by Broca and others can be accepted because they were not examined by methods which would reveal the extent of the damage; the only

fined to the auditory feelings as integrated into words and the visual feeli

ense and feeling of the movement. The more intense the sense of movement, the greater will be the effect upon consciousness. In fact, a person who reads and thinks by articulating the words, does so because experience has taught him that he can concentrate his attention more perfectly; therefore his memory or understanding of the subject read or thought of will be increased. Very many people think and commit to memory by this method of concentrating attention; they probably do not belong to the quick, perceptive, imaginative class, but rather to those who have power of application and who have educated their minds by close voluntary attention. Galton found a large prop

deny that the visual type may exist; for Galton has undoubtedly shown that visual memory and power of recall of visual word images varies immensely in different individuals, and it is unquestionable that certain individuals possess the visualising faculty to an extraordinary degree; some few, moreover, can see mentally every word that is uttered; they give their attention to the visual symbolic equivalent and not to t

have no doubt that thoughts may be directly excited by the ringing of a house-bell, by the whistle of a locomotive, etc., that small children and even dogs understand words which they cannot repeat. Nevertheless I have been convinced by Stricker that the ordinary and most familiar, though

F REVIVAL OF WORDS

hat the left hemisphere in right-handed persons is dominant in speech and silent thought; it may even dominate the use of the left hand for many movements. But does not the right hemisphere take a part? Yes; and I will give my reasons later for supposing that the whole brain is in action. During the voluntary recall of words in speech and thought by virtue of the intimate association tracts connecting the grey matter of the whole speech zone, it is not a sing

the connection between the auditory word-centre and the visual word-centre; they must necessarily be called into association actively in successive units of time, as in reading aloud or writing from dictation. Educated deaf mutes think with revived visual symbol

s of the sense of movement, caused by the alteration in the tension of the muscles of articulation occurring during speech, with or without phonation. There is another which I think the correct view, that words are revived in thought

fibres found in this situation are myelinated3 at an earlier period of development of the

erving to insulate the conductile portion of the nerve is an indication th

next evolved, in fact the child speaks only that which it has heard; it learns first to repeat the names

and insects on the one hand, and all fluid objects on the other. Lastly, by a still more delicate appreciation of resemblance the child called all coins "quack" because on the back of a French sou it had seen the representation of an eagle

on and readiness of recall for auditory t

or if it were not so, how could we explain the fact that a child up to the fifth or sixth year in full possession of spee

hearing and loss of speech, the motor centres being unaffected. This is called Wernicke's sensory ap

TRUCTION OF THE AUDITORY CENTRES

, nor to the motor centres in the brain that preside over its movements in the production of articulate speech. She recognised pictures and expressed satisfaction or dissatisfaction when correct or incorrect names were written beneath the pictures; moreover, in many ways, by gestures, facial expression, and curious noises of a high-pitched, musical, whining character, showed that she was not markedly deficient in intelligence. Although in an asylum and partially paralysed, she was not really insane in the proper sense, but incapable of taking care of herself. When other patients were getting into mischief this patient would give a warning to the attendants by the utterance of inarticulate sounds, showing that she was able to comprehend what was taking place around and reason thereon, indicating thereby that although stone deaf and dumb, it was probable that she possessed the power of si

le cerebral artery, causing a temporary loss of word memory, consequently a disturbance of the whole speech zone of the left hemisphere. This would account for the deafness to spoken language and loss of speech for a fortnight, with impairment for more than a month, following the first attack. But both ears are represented in each half of the brain; that is to say, sound vibrations entering either ear, although they produce vibrations only in one auditory nerve, nevertheless proceed subsequently to both auditory centres. The path most open, however, for transmission is to the opposite hemisphere; thus the right hemisphere receives most vibrations from the left ear and vice versa. Consequen

es when it was a puppy found its way about as well as a normal dog; but an animal made blind by removal of the occipital lobes of the brain was quite stupid and had great difficulty in finding its way about. Helen Keller's brain, as shown by her accomplishments in later life, was a remarkable one; not long after birth she became deaf and blind, consequently there was practically only one avenue of intelligence left open for the education of that brain, viz. the tactile kin?sthetic. But the tactile motor sense is the active sense that waits upon and contributes to every other sense. The hand is the instrument of the mind and the agent of the will; consequently the tactile motor sense is intimately associated in its structural representation in the brain with e

AL OF SOME SENSAT

imagine tones far beyond the range of my own voice. In listening to an orchestral performance with all the parts, or in having an hallucination of such a performance, it is impossible for me to think that my understanding of this broad and complicated sound-fabric has been effected by my one larynx, which is, moreover, no very practised singer. I consider the sensations which in listening to singing are doubtless occasionally noticed in the larynx a matter of subsidiary importance, like the

he larynx are either non-existent or quite ill-defined, although I hear mentally the tonal sensations of the melody. No doubt by closing the lips in silent humming I am in some way concentrating attention to the sensori-motor sphere of phonation and articulation, and by reactive association with the auditory sphere reinforcing the tonal sensations in the mind. The vocal cords (ligaments) themselves contain very few nerve fibres; those that are seen in the deeper structures of the cords and adjacent parts mainly proceed to the mucous glands. This fact, which I have ascertained by numerous careful examinations, is in accordance with the fact that there are no conscious kin?sthetic impressions of alterations of position and tension of the vocal cords. A comparative microscopic examination of the tip of the tongue and the lips

CHANISM OF

it is no exaggeration to say that only the individual who knows how to breathe knows how to sing effectually. A musical ear and sense of rhythm are innate in some individuals; in others they are not innate and can only be acquired to a variable degree of perfection by persevering efforts and practice. The most intelligent persons may never be able to sing in tune

temperament, so modulate his voice as to convey to his audience the passions and emotions while feeling none of them himself; so many great singers who are possessed of a good musical ear, a good memory, and natural intelligence, although lacking in supreme artistic temperament and conspicuous musical ability, are nevertheless able to interpret by intonation and articulation the passions and emotions which the composer has expressed in his music and the poet or dramatist in his words. The intelligent artist possessed of the musical ear, the sense of rhythm, and a well-formed vocal organ accomplishes this by the conscious control and management of his breathing muscles and the muscles of articulation, which by education and imitation he has brought under complete

dy for the production of audible sounds-the elements of human voice and speech. Likewise he drew attention to the influence which powerful emotions exercise upon the organ of respiration, including the countenance, e.g. the

nt to the centres for the movements of the arm or leg. With voluntary breathing the respiratory centre in the medulla has nothing to do. It is in fact out of gear or inhibited for the time being, so that the impulses from the brain pass by or evade it. There are thus two sets of respiratory nerve fibres passing from the brain-the one inhibiting or controlling to the opposite half of the respiratory centre in the medulla; the other direct, evading the respiratory centre and running the same course to the spinal centres for the respiratory movements as the ordinary motor fibres do to the centres for other movements. Both sets would be affected by the lesion (or damage) which produced the hemiplegia. The inhibitory fibres being damaged, the opposite half of the respiratory centre would be under diminished control and therefore the movements of ordinary breathing on the paralysed side would be exaggerated. The damage to the direct fibres would prevent the passage of voluntar

g.

s an attempt to explain the course

the centre of hearing; these fibres convey the guiding mental images of sounds and determine exactly the liberation of innervation currents from the centre of phonation to the lower centres by which the required alterations in tension of the laryngeal muscles for the production of the corresponding sounds are effected. Arrows are represented passing from the centre of phonation to the lower centres in the medulla which preside over the muscles of the jaw, tongue, lips, and larynx. Arrows indicate also the pas

oblongata and spinal cord are united by bridges of association fibres, the result being that even if there is a destruction of the brain at a-b, still the mind and will can act through both centres, although not so efficiently. Likewise, if there is a destruction of the fibre

l centres is followed by paralysis of the muscles of the opposite side. Likewise stimulation with an interrupted electric current applied to this region of the brain in monkeys by suitable electrodes produces movements of the muscles of the lips, tongue, and jaw of the opposite side only. Not so, however, stimulation of the region which presides over the movements of the muscles of the larynx, for then both vocal cords are drawn together and made tense as in phonation. It is therefore not surprising if removal or destruction of this portion of the brain on one side does not produce paralysis of the muscles of phonation, which, always bilaterally associated in their actions, are represented as a bilateral group in both halves of the brain. These centres may be regarded as a

akes up for lack of power by correct phrasing and emotional expression. We see then that the combination of a perfect physiological and psychological mechanism is essential for successful dramatic singing, the chief attributes of which are: (1) Control of the breath, adequate volume, sustaining power, equality in the force of expulsion of air to avoid an unpleasant vibrato, and capability of producing and sustaining loud or soft tones throughout the register. (2) Compass or range of voice of not less than two octaves with adequate

roundings, also upon the association of ideas. Thus I was never more stirred emotionally by the human voice than upon hearing a mad Frenchman sing at my request the Marseillaise. Previously, when talking to him his eyes had lacked lustre and his physiognomy was expressionless; but when this broad-chested, six foot, burly, black-bearded maniac rolled out in a magnificent full-chested baritone voice the song that has stirred the emotions and passions of millions to their deepest depth, and aroused in some hope, in others despair, as he made the building ring with "Aux armes, citoyens, formez vos bataillons" I felt an emotional thrill down the spine and a gulp in the throat, while the heart and respirations for an inst

N

, Dr., 33, 45, 46, 47 Classification of Consonants,

57 seq., 92, 94 seq., fig.

thoven, symphonies, 40Bell, Sir C

mary Site of Revival of words in Silent thought, 80 seq. Relation to the Voice, 61 et passim Structure,