full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Shaylin Schundler: Why does your voice change as you get older?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


In the mid-16th cnrutey, iiaanlts were captivated by a type of male singer whose incredible range contained notes previously thought impossible for adult men. However, this gift came at a high price. To prevent their voices from breaking, these singers had been castrated before pruetby, halting the hormonal processes that would deepen their voices. Known as castrati, their light, aeniglc vioecs were renowned throughout Europe, until the cruel procedure that created them was ouwaetld in the 1800s.

Though stunting vocal growth can produce an extraordinary musical range, ntralulay developing voices are already capable of inelrdcibe variety. And as we age, our bodies undergo two mjaor changes which explore that range. So how exactly does our voice box work, and what causes these shifts in speech?

Open Cloze


In the mid-16th _______, ________ were captivated by a type of male singer whose incredible range contained notes previously thought impossible for adult men. However, this gift came at a high price. To prevent their voices from breaking, these singers had been castrated before _______, halting the hormonal processes that would deepen their voices. Known as castrati, their light, _______ ______ were renowned throughout Europe, until the cruel procedure that created them was ________ in the 1800s.

Though stunting vocal growth can produce an extraordinary musical range, _________ developing voices are already capable of __________ variety. And as we age, our bodies undergo two _____ changes which explore that range. So how exactly does our voice box work, and what causes these shifts in speech?

Solution


  1. naturally
  2. century
  3. major
  4. italians
  5. incredible
  6. angelic
  7. voices
  8. outlawed
  9. puberty

Original Text


In the mid-16th century, Italians were captivated by a type of male singer whose incredible range contained notes previously thought impossible for adult men. However, this gift came at a high price. To prevent their voices from breaking, these singers had been castrated before puberty, halting the hormonal processes that would deepen their voices. Known as castrati, their light, angelic voices were renowned throughout Europe, until the cruel procedure that created them was outlawed in the 1800s.

Though stunting vocal growth can produce an extraordinary musical range, naturally developing voices are already capable of incredible variety. And as we age, our bodies undergo two major changes which explore that range. So how exactly does our voice box work, and what causes these shifts in speech?

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
vocal folds 3
voice box 2


Important Words


  1. adult
  2. age
  3. angelic
  4. bodies
  5. box
  6. breaking
  7. capable
  8. captivated
  9. castrated
  10. castrati
  11. century
  12. contained
  13. created
  14. cruel
  15. deepen
  16. developing
  17. europe
  18. explore
  19. extraordinary
  20. gift
  21. growth
  22. halting
  23. high
  24. hormonal
  25. impossible
  26. incredible
  27. italians
  28. light
  29. major
  30. male
  31. men
  32. musical
  33. naturally
  34. notes
  35. outlawed
  36. prevent
  37. previously
  38. price
  39. procedure
  40. processes
  41. produce
  42. puberty
  43. range
  44. renowned
  45. shifts
  46. singer
  47. singers
  48. speech
  49. stunting
  50. thought
  51. type
  52. undergo
  53. variety
  54. vocal
  55. voice
  56. voices
  57. work