Why does helium affect voice

Were you a rising singing star intent on making your big debut sound super special? Were you trying to impersonate a duck or a mouse? Be as wildly creative as you can be. Have fun thinking of an imaginative explanation for why you might use helium to change your voice. When you're finished, share your story with friends and family members. What do they think? Did you get it? Test your knowledge. Wonder Words cord vocal tone airflow harmless tract nasal tongue membrane abundant prolonged chronic larynx mucous resonate density frequency timbre Take the Wonder Word Challenge.

Join the Discussion. Nov 18, Dex Trzaska Nov 30, Why would you think that a kid would breath helium. Bluerassberry Sep 26, I think a kid would breath in helium for fun. Sep 26, Thanks for commenting, Bluerassberry! Dec 27, Hi, Dex Trzanska! Why do YOU think a kid would breathe helium? Kitty Kat May 1, May 8, Ashrafi Balloons Apr 30, Thank You! Apr 30, Jakob L Feb 20, Feb 23, Apr 18, Chase Hern Dec 20, You should do the helium challenge and post it on youtube? Jan 2, GhostMan Nov 15, Nov 19, Thanks for sharing, GhostMan!

Jun 14, Usually people do it to be funny. Isaac Jan 26, Jan 27, Karter Dec 8, I don't need helium to talk in a high pitched voice because I learned how to do it. Dec 9, Neat, Karter! Do you like to do impressions or talk in funny ways? Oct 17, Shamar Jun 17, Jun 17, May 31, Alyanna Mar 3, What date did you make this article about Helium, i need it for my project in school. Mar 4, Aubrey muck Jan 4, Jan 5, Aubrey muck Dec 17, Dec 17, Hi, Aubrey muck!

We're glad you liked this Wonder! Visit again soon! Ed Dec 1, Dec 2, Harlee W. Dec 12, I love sucking air out of a bollon becouse its so funny when you do it makes your voice funny do you like making funny sounds. Wonderopolis Dec 12, That's funny, Harlee W.!

Thanks for sharing with us! Samantha Dec 1, If we breathed in a lot of helium mixed with air would it hurt us???????? Wonderopolis Dec 2, Emma Williams mrs. Mason's cla Nov 26, This is an awesome wonder Wonderopolis!

On my 5th birthday, my dad sucked in helium and he said "hello everybody! And on my step sisters birthday, we got to take six balloons home and then I sucked in the helium from the balloon. The sounds are the same pitch, but their tone aka sound quality or timbre are different. The human voice is made up of many different tones mixed together.

At the same time, it makes the lower tones resonate less in the vocal tract. The two effects combine to create a Chipmunk-like, flat sound.

This moving series of compressions is a sound wave, and the distance between them is known as the wavelength. All gas samples have the same number of molecules per unit volume at a given pressure and temperature, whether the gas is helium or nitrogen the primary constituent of air. But not all gas molecules have the same mass. Nitrogen and thus air has a mass roughly seven times greater than that of helium.

Nitrogen is thus denser than helium and sound waves travel through it more slowly than they do in helium. At 20 degrees Celsius, for example, sound travels at meters a second through helium, but only at meters a second through air. Like the vibration of a drum or a violin string, the vibration frequency of the vocal cords is independent of the type of gas that surrounds them.

Whereas the velocity of the sound waves is faster in helium and the wavelength greater , the frequency remains unchanged because it is determined by the vibrating vocal cords. That sound is called the fundamental frequency of your voice. On its own it just sounds like a simple buzzing. But when it reaches your vocal tract, the sound waves start bouncing around. Those reflections interfere with each other. Which creates a mix of other frequencies, that you can detect with a spectrogram.

So even though your voice starts out as one frequency, it ends up as a mix of multiple ones. And that's where helium comes into play. Helium is lighter than air. Which means sound moves faster through helium than through air — nearly 3 times faster, in fact. So the sound waves bounce around faster in your vocal tract, which amplifies the higher frequencies in your voice.

It's sort of like how speeding up your voice makes it sound higher. But hold on a sec.