D: [COUGHING]

Y: Wow, Don, that's quite a cough.

D: Yeah, I've come down with a cold again.

Y: I'm sorry.

D: Thanks. At least I don't feel as bad as I sound. But, y'know, this made me wonder:      Why is it that our voices get lower when we get a cold?

Y: That's a good question. Mine gets lower, too, and I have always wondered why that      is.

D: Well, I thought this was a good time to get to the bottom of this, so I asked Tony      Mescher in IU's Medical Sciences Program about it.

Y: Before you give us the answer, let's review what gives us our normal voices.

D: Tell us about it.

Y: Our voices originate from the vibration of the vocal cords in the larynx, or "Adam's      Apple." The pitch range of our voices is determined by the length and thickness of      our vocal cords. Shorter and thinner vocal cords vibrate faster, and result in a higher      voice like a child's or a woman's. Longer, thicker vocal cords vibrate more slowly      and make a lower voice like a man's. A boy's voice gets lower at puberty because      his vocal cords get longer and thicker.

D: Now here is what happens when you get a cold--the condition I find myself in right      now. With a cold comes inflammation of the structures around the vocal cords. With      the inflammation comes swelling of those structures. And as you just said, Yael,      thicker vocal cords vibrate more slowly and give a lower pitch. Our inflamed,      swollen--that is thicker--vocal cords vibrate more slowly than normal, and our voice      is lower than it usually is. Now I think I'll go have some chicken soup.  

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