Britannica Sources used in this answer

How do the paranasal sinuses affect the weight of the skull and the sound of the voice?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Medical illustration of the human chest showing the lungs, diaphragm, ribs, trachea, bronchus, and bronchioles, with one lung cut away to reveal internal structures. — human respiratory system The lungs serve as the gas-exchanging organ for the process of respiration.

The suggestion that the paranasal sinuses significantly affect the weight of the skull or the sound of the voice is a common theory, but scientific evidence for these claims is currently lacking.1

While it has been proposed that the paranasal sinuses serve to lighten the skull and play a role in phonation, these functions remain unproven. In terms of voice production, individual vocal quality is primarily shaped by the configuration of the supraglottic structures—often referred to as the "inner face"—and the physiological flexibility of the vocal tract, rather than the resonance of the sinus cavities themselves.12