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How do sound waves carry speech from a speaker to a listener?

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Uncover the science behind the transformation of sounds into speech — speech Speech is the faculty of producing articulated sounds, which, when blended together, form language.

Speech is produced when movements of the vocal tract—such as the tongue, lips, and vocal cords—interfere with air expelled from the lungs. These articulatory processes create complex sound waves, which are mechanical disturbances that propagate through the air.123

These waves travel from the speaker to the listener as longitudinal waves, consisting of alternating regions of high pressure (compression) and low pressure (rarefaction). As the air particles are disturbed by the speaker's vocal organs, they move back and forth, pushing and pulling on neighboring particles in the direction of the wave's travel. This chain reaction transmits the sound energy through the medium of air.34

When these waves reach the listener, the eardrum responds to the variations in air pressure. The inner ear then converts these mechanical vibrations into electrical impulses, which are sent to the brain to be perceived as speech.156