Singing sexy back: How sparrows adapted to COVID-19 shutdown

As the streets of San Francisco emptied out in the first months of the pandemic, the city's male birds began singing more softly and improving their vocal range, making them "sexier" to females, according to a new study published ...

Songbirds, like people, sing better after warming up

If you've ever been woken up before sunrise by the trilling and chirping of birds outside your window, you may have wondered: why do birds sing so loud, so early in the morning?

How the brain controls the voice

Bats are famous for their sonar-based navigation. They use their extremely sensitive hearing for orientation, emitting ultrasound noises and receiving an image of their surroundings based on the echo. Seba's short-tailed ...

Pitch range produced by vocal cords

Picture a singer, accompanied by a grand piano. As the singer's voice dances through multiple octaves of range, the pianist's fingers trip from one end of the keyboard to the other. Both the singer's voice and the piano are ...

Disorders of the voice can affect a politician's success

The acoustics of a political speech delivery are known to be a powerful influencer of voter preferences, perhaps giving some credence to the saying, "It's not what you say, but how you say it." Vocal disorders change the ...