Anatomy and Physiology of Communication: Understanding the Process of Responding 'Nope

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Abstract

This paper explores the communication process that is involved when a person answers, “Nope” to the question, “Do you like ice cream?” Although the question may be simple, there are numerous processes that go into the response to the question. Each of these systems will work in conjunction with each other to allow you to produce speech in a clear and effective way. Throughout the paper, the anatomical structures of hearing, the brain, respiration, phonation, and articulation will be discussed in depth.

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The physiology of hearing, the brain, respiration, phonation, and articulation will be also be discussed in depth. The numerous muscles, cranial nerves, and theories that are involved in hearing, the brain, respiration, phonation, and articulation will also be included in this paper to aid the reader in understanding the process of communication. Understanding the anatomical structures and physiology in each of these processes will be beneficial to anyone who reads this paper.

The Process of Communication

The communication process involves many different anatomical structures and physiological processes can be best understood when looked at with detail.

Throughout this paper, the anatomical structures of hearing, the brain, respiration, phonation, and articulation will be discussed in depth. The physiology of hearing, the brain, respiration, phonation, and articulation will be also be discussed thoroughly. When a person answers “Nope” to the question, “Do you like ice cream?” there are many different systems involved in producing this very simple answer. Often times, people look past what all goes into producing speech. Someone who is uneducated on the topic may think that the only thing that goes into speech is taking a breath before you say something.

It is very important that people are educated on the communication process in order to have a good understanding of what is going on anatomically and physiologically when they are speaking. At the end of this paper, the reader should have a clear understanding of the communication process involved when a person replies, “Nope” to the question, “Do you like ice cream?”

The first thing that must happen in order for a person to reply “Nope” to the question is hearing. A person has to hear the question that they are being asked in order to create a response. There are many anatomical structures that are involved in hearing. First, the question “Do you like ice cream?” will enter through the outer ear, the go into the middle ear, and then into the inner ear. The outer ear consists of the pinna (auricle), helix, concha, tragus, external auditory meatus, and the tympanic membrane. The tympanic membrane is responsible for initiating mechanical impedance matching process of the middle ear (Bougie, 2019). The malleus will connect to the eardrum which will then link it to the outer ear. The stapes, however, is going to be connected to the inner ear. Once the question gets to the middle ear, the ossicular chain gets involved. The vibrations that are caused by the sound waves are going to move the malleus, the incus, and the stapes. This movement will then transfer these sound vibrations into the cochlea of the middle ear. In the inner ear, there are hair cells that will change the movement into electrical signals. Then these electrical signals travel through your auditory nerve and go to your brain. Once the question, “Do you like ice cream?” gets to your brain, your brain will then figure out how to responds to the question

The next process in answering “Nope” to the questions “Do you like ice cream?” is auditory physiology. As expressed in the PowerPoints, there are many physiological principles of the auditory system. The outer will collect the question that was being asked and shape the frequency components. The pinna of the outer ear will funnel the question that has been asked into the external auditory meatus. Then, the external auditory meatus will funnel the sound to the tympanic membrane. The middle ear has to match impedance of two conductive systems, which are the outer ear and the cochlea. The middle ear will the match the airborne acoustic signal with fluid medium. The inner ear will perform frequency and temporal acoustic analysis of the incoming acoustic signal. There are numerous components of the inner ear function. These are the vestibular mechanism, auditory mechanism, electrical events, electrical potentials, neural responses, and the auditory pathway responses. All of these components of the inner ear function reside in the cochlea.

The auditory pathway will convey and further the processes in the signal and the cerebral cortex will interpret the signal (Bougie, 2019). There are different neural responses involved in hearing. The first type of VIII nerve neurons is the high threshold neurons. These are going to process higher level sounds and require high level of stimulation to fire. The second type of VIII nerve neuron is the low threshold fibers. These respond at very low signal intensities and process near threshold sounds (Bougie, 2019). Some other very important physiological responses that are involved with hearing the question are the auditory pathway responses. These are the superior olivary complex, lateral superior olive, medial superior olive, inferior colliculus, medial geniculate body, and lastly the cerebral cortex. All of these responses are very important in the interpretation of the question, “Do you like ice cream?” Although the physiology of hearing can be long and difficult to understand, it is important to realize that there are many different things that have to happen for you to hear the question that is being asked of you.

After the question that was asked reaches your brain and you understand what the person is asking you, then respiration gets involved. Respiration is vital for the production of speech. There are two different types of respiration which are inspiration and expiration. A very important theory that is involved in respiration is the Kinetic Theory of Gases, which states that when volume and temperature are held constant, the force of pressure exerted on the walls of a container is directly proportional to the number of molecules inside. There are also many different laws that are involved respiration which are: Boyle’s Law, Charles’s Law, Dalton’s Law, and Henry’s Law. Before you can answer the question that was asked, you must first have respiration. The framework for breathing involves the spinal column, rib cage, and the pelvis. The first step in respiration is inhalation, which is the process in which air is being brought into the lungs to equalize pressure. As Bougie stated, “Inspiratory muscles raise the ribs during inhalation” (Bougie, 2019).

The primary inspiratory muscles are the diaphragm, the external intercostals, and the internal intercostals. There are also accessory muscles of inspiration which are the sternocleidomastoid, scalens, pectoralis, serratus, subclavius, lavatory scapulae, lavatory costarum, and the trapezius. Once you inhale the air, it will go through the upper respiratory tract which main function is to warm, filter, and moisten air before it enters the lower respiratory tract through the larynx. First, it will pass through the nasal cavity, then go through the oral cavity, then to the pharyngeal cavity, and to the sinuses. Then it will enter the lower respiratory tract. First, the air will go through the larynx, to the trachea, and into the lungs. Once it reaches the lungs, it will go to the bronchi, then to the bronchioles, and lastly to the alveoli. The actual site of gas exchange takes place in the alveoli (Bougie, 2019) The alveoli will release surfactant which helps smooth breathing and reduce surface tension.

The second step of respiration is exhalation which is the process by which air is expelled from the lungs to equalize pressure. Some of the muscles involved in exhalation are your external oblique, internal oblique, rectusabdominus, transverse abdominus, quadratuslumborum, internal intercostals, subcostals, serratus posterior inferior, and latissimusdorsi (Bougie, 2019). Another important thing to look at is lung volume and lung capacities. You have four different types of lung volumes and they are Tidal Volume, Inspiratory Reserve Volume, Expiratory Reserve Volume, and Residual Volume. There are also four types of lung capacities and they are Vital Capacity, Functional Residual Capacity, Inspiratory Capacity, and Total Lung Capacity. Respiration is vital to the ability to produce speech. Without air, you will be unable to produce speech. Understanding the anatomy of respiration allows you to realize just how important air is for producing speech.

Now that we have discussed the anatomy of respiration, we will discuss the physiology of respiration that takes place in order to produce the word, “Nope.” Firstly, the main goals of respiration are to oxygenate blood and eliminate carbon dioxide. There are four major events that take place during the physiology of respiration. The first is pulmonary ventilation, which is the movement of air into the lungs. The second is external respiration which happens when oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged between the lungs and blood. The third is the transport of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood. Lastly internal respiration takes place when oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged between systematic blood vessels and tissue cells. When looking at respiration, you see that there is respiration for life and respiration for speech. Respiration for life is the primary function of breathing and is the basic process of gas exchange. There are four things that take place during breathing for life and they are ventilation, distribution, perfusion, and diffusion. Respiration for speech on the other hand operates within respect for life. It is active respiration and it provides energy for oral communication. This is the power behind speech. In order to produce your response “Nope”, muscular effort is required. As Bougie stated, “Respiration is the force behind speech production. It provides energy for oral communication” (Bougie, 2019).

There are a number of breathing mechanics that are involved in the physiology of respiration. These are that the diaphragm and other muscles contract, the lungs expand, air flows in from the outside until air pressure in the lungs equals that of the outside air (Boyle’s Law), abdominal organs are compressed, and restorative forces. There are four different types of breathing patters that may be involved in respiration and they are diaphragmatic/abdominal, thoracic, clavicular, and opposition. Something that is very important to know is that there are respiratory areas of brain control during inspiration and expiration. When you take that deep breath in order to answer the question, “Do you like ice cream?” there are many physiological processes that go into producing the reply, “Nope.”

After respiration, phonation will occur so that you can reply “Nope.” During phonation there are various anatomical structures that work hand and hand to produce sounds. Phonation is the product of vibrating vocal folds and occurs within the larynx. Phonation is the source of voice for speech and as we talked about previously, respiration provides the energy that will allow phonation. First, air will be pushed up through your glottis, which is the opening between your vocal cords. Your vocal cords are composed of five layers of tissue. These fiver layers are squamous epithelium, superficial lamina propria, intermediate lamina propria, deep lamina propria, and the thyroarytenoid muscle. Once the air is pushed through the glottis, the pressure will drop in the larynx. When you reply to the question, air will come from your lungs, and through your vocal folds. This will cause the vocal cords to vibrate and in turn will produce voicing, which would be the reply “Nope.” In order to produce the reply, your vocal folds must adduct so that the air is trapped in your lungs.

During phonation, there are many anatomical structures and muscles involved. The larynx is the principal structure for producing the reply “Nope,” however, there are many different structures that provide the framework of the larynx. These structures are the hyoid bone, epiglottis, thyroid cartilage, cricoid cartilage, arytenoid cartilages, cuneiform cartilages, and corniculate cartilages. There are also joints involved in phonation and they are the cricoarytenoid and the cricothyroid. Lastly, there are numerous ligaments, membranes, and intrinsic and extrinsic muscles that are involved in you producing the reply “Nope” to the question, “Do you like ice cream?”

When you reply “Nope,” to the question, “Do you like ice cream?” you are also using many physiological processes that help to produce the reply. The three mechanics of phonation are elasticity, stiffness, and inertia. When these three forces are implemented, a periodic wave is created. There are many aspects of the physiology of phonation that contribute to what your voice may sound like. These different aspects are frequency, amplitude and intensity, and pitch. Depending on how you as an individual produce sounds, these aspects can change. Once you are done speaking, your vocal folds will abduct, and the voicing will be terminated.

There are also different types of vocal register which are modal, glottal fry, falsetto, breathy phonation, and whispering. There are four changing elements during phonation. As Bougie stated in her PowerPoint, tension, length, subglottal pressure, and fundamental frequency can all change. Two theories that are involved in the physiology of phonation are the Myoelastic-aerodynamic Theory of Phonation and the Cover Body Theory of Vocal Fold Vibration. The Myoelastic-Aerodynamic Theory of Phonation was created by VandenBerg and states that vocal folds are activated by the airstream from the lungs. The Cover Body Theory of Vocal Fold Vibration was created by Hirano and Kakita and attempts to account for wide range of frequencies, amplitudes vocal qualities that we can produce while phonating I terms at the structure of the vocal folds. The physiology of phonation is a very important aspect of how the reply “Nope” is produced when you are asked the question, “Do you like ice cream?” It is important to remember that there are many changing elements during phonation and that not everyone’s voice is going to sound the same.

Once you go through the process of phonation to produce the reply “Nope” to the question “Do you like ice cream?” articulation is going to be very important. The anatomy of articulation is a complex process but is very important in being able to produce. Articulation is the process of joining two components together. The articulation system is made up of mobile and immobile structures that are brought together for the purpose of producing speech. The mobile articulators are the tongue, mandible, velum, lips, cheeks, fauces, pharynx, larynx, and the hyoid. The immobile articulators are the alveolar ridge, hard palate, and the teeth. An important theory that is involved in articulation is the Source Filter Theory. This states that voicing source is generated by the vocal folds, directed through the vocal tract where it is shaped into the sounds of speech. The Source Filter Theory also expresses that the oral cavity, pharynx, and nasal cavity all contribute to the production of speech. There are 19 parts between the vocal cords and the lips that allow us to produce speech. Each of these play an important role in creating normal speech production.

On the physiology aspect of phonation, when you produce the reply, “Nope,” you are using both mobile and immobile articulators. The speech sound that you produce depends upon the place of articulation, manner of articulation, and where your tongue goes. When you produce the reply, “Nope,” you first raise your tongue to your alveolar ridge to produce the “n” sound which will produce an alveolar sound. After that, you use your lips to produce the “o” sound. After you produce the “o” sound, you must produce the “p” sound in order to properly articulate the word. In order to produce this sound, your lips must come together, which will produce a bilabial sound. Since the “e” is silent in this word, there will be no articulation for the sound. While producing this reply, you are using tongue tip elevation. There are four theories that are involved in the physiology of articulation. These are the Associated Chain Theory, Central Control Theory, DIVA Model of Speech Production, and the Dynamic Action Theory.

The Associated Chain Theory doesn’t account for coarticulation and it states that you learn all motor sequences to produce a particular sound, however, speech is more dynamic. The Central Control Theory expressed that articulation requires precise activation of neurons and muscle fibers which is accurate, timely, and results in correct movement. It does not account for articulatory variability and the sensory system plays a role in speech production. The DIVA Model of Speech utilizes auditory feedback and feedforward as the dominant inputs. This theory accounts for factors within speech production. The Dynamic Action Theory has coordinative structures that contribute to achieving goal at terminal effector. This theory describes motor control as a system that is self-organizing.

Another process that goes hand in hand with articulation is resonance. Anatomically, resonance involves the oral cavity, nasal cavity, and the pharynx. During resonation, the word “Nope,” can be amplified and modified by the oral cavity, nasal cavity, and the pharynx. These resonators are going to help produce your normal sounding voice. Resonance can be thought of as amplification, richness, and quality of your voice. You can have hypernasality and hyponasality, which are both a type of resonance. Hypernasality takes place when there is too much sound coming out of the nasal cavity. During hypernasality, it sounds as if the person is talking out of their nose. Hyponasality is when a person appears to sound stopped up. Depending on how much air is able to come through your nasal cavity, your resonance can change.