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Helen: We’ve come to University College London to meet Professor Sophie Scott, who’s going to reveal what makes the human resonator so special.

Sophie: So, what we’re going to do today is I’m gonna take you through to our MRI machine and what we’re going to do is use it to image Leslie’s vocal tract and that should tell us something about what’s happening for you, when you’re singing so beautifully.

Lesley: I cannot tell you how excited I’m about this. This is like, the answer to the ultimate mystery. You know, for 40 years I’ve been singing and I’ve never really quite understood what’s going on in my throat. None of us can, none of us can see it. It’s not like looking at this and you can see what’s going on, and so this is so exciting. The sound resonator of Leslie’s voice is her throat and mouth and this is what the MRI machine is going to image as she sings.

Sophie: Lesley, can you sing for me the vowels E, EH, AH, OH, ER.

Helen: The whole thing’s moving.

Sophie: It’s quite extraordinary.

Helen: The MRI shows for how each of the different vowel sounds, Lesley’s mouth and throat change shape amplifying the vibrations in air produced by her vocal folds and sculpting them into the sound we hear.

So what we saw with the laryngoscopy right down here is just the very beginning of making sound and then there’s all this shaping that goes on up here that actually determines what we hear.

Sophie: Exactly, so all of the work being done, sort of, above the voice box the larynx, is essentially changing the spectral characteristics of the noise that you’re making down there. You’re making noise here and then you’re continuously changing it up here, particularly as you can see by exactly how the tongue is being positioned and how the tongue is moving.

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Useful Expressions

reveal   明らかにする
resonator   共鳴器
We’ve come to University College London to meet Professor Sophie Scott, who’s going to reveal what makes the human resonator so special.

vocal   声の
vocal tract   声道
So, what we’re going to do today is I’m gonna take you through to our MRI machine and what we’re going to do is use it to image Leslie’s vocal tract and that should tell us something about what’s happening for you, when you’re singing so beautifully.

ultimate   最大の
This is like, the answer to the ultimate mystery.

extraordinary   すごい/驚くほどの
It’s quite extraordinary.

vowel sound   母音
amplify   拡充する/拡大する
vibration   振動
sculpt   ある形へと成す
The MRI shows for how each of the different vowel sounds, Lesley’s mouth and throat change shape amplifying the vibrations in air produced by her vocal folds and sculpting them into the sound we hear.

laryngoscopy   喉頭鏡検査法
determine   決定する
So what we saw with the laryngoscopy right down here is just the very beginning of making sound and then there’s all this shaping that goes on up here that actually determines what we hear.

sort of   いくらか/多少
larynx   喉頭
essentially   本質的に
spectral characteristics   スペクトル特性
Exactly, so all of the work being done, sort of, above the voice box the larynx, is essentially changing the spectral characteristics of the noise that you’re making down there.

continuously   続けて
particularly   とりわけ/特に
position   位置づける
You’re making noise here and then you’re continuously changing it up here, particularly as you can see by exactly how the tongue is being positioned and how the tongue is moving.