ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the theoretical basis needed to understand the process of voice production, as well as to relate it to the process of music generation in any musical instrument. It introduces the physiology of the human voice and the whole mechanism of voice production. From the physiological point of view, the voice is produced through three main subsystems, which form the sound apparatus: respiratory, laryngeal, and articulatory. In breathing, more precisely in the exhalation phase, the vocal cords, located in the larynx, are abducted by a set of organs until they touch each other, helping to regulate the gas exchange with the lung and maintaining acid-base balance. The speech production process consists of three fundamental parts: source of excitement, vocal tract and radiation. Voiced fricatives are characterized by mixed arousal, consisting of vibration of the vocal cords along with a constriction point somewhere in the vocal tract.
