Klarinet Archive - Posting 000175.txt from 1996/10

From: "Scott D. Morrow" <SDM@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: CO2 influencing pitch
Date: Tue, 8 Oct 1996 15:28:54 -0400

>I don't think this is true. Surely its the speed of sound in the column of
>gas inside the clarinet and probably inside the player that is relevant
>here not the gas through which it travels to your ears. If you breathe in
>helium and then speak your voice is higher pitched. You don't have to fill
>the entire room with helium to get the effect.
>
The reason your voice sounds higher when you inhale helium is that
the helium tightens your larynx (or something close to that. Is there a
doctor on the list...?), NOT because sound waves travel faster through the
helium in your system! Your voice sounds higher pitched because it IS
higher pitched! I agree that the speed of the air through the clarinet has
a great deal to do with the sound, but this is AFTER it leaves your mouth,
and I still maintain that the composition of gases should have no effect on
pitch!

-Scott

Scott D. Morrow
Department of Biochemistry
School of Hygiene and Public Health
Johns Hopkins University
(410)-955-3631

SDM@-----.edu