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Discovery

Why do birds sing?

Discovery

BBC

Science, Technology

4.31.2K Ratings

🗓️ 17 June 2019

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

"What happens to the human voice as we age? If I hear a voice on the radio, I can guess roughly how old they are. But singer's voices seem to stay relatively unchanged as they age. Why is this?" All these questions were sent in by Jonathan Crain from Long Island in New York. Doctors Adam Rutherford and Hannah Fry discover how the human voice is produced and listen to how our voice sounds when it emerges from our vocal cords. Acoustic engineer Trevor Cox, author of Now You're Talking, explains why German and French babies have a different accent. And neuroscientist Sophie Scott describes what happens when boys' voices break, and why a similar thing can happen to women during the menopause. Finally, our voices often change dramatically in later life, as demonstrated by comedy impressionist Duncan Wisbey. Expect cameos from David Attenborough, Dumbledore and Paul McCartney. Bird Song "Winter is finally over and the birds are all singing their hearts out at dawn. What is all the noise about? And why are some songs so elaborate?" asks Tony Fulford from Cambridgeshire in the UK. We find out how birds produce multiple notes at once, which one has the widest repertoire of songs, and why males like to show off quite so much. Plus, we talk to researcher Lauryn Benedict about the project which aims to solve the mystery of why female birds sing. Featuring interviews with RSPB president and nature presenter Miranda Krestovnikoff, and world-renowned birdsong expert and sound recordist, Don Kroodsma from the University of Massachusetts. TV archive courtesy of The One Show, BBC TV. Please send your cases for consideration for the next series to [email protected]. Presenters: Adam Rutherford, Hannah Fry Producer: Michelle Martin. (Photo: Eurasian Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes). Credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey, it's Doleepa, and I'm at your service.

0:04.7

Join me as I serve up personal conversations

0:07.1

with my sensational guests.

0:08.9

Do a leap, interviews, Tim Cook.

0:11.2

Technology doesn't want to be good or bad.

0:15.0

It's in the hands of the Creator.

0:16.7

It's not every day that I have the CEO of the world's biggest company in my living room.

0:20.6

If you're looking at your phone more than you're looking in someone's eyes, you're doing the wrong thing.

0:26.0

Julie, at your service.

0:28.0

Listen to all episodes on BBC Sales.

0:31.5

Hello and welcome to you the curious cases of Rutherford and Fry on Discovery for the BBC.

0:37.0

This is the program where you send us in things that you are curious about and we will look into them on your behalf using the power of science.

0:45.0

So please do send us your curious cases, the things that have always bothered you which we think

0:49.9

we might be able to help out with using the power of science two curious cases at

0:54.0

BBC.co. UK. We've got two cases about sounds today, animal sounds, well

1:00.3

birds and humans. They both are animals. In the first episode we're talking about our own voices and whether and how they change as we get older.

1:10.0

Yeah, how they sort of, your whole tone ages with you.

1:15.0

Yeah, and this was prompted by a question about whether you could actually predict how old someone is by listening only to their voice and of course this is incredibly

1:24.4

important for us because you never get to see our faces and see how youthfully

1:28.6

beautiful we are. I'm actually 22 years old. Whereas as we will find out during the programme, I'm about 78.

1:36.0

Enjoy. Hello it's curious cases and the question we're tackling is from Jonathan Crane in

1:47.8

Long Island in New York. He asks what happens to the human voice as we age?

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