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Larynx
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The larynx is the stretch of cartilage in the airway that sits at the front of the neck, roughly at the level of the C3 to C7 cervical vertebrae.
It does two things. The first and main one is to protect the lower airway, meaning the lungs and their tubes, from aspiration: food going down the trachea instead of the esophagus. The second is that the vocal cords live there and sound is produced there, which is phonation. A lid that closes off the path of food and, in the same tube, the instrument that makes sound.
Its skeleton is made of nine cartilages. Two are easy to recognize by what they do: the cricoid is the only one that surrounds the trachea completely, like a closed ring, and the epiglottis is an elastic, leaf-shaped flap that caps the entrance to the larynx.
In brief
The larynx is the cartilaginous segment of the airway at the front of the neck, between the C3 and C7 vertebrae.
Its primary job is to protect the lower airway from the aspiration of food; it also holds the vocal cords and produces the voice, or phonation.
A lid that closes off the path of food and, in the same tube, the instrument that makes sound.
Its skeleton has nine cartilages: the cricoid is the only one that rings the trachea completely, and the epiglottis caps the entrance.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingAnatomy, Head and Neck: Larynx, StatPearlsPublished
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