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Vocal cords
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The vocal cords, which in anatomy are called vocal folds, are not cords like the ones on a guitar: they are folds made of layers, and there are five layers in all. From the inside out, they are the thyroarytenoid muscle, then the deep, intermediate and superficial layers of the lamina propria, the tissue that lies beneath the surface, and on top of it all the squamous epithelium, which is the covering.
Those layers are not there for decoration. The deep and the intermediate layers together form the vocal ligament. The superficial layer, also known as Reinke's space, is gelatinous, and it is over this layer that the fold vibrates.
Opening and closing requires a joint. The arytenoid cartilages rest on the cricoid at a ball-and-socket joint, the same kind of joint as the shoulder, and as they rotate they bring the folds together or move them apart. That movement is what is needed both for airway protection and for phonation, which is how the voice is produced.
In brief
Each vocal cord, or vocal fold, has five layers: from the inside out, the thyroarytenoid muscle, three layers of lamina propria, and the squamous epithelium.
The deep and intermediate layers together form the vocal ligament; the superficial layer, or Reinke's space, is the gelatinous surface over which the fold vibrates.
The arytenoids rotate on the cricoid in a ball-and-socket joint, and that rotation moves the folds closer together or farther apart, which is needed both for airway protection and for phonation.
The ball-and-socket joint of the shoulder.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingAnatomy, Head and Neck, Larynx Vocal Cords, StatPearlsPublished
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