How does a ten pound cat make a sound lower than a man's voice?
- A purr hums about 25 times a second, far below an adult man's speaking voice.
- It keeps going while the cat breathes in and while it breathes out.
- In 2023, scientists found soft pads in a cat's vocal folds that make them shake slowly, like a thick guitar string.
Thousands of years on our laps, and the purr still keeps some of its secrets.
Words for the text
- purr
- The low, soft sound a cat makes, often when it is happy.
- larynx
- The voice box. It is in the throat.
- vocal folds
- Two soft parts in the voice box. They move and make the voice.
- vibration
- A very fast movement, again and again. You can feel it.
- kitten
- A young cat.
The opening of the text
A small engine
Put your hand on a happy cat, and you can often feel the purr before you hear it: a soft, low rumble. But scientists are still asking two simple questions about this sound. How does a cat make it? And why?
The purr comes from the larynx, in the cat's throat. People also call it the voice box. When a cat meows, it opens its mouth. When it purrs, the mouth is usually closed.
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