Here we have a good view of the voicebox.

January 31, 2011 6:10 AM

Anatomical Tutorial During Trans-Nasal Endoscopy
posted by jjray (14 comments total)

"I thought you just told me they used radio."

"They do, but what do you think is on the radio? Meat sounds. You know how when you slap or flap meat, it makes a noise? They talk by flapping their meat at each other. They can even sing by squirting air through their meat."
posted by Westringia F. at 6:17 AM on January 31, 2011 [14 favorites]

"The strobe light will now be turned on" was not what I imagined I would hear when I decided to watch a trans-nasal endoscopy. It gave me a good chuckle. Thanks for posting this!
posted by janepanic at 6:42 AM on January 31, 2011

It was entertaining, fascinating, and mildly worrisome. At the end, when we were looking at the voice box, I kept expecting it to start talking to the camera telling us R'lyeh was rising or some such.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:49 AM on January 31, 2011

I find it weird that the entire thing was chock full of correct anatomical language, but then the narrator busts out with "voice box" instead of larynx.

I mean, really.
posted by caution live frogs at 6:55 AM on January 31, 2011

A look at the Larynx of a Tuvan throat singer.
posted by quoquo at 7:16 AM on January 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

Pink and slimy all the way down! I had a bronchoscopy a year and a half ago and the doctor was nice enough to let me watch on the big hi-def screen, though he went all the way into my lungs which was extra awesome and weird! I tried humming before he got to my larynx, but he had given me an inhaled anesthetic and I couldn't even feel myself breathing, much less make a noise! I should find out if it's possible to get a copy of the video.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 7:18 AM on January 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

I couldn't even feel myself breathing

You weren't, you are now dead and this is a cookbookhell.
posted by DU at 7:22 AM on January 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

This reminds me an exhibit I saw at the Exploratorium (I think; if not, then maybe at the MoS Boston). It consists of a bellows that blows into a channel with a reed and wooden blocks that can be oriented to mimic the position of the soft palate, tongue, and lips. Trying to manipulate the blocks into producing different sounds really underscores how incredibly fine and agile our vocal control is... it's pretty amazing. Thanks for this, jjray! It was cool to see it in action.

But... what is up with the chickachickachicka background music?
posted by Westringia F. at 7:33 AM on January 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

It was entertaining, fascinating, and mildly worrisome

If you want entertaining and mildly worrisome, here's a video of me inserting a nasopharyngeal airway adjunct into my willing assistant who is also my cousin.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 9:10 AM on January 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

Ok.

It's an Endoscopy all right.

And, it quite clearly nasal in nature.

But, what makes it trans?
posted by CynicalKnight at 10:31 AM on January 31, 2011

> But, what makes it trans?

Passage through the nasal cavity to the pharyngeal cavity.
posted by stonepharisee at 11:23 AM on January 31, 2011

I have a photo of my larynx. Everyone who sees it assumes that it is something quite other... all that pink y'see.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 11:29 AM on January 31, 2011

Interesting how the larynx looks like a vagina, ey?
posted by ~Sushma~ at 6:47 PM on January 31, 2011

I volunteered to have this done to me in class two years ago. Unfortunately, the ENT guy was yammering for so long that by the time he got around to doing it, the local anesthetic he had applied had already worn off, for the most part. Needless to say, I didn't volunteer when it was the urologist's turn to demonstrate.
posted by greatgefilte at 6:10 AM on February 1, 2011 [1 favorite]