Adam’s Apple and Puberphonia
The Adam’s apple is the laryngeal prominence in male neck after they attain puberty. This protrusion, is formed by the angle of the thyroid cartilage lamina surrounding the larynx.
The term “Adam’s Apple” is derived from the forbidden fruit in the biblical account of the lives of Adam and Eve , but it doesn\’t says its apple, it doesn\’t matter as it is only misinterpreted.It was the tree of Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, not apple.
Well, Aquila Ponticus, who was a second century translator translating the Old Testament from Hebrew to Greek, must have took the liberty of translating it as an apple tree, even though the original text doesn\’t say that. It\’s likely that he chose this due to the fact that he was translating it into Greek for Greeks and that in Greek mythology apples were seen as symbols of desire and destruction.
When the larynx grows larger during puberty, it sticks out at the front of the throat. Everyone’s larynx grows during puberty, but a girl’s larynx doesn’t grow as much as a boy’s does. That’s why boys have Adam’s apples. Most girls don’t have Adam’s apples, but some do.
This larger larynx also gives boys deeper voices. Actually, girls’ voices get a little bit deeper as their larynxes get larger, too. But because boys’ larynxes grow so much more, it makes their voices deeper than girls’ voices.
Puberphonia is a continuation of high-pitched voice in males which otherwise disappears at the time of puberty. Children reach puberty around the age of 12 years when their hormone levels begin to become elevated. In males, this is also the age when their larynx has a rapid increase in size. The vocal cords become longer and begin to vibrate at a lower pitch.
The management of puberphonia is Voice or Speech therapy. Surgery like Thyroplasty can be tried in resistant cases.
(After puberty some men stay with their high-pitched voice, creating a “womanly” voice output, making social encounters very uneasy for them, as their voice is high pitched woman-like while their appearance and behavior is of a young male. Here Laryngoscopy shows normal male type larynx.)
