Survival instinct Ueshiba Morihei is famous as the master of the martial art of Aikido. People in the world know that there are many strange things surrounding this character, to the point that they say that no one has been able to knock him down. During a practice session, UeshibaMorihei accepted the challenge of the practitioners, trying to use his whole body to push him off the mat. However, the ancestor remained motionless, until he shouted “Kiai” loudly, causing the students to fall to the sides. Everyone didn’t say a word, just felt shocked because the aftershock of the sound was still echoing in their ears. Sascha Frühholz watched for a long time the videos of the ancestor UeshibaMorihei’s training, with a terrifying “Kiai”, which stunned opponents and momentarily lost their composure. The sound is sometimes like a terrible thunderclap, sometimes like thunder in a thunderstorm. This makes sound scientists like Sascha Frühholz suspicious: does a scream contain such tremendous power? For a martial art like Aikido, shouting “Kiai” represents confidence and fierce will, transforming the human body from sluggish, sluggish state to excited and ready to fight. Our body is entering the subconscious working mechanism, so that when the mind speaks to control behavior and manifests outside, we officially operate in a conscious way. As a kind of signal, Sascha Frühholz believes that screams create multidimensional emotional expression, but are always forgotten by the modern life that has led us to slip into a regular Disney-style safe state, all day long. only laughter and occasional sadness. Sport is like a battle, between winners and losers. Since appearing on Earth, humans have always shown the dominant instinct, wanting to use power to threaten and overwhelm the opponent. Sascha Frühholz associates the shout of “Kiai” with the most primitive weapon of prehistoric times, to ensure the survival of any species. Perhaps, the deepest nature of the scream is like a self-defense shield in the community of creatures, not just humans. In other primates and mammals, scream-like calls are often used as alarm signals specifically for negative and social conflict situations. One summer afternoon in 2019, Harold Gouzoules sat quietly across from Sascha Frühholz inside a soundproof lab. The screams of monkeys from the tape are loud, loud, shrill and make ordinary people feel headaches. They live in a human-like society, and have become so intelligent that they develop distinct scream patterns that not only act as a warning but also reveal the type of predator among them, thereby protecting children and other family members. The two scientists looked at each other in amazement, at the printed sheets of paper crisscrossed with undulating bands of sound waves, representing different pitches and volumes. This led Sascha Frühholz to believe that humans are probably descended from individuals who were good at shouting, as well as having come to an agreement on how to “decode” the screams of their fellow humans, creating a mode of communication. unique news in prehistoric society. The panic-filled scream in “Psycho” has become a cinematic icon. Panic and fear Harold Gouzoules replayed Alfred Hitchcock’s horror masterpiece “Psycho” several times, listening to the haunting desperation hidden within the panicked screams of victim Marion Crane. The scream has become a symbol of a painful death, through the thin veil to reveal the full horror that follows. Human emotions are diverse, and of all the sounds humans make, nothing captures our attention more than a scream. And of the many human screams, the scream of fear is the most prominent. Each scream has at least one point of its own that makes them unique. It could be a low pitch or a chaotic howl, or it sounds like you’re losing control. Screams vary in loudness from 30 to 150 times per second, giving them a unique place in the soundscape of human voices, thus often attracting great attention. No wonder, Marion Crane’s scream in a bloody shower is often considered the scariest ever brought to the silver screen. Then, the image of women screaming in terror became a mainstay of Hollywood – even when the film was silent. Beyond the boundaries of movies, shrill sounds become the fulcrum for people to express their desperate pain, anger at themselves disguised by fear. Harold Gouzoules reminds us of the mystery of the creepy, anguished, painful screams coming from the “deep pit of hell” beneath human feet. Harold Gouzoules flipped through a hundred-page file on the 1970’s “race to the ground”, his eyes fixed on his own conclusion: “I believe that the strange sound comes from 12,000m deep underground. land is not owned by… one person but from… millions of people”. They still haunt humanity to this day, do they come from “cursed souls” in a mysterious unexplored world? Monkeys are so smart that they have developed distinct scream patterns to warn of danger. Game of evolution Alone in a closed room, Sascha Frühholz slowly took a deep breath, then suddenly shouted. Happiness was evident on the scientist’s satisfied face, because the scream unleashed a strong emotion for his idol: The Beatles. Every image of the Beatles’ ferocious ’60s performance appeared in Sascha Frühholz’s mind. The music kept running, people were still swinging, and the screams kept coming, excited but full of obsession. 10 years of existence during the 1960s, The Beatles changed the world a lot, becoming the pride of England in modern history. They brought us “Beatlemania”, the Beatles mania, then when they disbanded in September 1969, fans regretted and couldn’t stop looking forward to a reunion. Sascha Frühholz turned over each page of the Beatles’ research, her eyes stopped at the image of fans’ faces “deformed” because they shouted with joy and enthusiasm when meeting their idols. The scientist has long been skeptical about the true nature of the screams coming from the human throat, criticizing the old theory that always says that screams are painful, full of fear. An encounter with his longtime friend, Dr. Harold Gouzoules, led Sascha Frühholz to interesting conclusions. Not simply a warning like common theories, humans also create high-pitched screams to signal positive emotions such as extreme joy. It sounds simple, but screams actually convey a more complex set of emotions than we think. The odd sound, honed over millions of years, hides many subtle nuances of volume, timing, and inflection that can signal many things. Sascha Frühholz looked up at the scans of the human brain and suddenly noticed that, unlike other human sounds, screams are routed directly to the amygdala – the part of the brain that processes fear, anger, and strong emotions. other paralysis. Evolution has changed the scream, which is no longer a communication signal, stemming from the requirement of complex social context in humans. The two scientists were excited to find three important sites that make up the difference in human screams: the auditory system that analyzes and classifies sounds, the sensory cortex, and the frontal lobes that make decisions about action. . They immediately drew six large circles, each colored with a color representing the six types of emotions that screams contain: from “negative” anger, fear, pain, sadness to “positive.” extreme happiness and joy. They are reminiscent of Edvard Munch’s painting “The Scream”, which depicts an anxious and desperate figure contrasting the landscape with the red sky. The artist’s diary page surprised Frühholz and Gouzoules, when he wrote: “A sentimental scream, of pain and sadness, spreads endlessly through space. If liberated and understood, it will one day turn into a feeling of hope and serenity.”

Le Nam

Produced | Sohu Health

Author | Hu Hong, People’s Hospital of Wuhan University

Edit | Jiang Li

After yelling and crying for a long time, he went hoarse. The 5-year-old boy Jiejie became a “duck voice” and was diagnosed with vocal cord nodules. April 16th is World Voice Day. Dr. Wang Yan, head of the Voice Clinic of Wuhan University People’s Hospital (Hubei Provincial People’s Hospital) and deputy director of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery III, reminded that the voice is called the “second business card” of people, and the health of the child’s voice is more worthy of attention. Parents Both the teacher and the teacher should provide correct guidance and good demonstration for children’s language habits.

Children often yelling can damage the vocal cords

On April 15, 5-year-old Jiejie was taken by his parents to the Voice Clinic of Wuhan University People’s Hospital. Doctor Wang Yan found that the child’s vocal cords were congested and edema accompanied by vocal cord nodules. Jiejie’s parents said that the child usually has a loud voice and talks a lot. Hoarseness is already the norm. They thought that drinking more water to “moisturize the throat” would relieve them, but unexpectedly, the “duck voice” lasted for almost a year.

According to Dr. Wang Yan, in this case, Jiejie’s wrong use of his voice led to the formation of a vocal cord summary, commonly known as “screaming summary.” The voice is produced by the vibration of the vocal cords. Most children are noisy and full of energy. In addition, improper use of the sound will cause the vocal cords to hit too hard and friction each time they vibrate, causing mechanical damage to the vocal cords, resulting in hoarseness of the child’s voice. , Difficulty in vocalization, which will directly affect the child’s study, life and physical and mental health.

In recent years, the number of children visiting the Voice Clinic of the People’s Hospital of Wuhan University has continued to increase, and a considerable part of them are preschool children aged 3-6. Dr. Wang Yan reminded that the child’s vocal organs are developing in early childhood and are very delicate and easy to fatigue. At this stage, if you do not pay attention to the protection of the vocal organs, you may become “male duck voice” and affect your life.

Boys are more likely to suffer from “screaming summary”

“Shouting summary” This type of disease occurs mostly in children aged 3-12, especially in boys. Because boys are usually more active than girls and are easily affected by emotional and environmental factors, they like to scream and shout, which are all wrong behaviors of using the voice.

Dr. Wang Yan emphasized that parents should help their children develop good habits and use their voices scientifically. In infancy, parents should be careful not to let the baby cry out loud for a long time; older children should try to avoid shouting loudly, or yelling while running. Teach children to sing, the starting key should not be too high, the range should not be too wide, and do not teach children to sing adult songs. When children suffer from respiratory tract infections and physical fatigue, they should speak as little as possible, and use body language to express their needs.

In addition, repeated respiratory infections, throat reflux, and sinusitis are also causes of “duck throat”. “Generally speaking, when the vocal cord nodules are in a period of edema, the hoarseness of the voice will get better through vocal rest and medication. However, sometimes the vocal cord nodules have not completely disappeared. At this time, it should not be taken lightly, especially the vocal behavior of children. Correct.” Dr. Wang Yan reminded that the treatment of children’s vocal cord nodules should be treated as directed by the doctor.

When the child has the following symptoms, he should go to the voice clinic as soon as possible

Dr. Wang Yan reminded parents that if the child has a hoarse voice for more than two weeks, the hoarse voice cannot be recovered after a cold or crying loudly, the voice suddenly becomes very thick, the crispness of the child’s voice is lost, the speech is laborious, and the voice is prone to fatigue and repetitiveness. If you clear your throat or even suddenly lose your voice, you should go to the Voice Clinic in time.

Judging from the case data collected by the Voice Clinic of the People’s Hospital of Wuhan University, most children’s voice problems are behavioral, mainly caused by hoarseness caused by improper voice methods, and “hoarseness of shouting” caused by vocal cord nodules. However, attention should also be paid to the identification of diseases such as laryngeal papilloma. Therefore, in addition to the examination of voice quality, electronic rhinopharyngoscope, dynamic laryngoscope and other examinations are also required to understand the shape and movement of the vocal cords, and then conduct targeted treatment after comprehensive evaluation.

According to Dr. Wang Yan, non-surgical treatment is currently recommended for such “screaming” children’s voice diseases. In daily life, parents need more care and patience to actively guide their children to use their voice correctly; at the same time, they should also pay attention to creating a peaceful and relaxing environment for their children. As children get older, their self-control ability increases, and they master the correct way of vocalization, the vocal cord summary can fade away after puberty.