The first human vocal chords have been grown in the laboratory by a team of scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The international group published the work in Science Translational Medicine in November.
![human vocal chords fc 496](https://www.thefuturescentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/human-vocal-chords-fc-496.jpg)
Human cells from donors were coaxed into becoming tissue that replicates vocal fold mucosa, which form flaps inside the human larynx. These vibrate to produce sound.
The cells, one from a cadaver and four from surgically removed larynxes, were grown for two weeks around a collagen scaffold structure until the folds were one millimetre thick and 16 millimetres long.
By blowing air along them inside an artificial windpipe the team produced a sound they describe as a “robotic kazoo”. In the body, vocal chords vibrate up to 1000 times per second.
Mouth and throat modulations are required alongside this to produce the recognisable sounds of speech.