Science & Technology

Can We Recreate the Voice of a 3,000-Year-Old Mummy? | David M. Howard | TED

Drawing on his work reconstructing the vocal tract of an ancient Egyptian priest, speech scientist David M. Howard shares three evolutionary wonders of human speech — and the importance of nurturing your own voice in an increasingly noisy world. If you love watching TED Talks like this one, become a TED Member to support our…

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Drawing on his work reconstructing the vocal tract of an ancient Egyptian priest, speech scientist David M. Howard shares three evolutionary wonders of human speech — and the importance of nurturing your own voice in an increasingly noisy world.

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35 Comments

  1. Lakshita Leekha

    June 20, 2023 at 11:46 am

    First

  2. BinDas Media

    June 20, 2023 at 11:46 am

    😂

  3. TEAM MAD YT

    June 20, 2023 at 11:46 am

    Yep

  4. Nell Nash

    June 20, 2023 at 11:46 am

    Bruh

  5. Toriell Simon

    June 20, 2023 at 11:46 am

    Not something I was planning on watching today but saw the title and thought it would be an interesting watch

    • MiCHUINHO

      June 20, 2023 at 12:05 pm

      Hahaha Same, the title made me curious

  6. Christine Aponte

    June 20, 2023 at 11:46 am

    This video is a must-watch for everyone😻

    • K

      June 20, 2023 at 12:00 pm

      so is your picture

    • Jonathan M

      June 21, 2023 at 7:05 am

      Begone BOT

  7. Dr. Ryan

    June 20, 2023 at 11:47 am

    Being health conscience I have decided to keep a sausage egg mcmuffin with me and I even give it a bath

  8. Nell Nash

    June 20, 2023 at 11:47 am

    I wanted to first 😂

  9. M SC

    June 20, 2023 at 11:49 am

    Deaf people using sign language challenge his first 44 seconds of presentation pretty dramatically. If everyone became mute they’d suffer but they’d just learn sign language and adapt. All new voiceless people would be themselves without a voice just fine

    • M SC

      June 20, 2023 at 11:52 am

      Old people including old scientists and researchers need to catch up to the modern ethical standard with knowing what ablism is and update their language so that they don’t commit it while trying to teach intellectual ideas. They’ve had to do this with racism o we the past 100 years and sexism over the past 60 or so, someone tell them they need to fix another bias.

    • level Joe

      June 20, 2023 at 2:08 pm

      ​@M SCThose “old people and scientists” developed sign language, created the ADA, developed procedures to restore abilities, created methods to more easily live with disabilities, and on and on and on and on…

      Society is constantly changing, but it seems like you expect these people to know what direction the shift will be before it happens. That is completely ridiculous.

      Funny how you’re flaunting how “woke” you are all while criticizing all old people, who are also a protected class and who are most likely to need more protections than anyone else you listed.

      It’s called ageism.

  10. G R

    June 20, 2023 at 11:50 am

    Tears of the Kingdom players: i’ve heard the voice of a 10.000 yo mummy!

  11. Chris Pz

    June 20, 2023 at 11:50 am

    More like a weird moan

  12. Sam Cruz

    June 20, 2023 at 11:50 am

    Riches, blessings and prosperity, may we all wage war against the flyers mind and may all humanity win.
    Stay impeccable

  13. Jaime Fazackerley

    June 20, 2023 at 11:50 am

    Appreciate your efforts on the presentation, but I have a little feedback. I find it a bit distracting when the exact words being spoken are also displayed on the screen. It makes me read ahead and feels like you’re reading off the slides, which can detract from the overall experience. It might be more effective to keep the detailed notes to yourself and use the screen for visually engaging content that underscores the main points you’re making. This could help maintain audience engagement and reinforce your message.

    • Milan Dragacevac

      June 20, 2023 at 4:19 pm

      That sounds really personal, first time I really thought about that way. Its more like to help us see and hear, so we better understand the concept.

    • я

      June 20, 2023 at 4:56 pm

      this feels like a chatgpt comment but true indeed

    • Mr.Silver

      June 20, 2023 at 6:40 pm

      Okay, English teacher.

    • Emily35

      June 22, 2023 at 1:42 am

      Sure, but do you have hearing loss?

      I do, in a few key frequencies needed to understand human speech.

      Mostly, it’s OK and I can talk and hear people.

      But if there’s background noise, or if I can’t see their lips clearly, I can have trouble.

      The section where he covers his mouth and uses a high frequency bypass filter, I could understand most of what he said, but not all of it.

      Granted, watching this on YouTube in a quiet environment where the microphone is only picking up his voice and subtitles are available to view, it’s a different story.

      But what if I were there in person?

      I’d likely understand most of what he was saying, but the option to read it will also help a LOT.

      There are some movies and TV shows where I need to rewind and turn subtitles on because I just can’t understand what is being said.

      And my hearing loss is relatively minor compared to other people.

      If it is so distracting for you, might I suggest you close your eyes.

    • RainS

      June 22, 2023 at 8:32 am

      @35manning
      I think you both make good points.

    • Sharp Design

      June 22, 2023 at 5:46 pm

      I had to look away to hear what he was saying. It was a little weird for me.

  14. Turnt0FF

    June 20, 2023 at 11:51 am

    0:51 yeah, it’s called Caller ID.

    • Der Kartoffel Emperor

      June 20, 2023 at 11:56 am

      room temperature being.

  15. Gold & Silver VS Crisis & Collapse

    June 20, 2023 at 12:02 pm

    10 min video, literal 1 second spent playing a single vowel in the ancient voice… Wasn’t worth the ten minutes

    • Matt Bergamin

      June 20, 2023 at 12:11 pm

      TED talks quality have been on the decline for a while now

    • KDP

      June 20, 2023 at 12:16 pm

      I commented the timestamp to save people time, and they deleted my comment lol.

  16. Mojo

    June 20, 2023 at 12:34 pm

    How can you do that if you don’t know what gender the mummy identified as?

    • Woouhhh Hhh

      June 20, 2023 at 12:40 pm

      🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂😂

  17. None of your Damn Business

    June 21, 2023 at 2:17 am

    *You want to hear a voice of a mummy? Just have a look and listen to your government.*

  18. Alma Aibatova

    June 21, 2023 at 11:09 am

    and what about our inside voice? and voices who has not ability to speak? In what voice do they think?) Or is this video 10 min reels?

  19. Jose Rivera

    June 22, 2023 at 7:57 am

    Isn’t amazing the money we have to just waste instead of using it for serious purposes????

  20. RainS

    June 22, 2023 at 6:11 pm

    Its about the 7:30 mark.

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