Secrets of the didgeridoo revealed

08 July 2005

Scientists have revealed the secrets of playing the didgeridoo, the world's oldest wind instrument, according to research in this week's edition of the journal, Nature.

While it's long been known that the didgeridoo's characteristic sound relies on the player's vocal tract to produce enhanced frequency bands called formants, the mechanism was unknown.

Formants are characteristic sound frequencies that identify vowels to listeners of human speech.

A team of Australian scientists measured the acoustic response of a player's vocal tract whilst playing - the first time this has been done.

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