Developmental changes in the shape of the supralaryngeal vocal tract in chimpanzees

The hyoid bone and larynx in human neonates are positioned as high as in other mammals. However, during postnatal life, they descend relative to the hard palate more rapidly compared with the horizontal growth of the oral cavity. This process is completed through the descent of the laryngeal skeleton relative to the hyoid, and through the descent of the hyoid relative to the cranial base. Thus, the human supralaryngeal vocal tract (SVT) develops to form a two-tube configuration with equally long horizontal and vertical parts. Longitudinal studies on living chimpanzee infants show that the descent of the larynx is more rapid than the horizontal growth of the oral cavity. This is primarily attributed to the descent of their larynges relative to the hyoid bone, but this is not accompanied by the descent of the hyoid. The present study, using embalmed specimens of chimpanzees, also shows that the horizontal and vertical parts of the SVT grow in chimpanzees similarly to humans during infancy. However, in chimpanzees, the horizontal part of the SVT grows greatly, whereas the vertical part of the SVT grows only slightly during the juvenile period. As a result, the chimpanzee larynx does not descend rapidly relative to the oral elongation during that period. Such differences may be related to the structural and morphological development of the facial skeleton and mandible, which affects prognathism and hyoid descent. These results support the hypothesis that the descent of the larynx evolved in at least two steps during hominoid evolution.