GabyIt turns out that the soft pads embedded in a cat’s vocal cords are responsible for purring. This discovery, led by prominent vocal scientist Christian Herbst from the University of Vienna in Austria, challenges the common belief that purring is caused by active muscle contractions. Vocal science is the study of voice, timbre, and sound.
How Do Purring Cats’ Vocal Cords Work?
For years, researchers have puzzled over how cats produce their low-frequency sounds, which are typically associated with larger animals that have longer vocal cords. These “purring pads,” integrated into the vocal cords, likely increase their density and cause them to vibrate more slowly. This, in turn, creates the delightful rumble that cat owners cherish, as reported by Science Alert.
Researchers believe that purring may be a passive aerodynamic behavior that continues automatically after the brain sends a specific signal. According to the scientists, the vibration process of a cat’s vocal cords resembles the production of a low, creaky voice in humans. When we speak in such a voice, our vocal cords vibrate at a very low frequency. The pads that enable cats to purr function in a similar manner, even though their vocal cords are significantly shorter than ours.
The team reached these conclusions after examining the larynges of eight cats. All of them produced this distinctive sound as a result of vocal cord vibrations without any muscle contractions or nerve impulses. These remarkable findings, published in the journal Current Biology, indicate that muscle contractions are not necessary for purring.
Over time, researchers have proposed various hypotheses about what prompts cats to purr. Some scientists suggest that these sounds indicate the animal’s contentment and signal its readiness for further interaction with humans. Others argue that during purring, these furry companions may be healing people. Indeed, many cat owners have experienced this phenomenon firsthand.
