3D vocal fold simulator: see the vocal folds and larynx muscles move

Larynx Simulator is a free 3D vocal fold simulator that shows the inside of your throat while you sing. Pick a pitch and a way of singing (chest voice, mix, head voice or falsetto), and see how the cartilages and muscles of the larynx move and how the vocal folds vibrate. It was made for voice teachers who want to show students what happens inside the throat during a lesson.

What you can do

• Drag to rotate 360°, and zoom in and out. The Front, Side, Back and Top buttons jump to each view.
• As the pitch rises, the cricothyroid muscle tilts the thyroid cartilage forward, and the vocal folds stretch and thin out.
• The harder a muscle works, the redder it glows and the faster it pulses. The bars at the top left show how active each muscle is.
• Vocal folds close-up looks down at the vocal folds and plays their vibration at 1/50 to 1/1000 speed. Damping, where the back of the folds stays pressed together and only the front vibrates, is shown in a different color.
• Set your first passaggio, the top of your chest voice and the bottom of your head voice. Connected (singing) shows a smooth move from chest voice through mix to head voice.
• Sound on plays a soft, voice-like tone that glides without breaks as you move the slider.
• Outer muscles shows the sternothyroid, thyrohyoid and sternohyoid, which hold the larynx from outside.

Please note

This model visualizes how singing is commonly explained. Muscle activity and vocal fold movement are approximations, not measured data, and vary a lot between people and singing styles. If your throat hurts or your voice is not well, see an ENT doctor.

Guides

The cartilages and muscles of the larynx, how high notes work, passaggio and damping, and falsetto are explained in the guides (in Japanese).

About the 3D data

The 3D data of the bones, cartilages and muscles comes from Z-Anatomy (based on BodyParts3D), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. The vocal fold shape and all movement were added by Kasey Labs. The 3D data used in Larynx Simulator (larynx.glb) is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.