Eli5: Why does your voice get lower when you have a head cold?
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All sounds are comprised of many different sound waves called harmonics. Lower pitched harmonics resonate in the larger parts of your body like the chest, higher pitch harmonics resonate in smaller cavities like your nasal cavity and mouth. If you have a head cold and your sinuses are clogged that impedes the resonance of higher frequency harmonics leaving only the lower sounding ones. The pitch isn’t usually much lower, it only sounds more bassy because of the absence of the higher harmonics.
When you get a cold, one of the things that happens is inflammation of your vocal chords. Inflammation makes them thicker and so they vibrate at a lower pitch, deepening your voice.
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