Our voices are amazing things. Starting with the grunts of early man, humans devised common vocal sounds to communicate knowledge – exponentially enhancing their ability to build upon each other’s accomplishments by eliminating the need to, for example, discover how fire is made all over again.

31,000 languages and countless more songs later, the human voice’s accomplishments span everything from opera to ornithology. Here are ten fascinating chords struck by our vocal cords.

Top 10 Incredible Recordings

10 A Solo Duet: The Throat Singers of Tuva

Part of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tuva^[1] is located in southern Siberia, just north of Mongolia. Tuvans have been living in birch-bark yurts and herding goats and yaks on the region’s vast plains since prehistoric times. The area is perhaps best known for its folk musicians’ “throat singing”,^[2] which relies upon seemingly impossible vocal control to emphasize the faint overtones of different aural frequencies.

Tuvan throat singers can produce as many as four pitches simultaneously, an effect that has been compared to a bagpipe (albeit more pleasant). The result is a singer that can effectively sing two or more notes at once – literally harmonizing with himself.

Starting with a low drone, throat singers subtly manipulate their vocal tracts to break up the original sound, amplifying one or more overtones enough that they are heard as additional pitches while the drone continues at a lower volume. Often, the singers are mimicking or interacting with sounds of their native outdoors — whistling birds, bubbling streams, blowing wind, or a camel’s deep growl.

Only recently did throat singing begin to be performed in indoor halls, where concerts are now popular with tourists. Here is a terrific example of Tuvan throat singing. Notice how many notes don’t segue into one another but rather actually overlap – instances where the performer is making two sounds simultaneously.

9 Click Languages

Click languages are a set of African tongues in which clicks function as certain letters or parts of letters. Originally an extensive feature of the Khoisan languages,^[3] clicks have proliferated into several additional languages of the Bantu and Cushitic groups. In all cases, clicks form only a portion of the total number of a language’s consonants, interwoven with more universally recognized verbal cues.

The clicks themselves are distinctive. When formed between the tongue and the roof of the mouth, the result is a sharp popping or smacking; when orienting the tongue between the lips – the so-called “kiss click” – the teeth, or the side of the mouth, the sound is more subtle.

Xhosa, a main language of Africa’s Eastern and Western Capes,^[4] is a prime example. As shown in this uber-optimistically titled video, “The Three Xhosa Clicks Taught Easy!” (above), the process usually involves generating one of the clicking sounds in unison with a more traditional linguistic component – meaning one produced by the vocal chords. Xhosa’s clicks are represented in writing by the letters x, c, and q. The clicks are then coupled with vowel sounds in a process that, after several minutes of practice, I can attest is a LOT harder than that guy in the video makes it look.

There is only one known example of a click language’s use outside of Africa: Damin,^[5] a now-extinct ceremonial vernacular of the aboriginal Lardil people of northern Queensland, Australia.

8 Taa

No, that wasn’t a typo. It’s a language – the most aurally diverse one in the world.

With five distinct variations of clicks, numerous tones and strident vowels often vocalized with a quick choking sound, the Taa language, which is utilized by just a few thousand people in Botswana and Namibia, is accredited by most linguists as having the widest sound inventory of any tongue on Earth.

Taa has two officially recognized dialects, per the locales of the people, the !Xoon (also not a typo) who speak them. Describing the language is as complicated as the language itself. While research is a bit muddled, it can be safely said that East !Xoon Taa has at least 58 consonants, 31 vowels, and four tones – high [á], mid [a], low [à], and mid-falling [â] – while West !Xoon Taa has at least 87 consonants, 20 vowels, and two tones.^[6]

7 Hooooooooooooooolding a Note

The length of time a person can hold a single, uninterrupted note is known as maximum phonation time,^[7] or MPT. The exercise provides an estimated measure of how closed that person’s vocal cords are. In this instance, closed is actually good: the more closed the vocal cords, the less air wasted and the longer a sound can be maintained.

MPT is more than just something to impress a concert audience. It’s also a diagnostic tool^[8] used by doctors in the fields of speech and respiration. For example, it can be a key prognostic indicator for someone suffering from partial vocal cord paralysis. Often, it is used in conjunction with MLPT – the maximum loudest phonation time – to gain insight into the overall strength of a patient’s voice.

Typically, healthy adult males can sustain a sound from 25 to 35 seconds, and women from 15-25. However, this can differ markedly. In 2017, a viral video showcased pop star Ariana Grande holding a high note for well over a minute.^[9] While impressive, claims that Grande had broken an MPT record were erroneous.

No, that record goes to Richard Fink IV, who in 2019 achieved the MPT version of the four-minute mile by holding the same note for two minutes and one second, shattering Turkish singer Alpaslan Durmus’s mark of one minute, 52 seconds.

6 ASMR

Often referred to as “the tingles,” ASMR – autonomous sensory meridian response – is a computer-age experience characterized by a pleasantly stimulating, sometimes static-like feeling, originating on the scalp and continuing down the neck and upper spine. Though the acronym was coined only a decade ago, ASMR has taken YouTube by storm; many practitioners, dubbed ASMRtists, enjoy millions of subscribers, and a handful even have become millionaires.^[10]

Aural triggers that typically cause ASMR’s shiver-esque sensation include soft vocalizations like humming, whispering and tongue clicking. Highly sensitive microphones often amplify and reverberate these vocalizations – a sort of ASMR autotune^[11] – and non-vocal elements like tapping, crinkling and dripping are also frequently utilized. Some people also have visual ASMR sensitivity – brought about, for example, by a calming hand gesture or lulling metronome.

ASMR may never have existed were it not for one man: PBS painter Bob Ross, whose The Joy of Painting attracted viewers less for his canvas technique that his rhythmic, shush-shush brushstrokes, gently scraping palate knife, and soothing, baritone narration. Many reported an inexplicable, tingly, euphoric sensation, a sort of blissful zoning out while Ross crafted his trademark majestic mountains and “happy little trees.”

Much of the science behind ASMR is still unknown, but studies show the phenomenon is a physical reaction rather than an emotional experience – making it a feat of the vocal chords rather than the heartstrings.

8 Incredible Resurrected Ancient Sounds

5 TEN Octaves?

The widest vocal range in recorded history belongs to American singer and composer Tim Storms, who was born in 1972 and is amazing. Storms holds the Guinness record through his ability to span a full 10 octaves — about twice as prolific as Mariah Carey’s famous range, and more than three times the standard singing range of three octaves.

Any singer with this distinction, of course, must also hold the record either for highest or lowest recorded note. Here, Storms’ prowess comes at the lower end of the scale – or rather, completely OFF the scale’s lower end. Storms has belted the lowest note ever sung: a G (-7) (0.189 hertz).^[12] That’s a full EIGHT OCTAVES below the lowest G on a piano. The note is, in fact, outside the range of human hearing; it was captured with a low-frequency microphone, then verified via precision sound analysis.

Storms’ unique talent was discovered when he sang in a Christian choir as a child. When his voice continued to deepen, he began to fascinate not only concertgoers but also the medical community: one ENT (ear, nose and throat specialist) was so intrigued that he stuck a video scope up Storms’ nose and down his throat. It was determined that Storms’ vocal chords are nearly twice the normal human length, and that the surrounding muscles, called arytenoids, have significantly above-average movement – lending to his rich reverberations.

4 Gimme a Break

The human voice can make the glass half… period. Many people – including this little boy – have the ability to shatter a glass with no tool other than their vocal cords.

Every object has a resonant frequency, a pitch at which it begins to vibrate. Hollow objects, such as wine glasses, are particularly resonant, as witnessed by running a damp dinger along its rim, or simply tapping it.

To shatter such a glass, a singer’s voice much match that frequency (it also helps mightily if the glass has microscopic defects, which many do). Loudness is also a factor, with a minimum of around 105 decibels – roughly twice the sound of conversational speech – needed to break the “sound break barrier.” A singer must strike – and hold – just the right note for several seconds to have a chance at pulling off the trick.

Still, luck is also a factor: Invisible cracks and chinks cover every material’s surface, but the size and locations of these mini-defects vary dramatically. For that reason, wine glasses that appear identical have radically different fracturing susceptibility. So while some glasses may succumb to human-generated sound, others may not, as evidenced by this compilation of even more little children.

3 Gone Pishin’

Pishing is the term birders use for luring birds from their treetop hiding places using nothing more than their own voice. According to Nicholas Lund, founder of The Birdist blog and a contributor for the Audubon Society’s website,^[13] those skilled at the craft create something akin to an Ace Ventura: Pet Detective effect.

“I’ve had big flocks of Pine Siskins completely surround me,“ writes Lund. “I’ve had warblers bounce around my feet. I’ve pished into a silent copse and summoned bird life like some kind of avian Aquaman. When pishing works, oh man, you’re on top of the world.”

The word “pishing” is an onomatopoeia;^[14] the word derives from the actual sound the act requires, a “psssshhhhh”-ing sound that mimics a vocalization many species of birds use to sound alarm to others. Birders place avian noises into a variety of categories – mating calls, short-burst flight chirps, etc. Pishing is intended to imitate a “scold,” basically a bird’s community alarm system. When a bird emits a scold, other birds commonly emerge to discover the nature of the emergency.

A boon for birders, scolds are typically recognized across bird species – meaning a successful scold can draw out a slew of different avian varieties. Here’s a video of pishing in action.

2 Pansori

Decidedly more substantive than K-Pop, Pansori is a South Korean form of musical storytelling. The term is a combination of the Korean words “pan,” meaning “a place where many people gather,” and “sori,” meaning “song.” The genre is characterized by expressive singing, stylized speech and gesture, and narratives evoking both elite and folk culture.

Pansori is a marathon rather than a sprint: performances can last up to eight hours, during which time a lone singer, typically clutching a fan and accompanied only by a single barrel drum, improvises on themes rooted in various rural and sophisticated stories and texts.

Pansori originated in the 1600s, and remained an oral tradition among commoners until the late 19th Century, when it started to become popular with more affluent Koreans. This educated audience began to infuse pansori with more sophisticated literary content. Subject matter^[15] now ranges from romantically tragic to anthropomorphized fantasy. The Ch’unhyangga portrays the difficult love between an upper-class man and the lower-class daughter of a female entertainer, while the satirical madang Sugungga recounts the exploits of a hare who finds himself in a sea kingdom – a reverse fish out of water motif.

Marginalized by modernization, Pansori was designated a National Intangible Cultural Property by the South Korean government in 1964, to ensure it remains in practice.

Pansori was the subject matter of a beautiful award winning Korean Film called Seopyeonje. It is well worth the watch. The trailer is here.

1 A Near-death Aural Experience

Klaus Sperber, known professionally as Klaus Nomi, was a German countertenor whose otherworldly stage persona was as remarkable as his wide vocal range. Nomi became an operatic and absurdist attraction rolled into one, staging bizarrely visionary theatrical performances in heavy make-up, eccentric costumes and a signature hairstyle that proudly flaunted his receding hairline.

His catalogue was just as unique, spanning synthesizer-laden interpretations of classical opera to pop-culture covers of Chubby Checker’s “The Twist”^[16] and Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love”.^[17] He also sang back up for rock legend David Bowie during a riveting 1979 performance of The Man Who Sold the World^[18] on Saturday Night Live.

Tragically, Nomi’s life was cut short by the emerging AIDS epidemic just beginning its spread in the early 1980s. Still, Nomi saved some of his best for last. Over the final few months of his life, he shifted gears to operatic pieces – including, per his penchant for pageantry, Baroque era opera garb complete with a full collar. The collar provided function as well as form, covering the outbreaks of AIDS-related cancerous lesions (called Kaposi’s sarcoma) on his neck.

One of Nomi’s final performances (above) shows that his voice was still brimming with life even as his body approached death.

Top 10 Eerie Recordings

About The Author: Christopher Dale (@ChrisDaleWriter) writes on politics, society, and sobriety issues. His work has appeared in Daily Beast, NY Daily News, NY Post, and Parents.com, among other outlets.

Every actor has a first film or breakout role that launches their career. Some, like Al Pacino, spend years trying to top an iconic part like Michael Corleone in The Godfather. Or others like Paul Newman take out an advertisement in a Hollywood trade to apologize for a bad performance such as his in The Silver Chalice.

But perhaps even more humiliating is having your voice dubbed by another actor when you finally get your big break. Here are ten times a future star appeared in a film only to have someone else deliver their lines.

Related: 10 Shocking Weight Transformations By Actors For Films

10 Andie MacDowell

Andie MacDowell was perhaps at the height of her youthful beauty in 1984 when she was best known as a cover girl for Vogue magazine and a model for Calvin Klein commercials. That same year she made her acting debut in Hugh Hudson’s Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes. Cast as Jane Porter, the love interest of the famed “Ape Man,” MacDowell was not only striking in the role, wearing an array of Edwardian costumes but also impressed with her aristocratic voice and diction.

The only problem was, it wasn’t her voice.

Hudson, who didn’t care for the South Carolina native’s Southern accent, had the award-winning stage and screen actress Glenn Close dub her lines—who had expressed interest in the role herself. Although embarrassing to MacDowell at the time, it didn’t slow down her film career. She would later achieve stardom and acclaim for movies such as Sex, Lies and Videotape, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Groundhog Day.^[1]

9 Arnold Schwarzenegger

As hard as it is to believe, one of Hollywood’s biggest stars and one of the most famous governors in U.S. history initially found it difficult to secure work in the movie industry, despite winning Mr. Olympia seven times as a world-class bodybuilder. In his 1970 film debut Hercules in New York, due to his thick Austrian accent and the perceived inability of people to pronounce his name, Schwarzenegger was cast using the stage name “Arnold Strong.” And of course, his voice would be dubbed, not by an acclaimed thespian of the stage and screen but rather by an uncredited voice actor.

The results were campy at best and laughably bad at worst. It would take another twelve years before Schwarzenegger would be cast in his breakout role in Conan the Barbarian. In the next two decades, he became one of the most bankable action superstars in the world. And in 2003, he would defy political odds by winning the California recall election and being sworn in as the state’s 38th governor. It’s proof positive that sometimes you do “get a second chance to make a first impression.”^[2]

8 Sam Jones

Not an actor to be confused with the likes of Spencer Tracy and Sir John Gielgud, Sam J. Jones does have one significant accomplishment in his film career. He managed to beat out future box-office stars Kurt Russell and Arnold Schwarzenegger for perhaps his most famous role in a career that has lasted almost four decades. Flash Gordon, now considered a cult classic, was produced by the legendary Dino de Laurentiis and initially held promise to be the next popular science fiction film franchise. Despite modest box office returns, Flash Gordon had a memorable soundtrack by the rock band Queen, and there was interest in producing a sequel in the early 1980s.

But unfortunately, Jones, a former Playgirl centerfold, butted heads with de Laurentiis during filming and ultimately decided to quit the movie before post-production. The result was not only would there never be a Flash Gordon sequel, but Jones’s dialogue had to be dubbed by professional voice and dramatic actor Peter Marinker. This would not bode well for Jones’s future as a budding film star. However, it hasn’t hurt the movie’s long-term appeal to legions of contemporary sci-fi fans.^[3]

7 Anita Ekberg

Swedish blonde bombshell and pinup girl Anita Ekberg arrived in Hollywood almost a decade before being cast as Sylvia in her career-defining performance in Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita in 1960. Her participation in 1951’s Miss Universe pageant brought Ekberg to America. Although she didn’t capture the crown, she did attract the attention of Universal Studios, who signed her to a contract. She was later scooped up by Paramount Pictures and appeared in numerous movies in largely decorative, non-speaking roles due to her beauty, voluptuous figure, and inability to master the English language.

Nonetheless, this didn’t stop legendary director King Vidor from casting her in the plumb role of Princess Hélène in his epic adaptation of Tolstoy’s historic novel War and Peace. As “eye candy” for male audiences, it was a shrewd casting call but a nightmare for dialogue coaches who worked with Ekberg. She and her castmate, fellow Swedish actress May Britt, would have all their lines redubbed in post-production. Nonetheless, it proved to be a breakout role for Ekberg, who was later publicized as “Paramount’s Marilyn Monroe.”^[4]

6 Debbie Reynolds

Debbie Reynolds’s debut in Singin’ in the Rain is one of the greatest by any young performer in arguably the greatest film musical of all time. Likewise, her role as Kathy Selden is an excellent addition to this list because her character in the movie must dub the dialogue and singing of one of the most obnoxious, abrasive, and ditziest blondes ever depicted on the silver screen—impeccably played by actress Jean Hagen.

However, the irony in the actual production of the film is that Reynolds had to be dubbed not once but twice for both her singing and dialogue. In one of the more famous sequences in the movie, Reynolds is depicted dubbing the singing of “Would You?” for Hagen’s character Lina Lamont. However, due to Reynolds’s thin and youthful vocal style, singer Betty Noyes, famed for her performance of “Baby Mine” in Dumbo, was called in to sing it for her.

Even more ironic is the delivery of the line, “Our love will last ’til the stars turn cold.” Because of her deeper, richer vocal delivery, Hagen dubbed Reynolds, who, in turn, was dubbing Hagen’s “singing” in the movie. Crazy as it sounds, the results are one of the most perfect musical productions ever made in the Golden Era of Hollywood.^[5]

5 David Niven

Sophisticated English actor David Niven enjoyed a film career that spanned over a half-century and included performances in such critically acclaimed movies as The Pink Panther, Around the World in 80 Days, and the holiday classic The Bishop’s Wife. In 1959, Niven was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Separate Tables. If anything, his aristocratic demeanor and voice were assets in his prolific acting career. However, in 1981 Niven was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS), which had a debilitating effect on his acting career.

Despite a shaky appearance on The Merv Griffin Show later that year, he agreed to one final screen appearance in Blake Edward’s 1983 Pink Panther sequel Curse of the Pink Panther. Physically unable to audibly deliver his lines, impressionist Rich Little was brought in to dub the actor’s dialogue. Sadly, Niven would not learn of this until he read about it later in a newspaper report. Despite this ignominious end to an otherwise superlative acting career, Niven has remained highly respected as an actor and British patriot who served his country with distinction in World War II.^[6]

4 Peter O’Toole

When one thinks of Peter O’Toole, some of the most epic and critically acclaimed films ever may come to mind, such as Lawrence of Arabia, Becket, and The Lion in Winter. A Shakespearean trained actor who first distinguished himself on the stage, O’Toole possessed one of the greatest voices in the history of cinema. Shockingly, after being cast in a supporting role in Nicholas Ray’s 1960 arctic adventure film, The Savage Innocents, O’Toole’s accent and delivery were deemed unsuitable for the part.

English voice actor Robert Rietti was hired to dub O’Toole’s lines to give his character a more Canadian-sounding voice. For fans of O’Toole, it seems insulting considering the actor would go on to be nominated for eight Academy Awards in his distinguished career. Perhaps even more shocking is that O’Toole never won a competitive Oscar. As a result of the decision to dub his voice, O’Toole requested his name be removed from the film’s opening and closing credits.^[7]

3 Sir Laurence Olivier

Yes, Sir Laurence Olivier remains one of the greatest classically trained actors in stage and screen history. Both his performances and innovations as a director in adapting Shakespearean plays into motion pictures have influenced a multitude of modern actors and filmmakers, most notably Kenneth Branagh, who would portray Olivier in the 2012 movie My Week With Marilyn. With one of the most influential and recognizable stage and screen voices of all time, why would Olivier’s dialogue need to be dubbed?

Well, we’re cheating a tad on this one.

In the 1991 restoration of Stanley Kubrick’s 1960 historical epic Spartacus, deleted scenes were re-edited in a “Director’s Cut” of the classic film. In the controversial “snails and oysters” scene in which Olivier’s character Crassus attempts to seduce the slave Antoninus, the audio track was lost. As a result, the 66-year-old Tony Curtis, who played the part of Antoninus, redubbed his dialogue. However, Olivier died two years earlier, and thus, acclaimed actor Anthony Hopkins was enlisted to dub his lines. Hopkins’s impression of Olivier was flawless, and the scene was seamlessly re-edited into the film’s re-release.^[8]

2 Gert Fröbe

Few James Bond villains can claim to be as memorable as gold magnate Auric Goldfinger—unless it was his Korean henchman Oddjob. To cast the title part in the third installment of the Bond film series, many acclaimed character actors were considered, including the legendary Orson Welles. Ultimately, producers turned to German film and stage actor Gert Fröbe, whose memorable performance certainly captured the gravitas the role demanded. In fact, arguably the most memorable line ever delivered by a Bond villain was his acid retort to the British Super Agent, “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!”

The only problem is that British television actor Michael Collins, not Fröbe, delivered the line. The German actor’s inability to speak English fluently led to Collins dubbing most of Fröbe’s dialogue. Apparently, the decision to dub Fröbe’s lines in post-production worked. Goldfinger is generally regarded as the best of the Bond films, particularly those starring Sean Connery.^[9]

1 Mel Gibson

From Australian tough guy to Hollywood pretty boy to acclaimed director, Mel Gibson has had one of the most diverse, celebrated, and controversial careers of any actor or filmmaker in Hollywood. But for the Academy Award-winning director and star of Braveheart, there probably wouldn’t have been a career had he not been first cast in the breakout title role of “Mad Max” Rockatansky in the blockbuster post-apocalyptic action film series. The first Mad Max movie was the most profitable film ever made after its release in 1979—up to that point. It shattered the record for the highest box-office-to-budget ratio of any previous movie.

However, even though it was cast with English-speaking Australian actors, the heavy use of Aussie slang confused U.S. audiences. As a result, the entire film was redubbed with the use of American voice actors. This was particularly ironic considering Gibson, who was born in the U.S. before his parents emigrated to Australia when he was twelve, easily mastered the American accent in his later Hollywood action films. Nonetheless, his debut in Mad Max provided a boon to his fledgling film career, which still continues over four decades later.^[10]