Breathing plays a fundamental role in our life. The process of breathing is essential not only for life but also for the production of speech. Although the two are closely intertwined, the function of speech for life is very different from breathing for speech. Breathing involves breathing by moving air in and out of our lungs. The process of breathing brings oxygen to all tissues in our body. Breathing includes inhalation and exhalation. Inspiration is breathing oxygen into our lungs and exhalation is the process of releasing carbon dioxide. Breathing is vital for humans at every moment of life because our body constantly needs a new supply of oxygen. Breathing is an important function for our body because it provides the energy we need to carry out all the other functions necessary to maintain life. It is obvious that breathing is not only necessary for speech production, but is literally essential for maintaining LIFE!! So, what happens during breathing? Which structures in our body are important for the breathing process? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay There are many structures that are really important to the breathing process. To get started we must first understand how breathing occurs in our body and where. To begin with we need to talk about the upper respiratory tract. The upper respiratory tract consists of the nose, nasal cavity, mouth, pharynx and larynx. The importance of the upper respiratory tract can be summarized this way: “…our respiratory system works closely with our circulatory system to deliver important gases such as oxygen to our cells and tissues. And then it helps remove gases like carbon dioxide from our tissues as we breathe in and out” (SOPHIA Learning, 2016). The process of breathing in the upper respiratory tract begins when we inhale air through the nasal cavity. Air can also enter through the oral cavity, although this rarely happens. As the air moves through the nasal cavity, it is heated and filtered as it travels down. Once the air moves through the nose, nasal cavity and down through the pharynx, it reaches the trachea. This is where the lower respiratory tract comes in and continues the breathing process. To continue, the breathing process begins when you breathe. When you inhale, your body absorbs oxygen from the environment. After the air makes its way through the upper respiratory tract, it makes its way through the lower respiratory tract. The lower respiratory tract is made up of several structures. The structures of the lower respiratory tract are the trachea and the lungs. Inside the lungs are the bronchi, bronchioles and alveoli. On return, the air travels through the trachea (windpipe) to the lungs via the bronchi. At the same time, the diaphragm comes into play and contracts as the lungs expand. The intercostal muscles between the ribs also contract and help expand the rib cage as you inhale and exhale. From a physiological point of view, as air moves down from the trachea into the bronchi, the air travels through the bronchioles and even further into smaller structures called bronchioles. Grape-shaped alveoli at the end of the structure allow carbon dioxide and oxygen to move around the body through the bloodstream and lungs. Then, just as it started, when you exhale the carbon dioxide travels out the same way as when the oxygen went in. Furthermore, we analyze theprocess of breathing and its importance for life and the production of speech. Although the process of speech depends on breathing, it still differs from breathing for life. During breathing for speaking, the amount of air inhaled is much greater than that of quiet, passive breathing. One of the main differences between vocal breathing and silent breathing is exhalation. “For speech, the inspiratory phase is 10% and the expiratory phase is 90%. As far as breathing goes, both are closer to 50%.” (Hearing and speech sciences, 2017). During inhalation we use approximately 40% of the respiratory cycle. Breathing for speech production is an active process in contrast to breathing for life which is more of a passive process. The amount of time for inhalation is greater in vocal breathing than in silent breathing. In breathing for life, the ratio of inhalation to exhalation is almost the same, while this is not true for vocal breathing. When we look at breathing cycles, we see the differences between our active and passive breathing patterns. One of the important differences between breathing for life and breathing for speech is the volume of air and the breathing cycles. As I said before, inhalation means breathing oxygen into our lungs and exhalation means letting carbon dioxide out. During breathing for speech our breathing cycle is different. “A long, sustained exhalation is needed to produce long utterances, and a very short inspiration is needed to maintain the smooth flow of communication” (Seikel & Drumright & King, 2015). Our required textbook for this course defines tidal volume as “the volume inhaled and exhaled during normal, quiet breathing” (Seikel & Drumright & King, 2015). The tidal volume is important to notice the difference between the word for life and the word for breathing because when we breathe calmly we are not contracting any extra muscles and the inspiratory and expiratory phases are almost the same. The main muscle used in calm breathing is the diaphragm. In vocal breathing, our bodies are more active, they actually use different muscles because it is more forced. Continuing further, the structures or muscles used by our body during breathing vary depending on whether we breathe for life or breathe for speech. One difference would be that the accessory muscles of our body are not used during inhalation. breathing for life. When breathing for speech, there are different muscles used for both inhalation and exhalation. Muscles such as the diaphragm and the internal and external intercostals are used for inspiration. During exhalation the abdominal muscles are used. When breathing for speech, “the abdominal muscles are primed for faster contraction to meet speech demands” (Seikel & Drumright & King, 2015). Since the abdominal muscles are in balance, they are contracted recurrently, which affects the thoracic muscles. This is especially important because it influences the process of increased vocal intensity. Subglottal pressure is a key component for speech production. Subglottal pressure can be defined as “air pressure generated by the respiratory system below the level of the vocal cords” (Seikel & Drumright & King, 2015). Breathing for speech provides the energy and air needed to move the vocal cords. We maintain phonation through this subglottal pressure. When we breathe to speak, we only use 10% for inhalation and 90% for exhalation! Although you could.