Vows

[furt]

Column.

No answer to the interesting question of whether or not vocal cords can atrophy over time. Any ideas?

And while you’re at it, do any other parts fall off from disuse?

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

Well, I don’t personally feel like investing a LOT of time and effort in this, but a quick Google check of “larynx atrophy” popped this up, FWIW.

http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/8987/24215/196413.html?d=dmtContent

Aging affects many structural and physiological aspects of the larynx. As we grow older, the framework cartilage becomes stiffened with calcium deposits, and the articular cartilages responsible for vocal fold movement become less mobile. The vocal folds may thin and atrophy, causing a loss of normal tension.

PDF file viewed as HTML, God bless Google.
http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:qHs-trL4V7oC:www.ncvs.org/singers/advanced.pdf+larynx+atrophy&hl=en&start=9

Other age-related changes that affect the vocal folds specifically are atrophy (a wasting away of cells)or dystrophy (a malfunctioning of cells), and edema (excessive accumulation of fluids in the tissue). Recall that fibers are cells. Thus, muscle fibers and connective tissue fibers in the vocal folds are sus-ceptible to these degenerative processes. For example, atrophy of thyroarytenoid muscle fibers tends to pull the medial surface of the vocal fold laterally, creating a bowed vocal fold, or in some cases a sulcus(a furrow or groove). This makes it more difficult to approximate the vocal folds uniformly across the medial surface. The acoustic result is a weaker, breathier sound. The loss of muscle fibers will, of course, also limit the range of pitch, intensity, and register adjustment because the thyroarytenoidmuscle is involved in all of these. Similar statements can be made about atrophy of other intrinsic muscles of the larynx.

[Steve_Wright]

Worth noting, I think, that speech isn’t the only thing the vocal folds are used for. The “purpose” of the muscles and cartilages involved (please excuse my teleology here) is to close off the airway - which allows you to block noxious gases from your lungs, and to use all your chest muscles for things other than respiration (heavy lifting, for instance). The vocal folds can also be banged rapidly together to make noises, but that’s not all they’re “for”, or even what they’re originally “for” at all (again, excuse my teleology).

Anything will atrophy if you don’t use it, but, for you never to use your vocal folds, you’d have to give up talking, holding your breath, and any sort of serious physical exertion involving your upper body. Unless Trappist monks also foreswear moving furniture or opening jam jars, I reckon their vocal folds are pretty safe.

(Most of the above recollected dimly from, um, introductory text in experimental phonetics by a guy named Hardcastle.)