# Whats the Deal with Adam's Apples **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 14, 2003, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-adams-apples/168615 "2003-04-14T13:02:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MonkeyMule](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc348/32.png) [@MonkeyMule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMule)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-adams-apples/168615/1 "2003-04-14T13:02:07Z")
[Why is that thing below your jawline called an Adam’s apple?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_266a.html) After reading this I was left with the question, why is that men have adams apples and women don’t? OR rather why is it more pronoucned in males. Somebody please help, I can’t sleep untill I get an answer ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-adams-apples/168615/2 "2003-04-14T13:53:55Z")
Because it is. A deep voice is apparently part of man’s kit of secondary sexual characteristics, and you can’t have a deep voice without a bigger larynx. I think. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-adams-apples/168615/3 "2003-04-14T13:58:12Z")
As part of the hormonal changes that occur with puberty, males of the genus _homo sapiens_ undergo an enlargement of the cartilage that makes up the larynx or “voice box”. This is what makes a boy’s voice change from a child’s soprano to a man’s tenor or bass–his larynx gets bigger. The bigger the voice box, the deeper the voice. In some guys this change makes the larynx big enough to stick out from his neck and be visible by other people, thus forming his “Adam’s apple”. I know one woman who doesn’t have hormonal problems but who has an “Adam’s apple”. She has the deepest alto singing voice I have ever heard, and her larynx is quite visible, there in her neck. It isn’t quite the huge pointy obvious bump that you think of as a guy’s Adam’s apple, but it’s definitely a really big larynx. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMule](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc348/32.png) [@MonkeyMule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMule)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-adams-apples/168615/4 "2003-04-14T16:52:58Z")
You say this enlargement starts with the onset of puberty; however, I have anecdotal evidence to the contrary (although I know that it’s not the same as evidence). As a small child, I had a very deep voice. So deep in fact that when people would call me house they would mistake me for an adult when I was only 3. Anyhow, I do not have a pronounced Adam’s apple. So how do you account for this, and please don’t tell me I’m a genetic freak ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-adams-apples/168615/5 "2003-04-14T19:00:34Z")
You can have a large larynx and a deep voice without having a pronounced Adam’s apple. It sticks out further on some people’s necks than on others. The female alto I mentioned does not have a pronounced Adam’s apple. Kids, and grownup men, can have large larynxes and deep voices without having prominent Adam’s apples. And without being “genetic freaks”. 😉 Here’s a picture of an opera bass with a prominent Adam’s apple. > **[uudised](https://www.err.ee/)** > > ERR uudisteportaal. Here’s a picture of another opera bass with a not-so-prominent Adam’s apple. [http://artists.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/RUVOclassic/images/lg-36326.jpg](http://artists.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/RUVOclassic/images/lg-36326.jpg) Here’s a picture of an opera bass with an Adam’s apple that’s about halfway in-between. [http://www.musiciansgallery.com/photos+logos/singers/baritones-basses/elliott(martin).gif](http://www.musiciansgallery.com/photos+logos/singers/baritones-basses/elliott(martin).gif) \<\< shrug \>\> It’s like nose or chin shape–some people’s stick out further than others. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMule](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc348/32.png) [@MonkeyMule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMule)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-adams-apples/168615/6 "2003-04-14T20:19:36Z")
You are so smart 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![cdhostage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@cdhostage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdhostage)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-adams-apples/168615/7 "2003-04-14T23:54:09Z")
The Adam’s apple is only how far the larynx sticks out from your neck - people have idfferent amounts of fat and muscle on the front of the neck, making the larynx more or less obvious. I am a Bass II, but am well-rounded, so my adam’s apple is a gentle swell. Perhaps a monthlong stint in a hotbox would reveal the giant thing.