Can We Recreate the Voice of a 3,000-Year-Old Mummy? | David M. Howard | TED

翻译人员: 锐风 张 校对人员: Sue Lu

I want to talk to you today about how it is I talk to you.

今天的主题是我们是如何交流的。

Critical to human existence

对于人类的存在至关重要的是，

is that our voices define who we are.

我们的声音表明了我们是谁。

My voice is me.

我的声音说明这是我，

Your voice is you.

你的声音说明这是你。

Voice is our main means of communication, evolved over millennia.

数千年来，声音是我们主要的交流方式。

And I want to argue today

而我今天想声明的是,

that there are three vocal resiliences for humans.

人类拥有三种声音特性。

We need our voices for all kinds of things.

我们需要在各种场合使用我们的声音，

We transmit verbal information, ideas, feelings, emotions.

通过声音传递口信、想法、感觉、情绪，

But more to the point, our identity.

更重要的是，表明我们的身份。

You answer the phone,

当你接电话时，

and very often you recognize somebody

通常能立刻认出这是某人，

before they've even said what their name is.

甚至在他们还未说出名字前。

It's also the way we call for attention if we're in trouble.

发声也是我们遇到麻烦时求助的方式。

And of course,

当然，

it also provides the lyrics in singing.

声音也为唱歌时的歌词提供载体，

So voice is fundamental to human living.

所以它对人类生活来说至关重要，

In speech,

无论是在演讲中，

in different acoustic situations,

在不同的声学环境中，

in the presence of competing sounds

在充斥许多的杂音时，

and in song,

还是在唱歌中，

over millennia.

过去的几千年都是这样。

And part of what I want to say today reflects on the millennial part of this.

今天讲述内容的一部分 将具体说明几千年来的这一特点。

But first, let's look at the three resiliencies.

首先，让我们先看看这三种特性。

And before we do,

不过开始之前，

I want just briefly to think about the role of hearing,

我想简单考量一下听觉的作用，

particularly the role of mankind's creation of devices

尤其是人造电子设备在其中发挥的作用,

that can play very loud sounds.

这些设备可以发出很大的，

Sounds that are louder than any human voice can produce

比任何人声都大的声响，

through the application of electronics.

都是通过电子装置发出的。

So over roughly the last 130 years,

所以在过去大约 130 年间，

we have the potential

我们有可能破坏到

to break the human communication voice-to-ear train

人类口耳相传的交流模式，

because we are damaging hearing over just a century and a bit,

在最近一个多世纪我们才开始损害听力，

having evolved over millennia, our communication system.

但人类交流系统已进化了数千年。

So these are my three resiliences.

下面是我归纳的三个声音特性。

The first is resilience to other sounds in the environment.

第一个是能够排除环境中其他声音干扰。

The second is allowing us one-to-many communication.

第二是允许我们进行一对多的交流。

And the third is to preserve the voice over millennia.

第三是在数千年中保护我们的声音。

But I want us to remember,

但是我想让大家记住的是，

there is little resistance to loud human-made sounds.

人们对大音量人造声响基本没有抵抗力。

And that, I would argue, is an issue that's getting worse.

这一问题已变得越来越糟糕，

We need to act to both understand the problem

我们需要采取措施了解这个问题，

and to protect our hearing.

从而保护我们的听力。

Many of us carry devices around which can cause hearing difficulty

很多人都戴耳机，容易导致听力问题，

if you play them too loud.

尤其当你播放音量过大时。

And hearing issues, of course,

听力问题不是自古就有的问题，

these are not on an evolutionary time scale.

These are on a very short time scale.

而是在现在非常短的时期内出现的。

So here's the first one,

我们来看看第一个特性。

other sounds in the environment,

环境中的其他声音，

sounds of nature.

自然界的声音。

We have evolved a redundancy in our speech specifically

人类已进化出言语中的冗余性，

that allows us to hear speech in the presence of natural sound.

让我们能在自然界声响中听到语音。

So if, for example, there's a thunderstorm

比如说有雷暴，

or there's heavy rain,

或者下大雨，

then there is what we call masking in the sound.

然后就是我们所说的声音掩蔽。

And I'm going to do a little experiment.

下面我将会做一个小实验，

I want to demonstrate that you can understand my voice

我想证明你能听懂我的声音，

even if we cut the high end off or cut the low end off.

即使我们切断高端或低端的频率。

So the way we're going to do this

我们会这样做，

is we're going to listen to the low end first.

首先通过聆听低频的方式。

And I'm hoping that my microphone is connected now to a filter

我会将我的麦克风连接到滤波器上，

as I give you a demonstration of just the low end.

以此来为你们呈现只有低频的声音，

And I hope you can still understand me.

希望你们仍能听懂我的话。

And now would you switch it so we only hear the high end,

现在我们将转换至只保留高频声音的，

a so-called high-pass filter?

所谓的高频滤波器。

And now, I hope you can still understand me,

现在，我希望你们仍能听懂我，

even though I sound a bit sibilant.

即使我的声音听起来会有点嘶嘶声，

I hope you all understood what I was saying.

我希望你们听懂了我在说什么。

Now, that means

所以，这证明了

that if you're only able to hear the low end

如果环境中高频噪音导致你只听到低频音

because of some high frequency noise that's in the environment,

we can still communicate as human beings.

我们人类还是能正常交流，

And vice versa.

反之亦然。

If you can only hear the high end because there's rumbles of thunder

如果雷声和其他声响令你只听见高频音，

and other things going on,

we can still communicate.

我们仍然可以正常交流。

It's a wonder of vocal evolution.

这就是声音进化的奇迹。

Resilience two.

声音的第二个特性。

Now, I have to admit, I'm cheating.

我得承认我现在正在作弊，

I am talking one-to-many,

我在进行一个一对多的对话。

and I'm wearing this thing

因为我带着这个东西，

and you can hear me because of the loudspeakers.

你们就可通过音响轻易听到我讲话。

But if I was an opera singer on this stage,

但如果我以歌剧演员身份站在舞台上，

I wouldn't have a microphone,

我将不会使用麦克风，

I'd have an orchestra between me and you

我们之间将会有一支管弦乐队，

and loads of people in the auditorium.

礼堂中也将有很多人，

And yet, you can hear the words of the opera singer without a microphone,

但你仍可听清歌剧演员唱词，

即使没有麦克风和扬声器。

without loudspeakers.

And the way they do it

他们能够做到这样，

is they engage that aspect of the human voice,

是因为他们利用了人类声音的特性。

which I won't use over a microphone.

当然，我不会在麦克风里运用此特性。

And the way that works is this.

它的运作方式是，

The voice box or the larynx, the picture in the middle,

发声器官或喉咙，如中间图片所示，

is here in the neck, it's where the Adam's apple is.

就在脖子这个位置，也就是喉结的地方。

And of course, we have two ears.

当然，我们有两只耳朵，

When I do that kind of sound,

当我发出很大的声音时，

I create a narrow tube,

就会产生一个狭窄管道，

as shown by the light blue arrow in the larynx area.

如喉部浅蓝色箭头所示。

And that tube matches in dimensions

该管道的尺寸，

the tube here and the tube here.

和这里、以及这里的管道尺寸相匹配。

So in engineering terms,

所以从工程的角度来说，

we set up a transmitter and a receiver

我们设置了一个发射器和接收器，

that are tuned to work together.

它们将相互协作。

And again, that is an evolved way

而这，就是我们进化的方式，

in which the larynx has developed to allow us to do it.

喉部的发育使我们能做到这一点，

And you don't have to be a trained opera singer.

你不是受过训练的歌剧演员也能做到。

If you're in danger,

如果你处在危险中，

you know how to do this

你就会知道如何去做，

because it's a natural,

因为这是一种天性，

something that's stored in the brain from evolution,

是进化过程中存储在大脑中的，

which you can switch in in time of real need.

真正需要时你可以调用的东西。

Let me go to the third one.

让我们来看看第三个特性。

Now, this is the one that's been alluded to,

现在，让我们回到那个

was the question that our group asked:

我们组提出的问题：

Can we recreate the sound of a 3,000-year-old mummy?

我们能否让三千年前的木乃伊说话呢？

It's an interesting question,

这是一个非常有趣的问题，

and the answer is that we can

问题的答案是可以，

if we can recreate the tube between the larynx and the lips,

只要我们能重造出喉咙和嘴唇间的管道。

because that's the tube, the so-called vocal tract,

因为那管子，也就是所谓的声道、

the mouth and throat,

嘴和喉咙，

that I'm using now as I speak to you.

就是我现在说话时所使用的器官。

And here is the very image.

这就是它的模型，

This is a 3D plastic vocal tract.

一个 3D 的塑料声道，

And if I put it next to mine, you can see it’s about the right shape.

把它放在我旁边，你能看到其形状正好。

And we then put this on an artificial larynx,

我们把它放在人工喉咙上，

which is the loudspeaker in the picture, that's two in from the top.

正如上面两幅图上的扬声器，

We can then play a sound through the loudspeaker.

这样我们就可以通过扬声器发出声音，

And we get the sound of this vowel.

就得到了这个元音。

(Sound)

（声音）

Of course, it's not speech

当然，这个声音不是言语，

because to speak, I have to move my vocal tract,

如果要说话，我必须移动我的声道，

I have to move the articulators.

我必须移动咬合架，

And this, of course, is solid.

这些，都是很实在的。

But in this particular case, Nesyamun,

但这个特殊的案例，内斯亚蒙（Nesyamun),

the hieroglyphics shown on the right there,

就是右侧的这个象形文字,

in English, that hieroglyphic means true of voice.

英文的意思是，真实的声音。

And Nesyamun wrote

内斯亚蒙写道，

that he expected his voice to be heard in the afterlife.

他希望来世人们能听到他的声音。

So this work was not just a technical “Can we make the sound?”

所以这项工作不仅是技术性的 “我们能重造他的声音吗”，

It also had a message, particularly to Egyptologists,

它还包含了特殊信息，对研究木乃伊的

who study mummies,

埃及古物学家来说，

of something rather special.

意义非同一般。

So we are hearing a voice from three millennia ago.

因此我们听到了三千年前的一个声音。

So as I started, my voice is me.

正如我开始所讲，我的声音是我，

Your voice is you.

你的声音是你，

Our modern, noisier world is a challenge.

但现代日益喧闹的世界是个挑战，

And it's a challenge from the last 100 to 150 years.

挑战产生于过去 100 到 150 年，

And it's something that we need to think about.

这是我们需要思考的问题。

We need to think about it in terms of the numbers of humans

我们需要考虑有多少人口

who are getting hearing problems because of the noise around us.

因为环境噪音而出现听力问题。

And if we're going to thrive as humans,

如果我们要作为人类蓬勃发展，

we need to communicate with each other

我们需要互相交流沟通，

and we need our voices to do that.

我们需要我们的声音来做到这一点。

And I've suggested three areas of vocal resilience.

今天我提出了声音的三个特性。

So please, look after yours.

因此，请照看好你自己。

Thank you.

谢谢大家。

(Applause)

（掌声）