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

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Helen Chang

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

今天我想跟大家談的

是我怎麼和大家談話。

Critical to human existence

人類存在的關鍵之一

is that our voices define who we are.

是我們的聲音能定義我們是誰。

My voice is me.

我的聲音是我。

Your voice is you.

你的聲音是你。

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

聲音是我們溝通的主要方法，

經過了數千年的演化。

And I want to argue today

今天我想要說明的是

that there are three vocal resiliences for humans.

人類有三種聲音韌性。

We need our voices for all kinds of things.

我們需要聲音來做各種事情。

We transmit verbal information, ideas, feelings, emotions.

我們傳遞言語資訊、 想法、感受、情緒，

But more to the point, our identity.

但更重要的

是我們的身分。

You answer the phone,

你接起電話，

and very often you recognize somebody

常常在對方報出名字之前 你就認出他是誰了。

before they've even said what their name is.

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

聲音也是我們在遇到麻煩時 尋求注意力的方式。

And of course,

當然，

it also provides the lyrics in singing.

聲音也提供了唱歌時的歌詞。

So voice is fundamental to human living.

所以，

聲音對人類的生活至關重要，

In speech,

比如說話、

in different acoustic situations,

不同的聽覺情境、

in the presence of competing sounds

競爭聲音出現時，以及歌曲，

and in song,

over millennia.

數千年來一直如此。

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

我今天演說的部分內容

也反映出數千年的這個部分。

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

但首先讓咱們來談談三種韌性。

And before we do,

在此之前，

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

我想簡要思考一下聽覺的作用，

particularly the role of mankind's creation of devices

特別是人類創造出

that can play very loud sounds.

可以播放非常大聲音的設備的作用。

Sounds that are louder than any human voice can produce

這些聲音比任何人類聲音

通過電子應用所產生的聲音還要大。

through the application of electronics.

So over roughly the last 130 years,

因此，在過去約一百三十年間，

we have the potential

我們有可能打破

to break the human communication voice-to-ear train

人類的溝通聲音到耳朵的傳遞，

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

因為我們只花了一百多年 就損害了聽覺，

having evolved over millennia, our communication system.

而我們的溝通傳遞系統花了 數千年以上才演化出來。

So these are my three resiliences.

以下是我要談的三種韌性。

The first is resilience to other sounds in the environment.

第一種

是對環境中其他聲音的韌性。

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

第二種

讓我們可以做一對多的溝通。

And the third is to preserve the voice over millennia.

第三種是讓聲音可以保存數千年。

But I want us to remember,

但請記住，人類很難抵抗

there is little resistance to loud human-made sounds.

高音量的人造聲音。

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

我認為這是個日益嚴重的問題。

We need to act to both understand the problem

我們需要採取行動， 不但要去了解問題，

and to protect our hearing.

還要保護我們的聽覺。

Many of us carry devices around which can cause hearing difficulty

我們許多人平時戴著的裝置

如果播放音量太大， 可能會造成聽力障礙，

if you play them too loud.

And hearing issues, of course,

當然，還有聽覺問題，

these are not on an evolutionary time scale.

這些並不是在演化 時間尺度上的問題，

These are on a very short time scale.

而是非常短的時間尺度。

So here's the first one,

先來談第一種，環境中的其他聲音，

other sounds in the environment,

sounds of nature.

大自然的聲音。

We have evolved a redundancy in our speech specifically

我們在言語中演化出了一種冗餘性，

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

讓我們在有大自然聲音的 情況下還能聽到言語。

So if, for example, there's a thunderstorm

比如，現在有暴風雨，

or there's heavy rain,

或正在下傾盆大雨，

then there is what we call masking in the sound.

聲音就會出現所謂的掩蓋現象。

And I'm going to do a little experiment.

我想做個小實驗，來展示

I want to demonstrate that you can understand my voice

各位可以理解我的聲音，

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

即使我們把高頻或低頻 消除掉也不影響。

So the way we're going to do this

我們的做法

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

是先來聽一下低頻。

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

希望我的麥克風現在已經 連上了過濾器，讓我可以

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

向各位展示單獨的低頻。

And I hope you can still understand me.

希望各位還聽得懂我的話。

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

現在切換到單獨只有高頻，

a so-called high-pass filter?

用的是所謂的高通濾波器。

And now, I hope you can still understand me,

希望希望大家還聽得懂我的話，

even though I sound a bit sibilant.

雖然我的聲音帶有噝噝聲。

I hope you all understood what I was saying.

希望大家都聽懂我說的了。

Now, that means

那意味著，

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

如果你只能聽到低頻，

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

比如在有高頻噪音的環境中，

we can still communicate as human beings.

我們人類仍然可以溝通。

And vice versa.

反之亦然。

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

如果你只能聽到高頻，

比如在雷聲隆隆 及有其他聲音的環境中，

and other things going on,

we can still communicate.

我們仍然可以溝通。

It's a wonder of vocal evolution.

這是聲音演化的奇蹟。

Resilience two.

第二種韌性。

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

我得承認我在作弊。

I am talking one-to-many,

我現在是一個人對多個人說話，

and I'm wearing this thing

而我戴著這個東西，

and you can hear me because of the loudspeakers.

因為有喇叭，所以各位 可以聽到我說話。

But if I was an opera singer on this stage,

但如果我是歌劇演唱家站在舞台上，

I wouldn't have a microphone,

我不會有麥克風，我和各位 之間還有一個管弦樂團，

I'd have an orchestra between me and you

and loads of people in the auditorium.

觀眾席上還滿滿都是人。

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

但各位可以聽到 歌劇演唱家唱出的字詞，

沒有麥克風，沒有喇叭。

without loudspeakers.

And the way they do it

而他們的做法

is they engage that aspect of the human voice,

是用到人類聲音的那個部分，

which I won't use over a microphone.

我在用麥克風時不會去用它。

And the way that works is this.

它的運作方式是這樣的：

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

中間那張圖上的喉頭

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

位在脖子的這裡，就是喉結的地方。

And of course, we have two ears.

當然，我們有兩隻耳朵。

When I do that kind of sound,

當我發出那種聲音，

I create a narrow tube,

我會創造出一條狹窄的管道，

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

在圖上的喉頭區域，我有用 淺藍色的箭頭標示出來。

And that tube matches in dimensions

那管道的尺寸符合

the tube here and the tube here.

這裡的管道和這裡的管道。

So in engineering terms,

用工程學的說法，

we set up a transmitter and a receiver

我們是設定了一個 發射器和一個接收器，

that are tuned to work together.

能匹配運作。

And again, that is an evolved way

這同樣也是演化的結果，

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

喉頭演化發展成讓我們能夠這麼做。

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

不是受過訓練的歌劇 演唱家也可以做到。

If you're in danger,

若你遇到危險，

you know how to do this

你就會做了，

because it's a natural,

這是自然的反應,

something that's stored in the brain from evolution,

經由演化已經儲存在我們的大腦中，

which you can switch in in time of real need.

在真正需要的時候，你就能啟動它。

Let me go to the third one.

再來是第三種， 我們已經略為提及，

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

was the question that our group asked:

我們的小組問了一個問題：

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

我們能否重建三千年前 木乃伊的聲音？

It's an interesting question,

這個問題很有趣。

and the answer is that we can

而答案是：

如果我們能重建喉頭和嘴脣 之間的管道，就可行，

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

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

這條管道就是所謂的聲道，

the mouth and throat,

嘴巴和喉嚨，

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

我現在就是用它在跟各位說話。

And here is the very image.

請看我手上的這個模型。

This is a 3D plastic vocal tract.

這是三維的塑膠聲道，

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

我把它和我的並排， 各位就能看出形狀差不多。

And we then put this on an artificial larynx,

接著我們把它放到人造喉頭上，

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

也就是圖中的喇叭，上面的那兩個。

We can then play a sound through the loudspeaker.

接著我們透過喇叭播放聲音。

And we get the sound of this vowel.

我們就得到了這個母音的聲音。

(Sound)

（聲音）

Of course, it's not speech

當然，這還不是說話，若要說話，

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

我還得去動我的聲道， 動我的發音器官。

I have to move the articulators.

And this, of course, is solid.

當然，這是硬的。

But in this particular case, Nesyamun,

但在這個特殊案例中，納西亞蒙，

the hieroglyphics shown on the right there,

也就是右圖上的象形文字，

in English, that hieroglyphic means true of voice.

把這象形文字翻譯為英文，意思是

真實的聲音。

And Nesyamun wrote

納西亞蒙寫著，

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

他希望在他死後他的聲音 仍然能被聽見。

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

所以這項研究並不只是技術上的

「我們能製造出這聲音嗎？」

It also had a message, particularly to Egyptologists,

它還有個訊息，

特別是給研究木乃伊的 埃及古物學家，

who study mummies,

of something rather special.

內容相當特別。

So we are hearing a voice from three millennia ago.

我們聽到的聲音

來自三千年之前。

So as I started, my voice is me.

我剛開始時說過，我的聲音是我，

Your voice is you.

你的聲音是你。

Our modern, noisier world is a challenge.

我們吵雜的現代世界是個挑戰，

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

是來自過去一百 到一百五十年間的挑戰。

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

我們應該要好好想想。

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

我們該思考的面向是有多少人

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

出現的聽力問題

是來自於我們周遭的噪音。

And if we're going to thrive as humans,

如果我們人類要繁榮，

we need to communicate with each other

我們得要和彼此溝通，

and we need our voices to do that.

而我們需要我們的聲音才能做溝通。

And I've suggested three areas of vocal resilience.

我提出了聲音韌性的三個領域，

So please, look after yours.

請照顧好你們自己的。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）