Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38351102›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2024

Twin vocal folds as a novel evolutionary adaptation for vocal communications in lemurs.

Kanta Nakamura, Mayuka Kanaya, Daisuke Matsushima, Jacob C Dunn, Hideki Hirabayashi, Kiminori Sato, Isao T Tokuda, Takeshi Nishimura

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
3.6field-weighted citation impact, top 9% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Nonlinear vocal phenomena and speech intelligibility.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Article
  2. Applying nonlinear dynamics to the voice: a historical perspective.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Review
  3. Nonlinear phenomena in mammalian vocal communication: an introduction and scoping review.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.

Kanta NakamuraCenter for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi, Japan.
Mayuka KanayaCollege of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu, Shiga, Japan.
Daisuke MatsushimaCollege of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu, Shiga, Japan.
Jacob C DunnBehavioural Ecology Research Group, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK.
Hideki HirabayashiDokkyo Medical University, Mibu, Tochigi, Japan.
Kiminori SatoDepartment of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Kurume University School of Medicine, Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan.
Isao T TokudaCollege of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu, Shiga, Japan.
Takeshi NishimuraCenter for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi, Japan. nishimura.takeshi.2r@kyoto-u.ac.jp.
Ritsumeikan University · JPKyoto University · JPAnglia Ruskin University · GBDokkyo Medical University · JPKurume University · JP

Funding

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science 19H01002Japan Society for the Promotion of Science 20K11875Mitsubishi Foundation Research Grant in the Natural Sciences (202310032)
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Primates have varied vocal repertoires to communicate with conspecifics and sometimes other species. The larynx has a central role in vocal source generation, where a pair of vocal folds vibrates to modify the air flow. Here, we show that Madagascan lemurs have a unique additional pair of folds in the vestibular region, parallel to the vocal folds. The additional fold has a rigid body of a vocal muscle branch and it is covered by a stratified squamous epithelium, equal to those of the vocal fold. Such anatomical features support the hypothesis that it also vibrates in a manner like the vibrations that occur in the vocal folds. To examine the acoustic function of the two pairs of folds, we made a silicone compound model to demonstrate that they can simultaneously vibrate to lower the fundamental frequency and increase vocal efficiency. Similar acoustic effects are achieved using different features of the larynx for the other primates, e.g., by vibrating multiple sets of ventricular folds in several species and further by an evolutionary modification of enlarged larynx in howler monkeys. Our multidisciplinary approaches found that these functions were acquired through a unique evolutionary adaptation of the twin vocal folds in Madagascan lemurs.

Indexed as

LemurVocal CordsAcousticsAnimalsLaryngeal MusclesVibration

Identifiers

PMID38351102
PMCPMC10864409
OpenAlexW4391786327

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.