Jan G. Švec is a professor of biophysics at Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic, and an associate research scientist at the Voice and Hearing Centre Prague, dedicated to the care of patients with voice and hearing disorders. He holds an MSc degree in Fine Mechanics and Optics and a PhD in Biophysics from Palacký University Olomouc, as well as a PhD in Medical Sciences from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. He is internationally recognized as an expert in the biomechanics and acoustics of human voice production and in clinical voice measurement. He spent three years as a research scientist at the National Center for Voice and Speech in Denver, CO, USA, and more than three years at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. He has received both national and international awards for his scientific publications. From 2004 to 2010, he served as Chair of the Voice Committee of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics. Between 2012 and 2018, he was the European representative on the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Committee on Instrumental Voice Assessment Protocols. Among his notable achievements, he designed videokymography, a laryngoscopic method for high-speed visualization of vocal-fold vibrations that is now used by laryngologists for advanced diagnosis of voice disorders.
Physiology, Acoustics and Biomechanics of Human Voice
In this lecture, we will review the principles of voice production in the human body. The first part will focus on the Source-Filter Theory of voice production. We will show how the primary sound of the voice is generated by the modulation of airflow resulting from vocal fold vibrations. Furthermore, we will examine how this sound changes as it passes through the acoustic cavities of the vocal tract, and how these processes together shape the acoustic waveform and resulting spectrum, determining the final quality of the human voice.
The second part will address the Myoelastic-Aerodynamic Theory of voice production, which explains how and why the vocal folds oscillate. It also describes how the acoustic resonances of the vocal and subglottal tracts influence vocal fold oscillations and provides a foundation for understanding various vocal phenomena, including voice registers, voice breaks, subharmonics, and hoarseness.
His talk takes place on Thursday, November 27, 2025 at 13:00 in “little theater” R211 (next to Kachnicka student club in “Stary Pivovar”).