The scientists found that there were a number of changes that happened over time which separates human from other primates. In the study, the voice boxes of 43 species were examined and scientists found that other species lack something called a vocal membrane.

A new study has revealed how a number of evolutionary modifications in the voice box resulted in humans gaining the power of speaking. The scientists found that there were a number of changes that happened over time which separates human from other primates. In the study, the voice boxes of 43 species were examined and they found that other species lack something called a vocal membrane. The membrane is described as “a small, ribbon-like extensions of the vocal cords”.

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The study also found that humans lack the ability to create loud calls like monkeys due to the absence of “balloon-like laryngeal structures” called air sacs. The lack of air sacs is the reason why humans have a stable voice and that was one of the major reasons why they were able to develop speech.

“We argue that the more complicated vocal structures in nonhuman primates can make it difficult to control vibrations with precision," said primatologist Takeshi Nishimura of Kyoto University’s Centre for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behaviour in Japan, in the official statement.

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“Vocal membranes allow other primates to make louder, higher-pitched calls than humans - but they make voice breaks and noisy vocal irregularity more common," said evolutionary biologist and study co-author W. Tecumseh Fitch of the University of Vienna in Austria in the statement.

The study, which was published in the Science journal, examined the anatomies of “apes including chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and gibbons, as well as Old World monkeys - macaques, guenons, baboons and mandrills and New World monkeys - capuchins, tamarins, marmosets and titis”, according to Science journal.

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