Speech, 

human communication through spoken language. Although

many animals possess voices of various types and inflectional
capabilities, humans have learned to modulate their voices
by articulating the laryngeal tones into audible oral speech.

The regulators
Respiratory mechanisms

Uncover the science behind the transformation of sounds into speech

Speech is the faculty of producing articulated sounds, which, when blended together, form language.
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Human speech is served by a bellows-like respiratory activator, which
furnishes the driving energy in the form of an airstream; a
phonating sound generator in the larynx (low in the throat) to
transform the energy; a sound-molding resonator in
the pharynx (higher in the throat), where the individual voice pattern
is shaped; and a speech-forming articulator in the oral cavity (mouth).
Normally, but not necessarily, the four structures function in close
coordination. Audible speech without any voice is possible during
toneless whisper, and there can be phonation without
oral articulation as in some aspects of yodeling that depend on
pharyngeal and laryngeal changes. Silent articulation without breath
and voice may be used for lipreading.

An early achievement in experimental phonetics at about the end of

the 19th century was a description of the differences between
quiet breathing and phonic (speaking) respiration. An individual
typically breathes approximately 18 to 20 times per minute during rest
and much more frequently during periods of strenuous effort. Quiet
respiration at rest as well as deep respiration during physical exertion
are characterized by symmetry and synchrony of inhalation
(inspiration) and exhalation (expiration). Inspiration and expiration
are equally long, equally deep, and transport the same amount of air
during the same period of time, approximately half a litre (one pint) of
air per breath at rest in most adults. Recordings (made with a device
called a pneumograph) of respiratory movements during rest depict a
curve in which peaks are followed by valleys in fairly regular
alternation.