The Airway · Lungs
The voice box — and the gatekeeper that keeps food out.
Between your throat and your windpipe sits a small box of cartilage with two stretched bands inside. Push air through them and they vibrate — that's your voice. That box is the larynx.
It does a more urgent job too. A flap called the epiglottis folds down over the entrance every time you swallow, steering food into the oesophagus behind. When the timing slips, you cough — hard — and that cough is the backup plan.
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