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The fascinating story of our ability to converse from the ´David Attenborough of the acoustic realm´ (Observer)

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Being able to speak is what makes us human.

If you´ve ever felt the shock of listening to a recording of your own voice, you realise how important your voice is to your personal identity. We judge others - and whether we trust them - not just by their words but by the way they talk: their intonation, their pitch, their accent.

Now You´re Talking explores the full range of our voice - how we speak and how we sing; how our vocal anatomy works; what happens when things go wrong; and how technology enables us to imitate and manipulate the human voice. Trevor Cox talks to vocal coaches who help people to develop their new voice after a gender change; to record producers whose use of technology has transformed the singing voice; and to computer scientists who replicate the human voice in their development of artificial intelligence.

Beginning with the Neanderthals, Now You´re Talking takes us all the way to the digital age - with the frightening prospect that we may soon hear ´Unexpected item in the bagging area´ more frequently than a friendly ´Hello, how are you?´ in the street.

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"Full of well-I-never insights... A lively, intelligent and persuasive history of speech...Expertly and patiently explained" Laura Freeman The Times

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