Breathing plays an essential role in our lives. The process of breathing is essential not only to life but also to speech production. Although the two are closely related, the function of speech for life is very different from that of breathing for speech. Breathing involves breathing air into and out of our lungs. The process of breathing brings oxygen to every tissue in our body. Breathing includes inhaling and exhaling. Inhaling is the process of breathing oxygen into our lungs and exhaling is the process of letting carbon dioxide pass through. Breathing is vital for humans at every moment of life, because our body constantly needs a new supply of oxygen. Breathing is an important function for our body because it provides the energy we need to carry out all the other functions we need to sustain life. It is evident that breathing is not only necessary for the production of speech, but is literally essential for the maintenance of LIFE!! So what happens during breathing? Which structures in our body are important for the breathing process?Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay There are many structures that are really important for the process of breathing. To begin, we must first understand how breathing occurs in our body and where. To start, we need to talk about the upper respiratory tract. The upper respiratory tract includes the nose, nasal cavity, mouth, pharynx and larynx. The importance of the upper respiratory tract can be summarized as follows: “…our respiratory system works closely with our circulatory system to deliver important gases such as oxygen to our cells and tissues. And then it helps remove gases such as carbon dioxide from our tissues as we breathe in and out” (SOPHIA Learning, 2016). The process of breathing in the upper airways begins when we breathe air through our nasal cavity. Air can also enter through the oral cavity, although this is rarely the case. As air flows through the nasal cavity, it is warmed and filtered before flowing down. Once the air passes through the nose, nasal cavity and pharynx, it reaches the trachea. This is where the lower airway comes into play and continues the breathing process. To continue, the breathing process begins when you breathe. When you breathe in, your body absorbs oxygen from the environment. Once the air passes through your upper airways, it passes through your lower airways. The lower respiratory tract is made up of several different structures. The structures of the lower respiratory tract are the trachea and lungs. In the lungs are the bronchi, bronchioles and alveoli. As it rises, air passes through the trachea (windpipe) to the lungs via the bronchi. At the same time, your diaphragm kicks in and contracts while your lungs expand. The intercostal muscles between your ribs also contract and help expand your rib cage as you inhale and exhale. From a physiological point of view, as air travels down the trachea to the bronchi, the air travels through the bronchioles and even further into smaller structures called bronchioles. Grape-shaped cells at the end of the structure allow carbon dioxide and oxygen to move intoyour body into the bloodstream and lungs. Then, as it all began, when you exhale, the carbon dioxide escapes in the same way as when the oxygen entered. Additionally, let's analyze the process of breathing and its importance for life and speech production. Although the process of speaking depends on breathing, it nevertheless differs from the breathing of life. When breathing intended for speech, the amount of air drawn in is much greater than when breathing calmly and passively. Exhalation is a major difference between vocal breathing and quiet breathing. “For speech, the inspiratory phase is 10% and the expiratory phase is 90%. For breathing, both are closer to 50%. (Hearing and Speech Sciences, 2017). During inspiration, we use approximately 40% of the respiratory cycle. Breathing for speech production is an active process, unlike breathing for life which is more of a passive process. Inspiration time is longer in vocal breathing than in calm breathing. In breathing for life, the ratio between inhalation and exhalation is almost the same, whereas this is not the case for vocal breathing. When we look at breathing cycles, we see the differences between our active and passive breathing patterns. One of the important differences between breathing for life and breathing for speech is air volume and breathing cycles. As I mentioned earlier, inhaling involves breathing oxygen into our lungs and exhaling lets out carbon dioxide. During breathing for speech, our breathing cycle is different. “You need a long, sustained exhale to produce long utterances, and you need a very short inhale to maintain a smooth flow of communication” (Seikel & Drumright & King, 2015). Our required textbook for this course defines tidal volume as “the volume inhaled and exhaled during normal, calm breathing” (Seikel & Drumright & King, 2015). Tidal volume is important to note the difference between speech for life and speech for breathing, because when we breathe quietly, we do not contract any additional muscles and the inspiratory and expiratory phases are almost equal. The main muscle used in silent breathing is the diaphragm. In vocal breathing, our body is more active, actually using multiple muscles as it is more forced. To continue further, the structures or muscles that our body uses during breathing vary depending on whether we are breathing for life or for speech. One difference would be that the accessory muscles of our body are not used during inspiratory breathing for life. When breathing for speech, different muscles are used for both inhaling and exhaling. For inspiration, muscles such as the diaphragm and internal and external intercostals are used. When exhaling, the abdominal muscles are used. During the breathing required for speech, “the abdominal muscles are primed to contract more quickly to meet speech needs” (Seikel & Drumright & King, 2015). Because the abdominal muscles are in balance, they are contracted recurrently, which affects the thoracic musculature. This is particularly important because it then affects the process of higher vocal intensity. Subglottal pressure is a key component of speech production. Subglottal pressure can be defined as “the air pressure generated by the respiratory system below the level of the vocal folds” (Seikel & Drumright & King, 2015). Breathing for speech provides.