Adams apple not there????

[PrincessDayna]

So, I have a slight IS condition, but no where anywhere have I heard it relating to an adams apple (47 xxy).  I never had one my entire life....  Ive hunted for it, had others hunt for it who I know are honest, and we never noticed it as something super prominent or visible?  Has anyone else ever experienced not seeing an adams apple? ITs a tiny blessing but hey.  Just curious if its more common then I am thinking?

[Heather]

So, I have a slight IS condition, but no where anywhere have I heard it relating to an adams apple (47 xxy).  I never had one my entire life....  Ive hunted for it, had others hunt for it who I know are honest, and we never noticed it as something super prominent or visible?  Has anyone else ever experienced not seeing an adams apple? ITs a tiny blessing but hey.  Just curious if its more common then I am thinking?

I think it's pretty common I don't have a adams apple either well a visible one anyway mine about the size of a marble maybe smaller. I think I read on a thread here someone say that the adams apple size is caused by how high your testosterone levels were during puberty. I never really payed attention to it before but there is a lot of natal men who don't have a visible adams apple. 

[PrincessDayna]

I think I read on a thread here someone say that the adams apple size is caused by how high your testosterone levels were during puberty.. 

lol! that would explain A LOT!

[Michelle G]

I don't have one at all, but I did end up with small cute natural boobs...go figure, Mother Nature has some odd tricks up her sleeve

[big kim]

I haven't got one but I still have a voice like Lemmy from Motorhead!

[Carlita]

I haven't got one but I still have a voice like Lemmy from Motorhead!

Haha! I don't have an Adam's Apple, either, but my natural speaking voice is around 95Hz (way down at the low end of the average male range) and I can comfortable rumble along with Leonard Cohen, Johnny Cash and Barry White records! 

On the other hand, my top singing note, without going into falsetto, is around a B5 (on a good day, pushing volume and range to the max ... so there's hope yet!

[musicofthenight]

without going into falsetto, is around a B5 (on a good day, pushing volume and range to the max ... so there's hope yet!

Nonono, that's really bad for your vocal chords!  You need to be in high voice (head voice or falsetto) to protect your voice there.  B5 / C6 is also about where I run out in falsetto.  1000 Hz.  It's just silly, a stupid-voice-trick, no call for talking that high.


PrincessDayna, if you can speak you have a thyroid cartilage.  If you start feeling the underside of your jaw and move down your throat:

- first your tongue
- then the hard ring-shape is your hyoid bone
- v-shaped bump below that is the top of your thyroid cartilage / adam's apple / "laryngeal incisure of thyroid cartilage"

So if you hear "feel your adam's apple," now you should hopefully know where it is.

[Shawn Sunshine]

I'm intersex and have androgen insensitivity syndrome (mild or partial) and I have low testosterone and not much of a adams apple at all. 

[Miranda Catherine]

I don't have an adam's apple either. Or male jaw, brow bone or any other 'male' characteristic other than a penis. After I came out to my parents at 16, they sent me to a psychiatrist, who had my hormone levels checked. I had high estrogen, low testosterone in adolescence, and all the way into my mid-forties when my estrogen crashed too. I became a real bitch! Now on HRT for the last 25 months (wow, I can't believe it's been that long!) I'll have lived full time for two years in less than a month, September 7th, 2013. My mom's taking me out to dinner. This will have been the best two years of my life. By light years!!! Hugs, Mira

[Carlita]

Nonono, that's really bad for your vocal chords!  You need to be in high voice (head voice or falsetto) to protect your voice there.  B5 / C6 is also about where I run out in falsetto.  1000 Hz.  It's just silly, a stupid-voice-trick, no call for talking that high.

OK ... I may have made two mistakes here. First, I was referring to singing, not talking! And second, I may have got the note wrong ... I meant the B above Middle C .. is that B4? Apologies if I've been misleading - I certainly can't get an octave above THAT! And, to be honest, that B is pretty damn ambitious: I've hit it in performance, but only when I'm absolutely giving it everything. I know I can get down two octaves below Middle C ... that would be when I'm joining in with Leonard Cohen!

[A]

Just want to say, head voice and falsetto are two very different things. Very. One is just the normal singing voice, and the other is, well, ridiculous.

Back to the topic at hand... Yeah, I think it's not all that weird not to have a visible Adam's apple. Heck, normally it'll grow in the middle of puberty and mine decided to show up at 19-20. I'd say it's not a bad estimation to say that probably the same proportion of women who naturally have one applies to men not having one. Dunno, 10 % maybe? Of course, being overweight or even obese disqualifies you from these numbers. Of course your Adam's apple probably won't be very visible if you have a lot of neck fat.

[calico]

No prominent adams apple hear either   I thought I was just lucky but maybe just mother nature being coo-coo either way I am thankful

[Sarah84]

I haven't got one but I still have a voice like Lemmy from Motorhead!

Interesting.  I have a very prominent adams apple  ,  but my natural voice fundamental is about 190Hz. It seems that there isn't relevant correlation between the size and voice.

[suzifrommd]

Big prominent adam's apple here that's easy to spot, but a high-ish voice. I got into the habit early on of speaking from deep in my chest so I didn't sound gay.

[JLT1]

Nonono, that's really bad for your vocal chords!  You need to be in high voice (head voice or falsetto) to protect your voice there.  B5 / C6 is also about where I run out in falsetto.  1000 Hz.  It's just silly, a stupid-voice-trick, no call for talking that high.


PrincessDayna, if you can speak you have a thyroid cartilage.  If you start feeling the underside of your jaw and move down your throat:

- first your tongue
- then the hard ring-shape is your hyoid bone
- v-shaped bump below that is the top of your thyroid cartilage / adam's apple / "laryngeal incisure of thyroid cartilage"

So if you hear "feel your adam's apple," now you should hopefully know where it is.

Everyone has an "Adams apple".  In men, it's generally visible, in women, it is very difficult to visually see and may be difficult to feel. It develops as a result of hormonal activity in males during puberty.  It may help lower a man's voice.  However, men have shorter and thicker vocal cords, which probably has a more significant impact on frequency. 

My Adams apple is female normal.  My natural pitch is around male normal.  Four years ago, I started working on singing higher and higher, lengthening the vocal cords as much as possible.  I've hit a plateau.  However, I can sing cis-female soprano with without going into falsetto and I can do it for over an hour before it get's tired.  (Although I am still working on a quality feminine speaking voice.)  My voice instructor smiles at me every week and has said numerous times that I have a rare gift.  I don't know how rare as I have heard men in this range on You Tube.. 

[Joanna Dark]

I don't have an adam's apple. At the top of my neck there is a little bump about the size of a pea. I just used pratt to check my pitch and speaking in my male voice I average 145. When I spoke in my female voice I averaged 185. I have no idea what that means other then men speak at 120 and women at 200. So I guess I sound androgynous lol

Speaking does have to do with the adam's apple right? I noticed people with prominent ones tend to have lower voices but that could be a coinkydink. I should start voice therapy or something.

[WFane]

My adam's apple is HUGE... and pointy... I want it gone.
It showed up at around 14, but my voice didn't get deep until I practiced because people kept making fun of me. Now my voice is low and resonant. And now that I've figured out that I'm probably MtF, I've gotten into singing in order to get my range of highs and lows back. On a good day, I can pull off a pretty convincing female voice, and even get ma'amed over the phone! On a different type of day, I can scream for a black metal band. I think the range is important, and I'd like to eventually be able to get to either end of my range without it having to be the right day. Then eventually, when I go full time as whatever I am, I'll pick one and eliminate the other.

But yeah. Adam's apple... definitely there. I hate it because it's pointy and makes me feel like a vulture >_<

[A]

Funny, I was never laughed at because of my high girly voice. One bully laughed at my shaven arms, and two others at me being a wimp in general, but that's all. And those bullies were short episodes in my life, too... I guess the guys I've met were pretty nice. Or unconsciously extended the excuse of not yet having had "voice puberty" beyond reasonable limits.

[Ltl89]

I don't have a visible one at all.  I can feel it if I search with my fingers or arch my head all the way back; otherwise, it's like it's not even there.  Yet, I still have a deeper voice.  So I guess I'm an anomaly.

Since this thread reminded me of the song, let's enjoy some old school Aerosmith.

[A]

I don't think you are. PERHAPS the Adam's apple makes resonance a bit deeper, but it's not even part of the vocal organs. Essentially, if your voice gets deeper, it's because your vocal cords changed. In the process, it's likely that your larynx was enlarged. And in the process, it pushes out stuff, notably the thyroid cartillage. Mainly the voice deepening is the cause of having a larger Adam's apple, not the contrary. And an indirect cause based on probability at that.

But even so, I'm pretty sure there are other factors than larynx enlargement that make a voice deeper. Meaning that a relatively small larynx can probably somehow produce a deeper voice than expected. Not to mention that even if it's pushed out, the thyroid cartillage might be small enough to still not be visible. Who knows?

What I do know is that I have a pretty visible Adam's apple and no male voice, and that some have a male voice but no visible Adam's apple. And I doubt it's -that- rare that voice and cartillage don't match perfectly.