High-fidelity continuum modeling predicts avian voiced sound production

Abstract Voiced sound production is the primary form of acoustic communication in terrestrial vertebrates, particularly birds and mammals, including humans. Developing a causal physics-based model that links descending vocal motor control to tissue vibration and sound requires embodied approaches that include realistic representations of voice physiology. Here we first implement and then experimentally test a high-fidelity three-dimensional continuum model for voiced sound production in birds. Driven by individual-based physiologically quantifiable inputs, combined with non-invasive inverse methods for tissue material parameterization, our model accurately predicts observed key vibratory and acoustic performance traits. These results demonstrate that realistic models lead to accurate predictions and support the continuum model approach as a critical tool towards a causal model of motor control of voiced sound production.