Always a source of fascination, Radio 4 is launching Vox Project – researching the oldest instrument on Earth – the human voice. Listeners/readers are invited to send recordings of their voice, engaged in one of various comparative tasks, to the researchers at UCL. The one which particularly interested me (and possibly many of you) is the difference in one’s voice when teaching as opposed, say, to chatting to friends. Schools are full of digital recorders now so why not get involved.

You can send recordings via Audioboo (if you have a iPhone or Android Phone) – otherwise you can upload to Youtube and email a link to info@whistledown.net

The site also features:

• an interesting article entitled Why do human voices sound the way they do?

• an audio slideshow featuring Clare Balding in an MRI scanner employing various registers and accents

I’ve said it before but I’m often struck by how important our voices are in teaching and how little we really know about them. Or is it just me?