Chest Voice vs. Head Voice: Where Do You Feel the Vibration?

Where Do You Feel the Vibration When You Sing?

Singing is not just about producing beautiful sounds; it’s a full-body experience where vibrations play a crucial role. When you sing, you can often feel vibrations resonating through different parts of your body, depending on the register you are using. Understanding these sensations can help you improve your singing technique, expand your vocal range, and protect your voice from strain.

In this article, we’ll explore where you feel these vibrations, specifically focusing on head and chest voices, and how recognizing them can transform your singing.

Why Does Vocal Vibration Travel to Specific Areas of the Body?

The act of singing involves the vibration of your vocal folds, also known as vocal cords, which are located within the larynx, or voice box, to generate sound waves.

These sound waves don't just stay in your throat — they resonate through the air and tissues of your body, which amplifies and colors your voice. This natural resonance happens because different parts of your body act like "soundboards," just like the wooden body of a guitar helps amplify its strings.

The reason you feel vibration in different parts (head or chest) depends on pitch, air pressure, and the density of tissues the sound waves travel through.

Here’s the detailed breakdown:

1. Head Voice Vibration Areas

When you sing in head voice, you are producing higher-frequency (higher-pitched) sounds. These lighter vibrations tend to resonate in the thinner, hollow cavities of your head, such as the sinus passages and forehead area.

• Forehead:
  High notes create vibrations that naturally travel through the upper bone structures of the face. The forehead area, being close to the nasal cavities, picks up these light, buzzy sensations.

• Nasal Bridge:
  The nasal cavity acts like a natural amplifier for higher pitches. When singing in head voice, vibrations travel up through the nasal bridge, creating a sensation like buzzing or tingling between your eyes and nose.

• Around the Eyes:
  This area is surrounded by sinus cavities (ethmoid sinuses), and high-frequency sound waves easily vibrate these hollow spaces, giving that "tickly" feeling around your eyes.

• Top of the Head:
  Sometimes, when your head voice is really well placed, singers report feeling a slight "lift" or vibration at the crown of the head. This is due to the way high-frequency waves bounce upward into the upper skull area, even though it’s more of a "sensation" than a literal strong vibration.

👉 In short:
Head voice vibrations travel upward because high notes produce faster vibrations that resonate better in smaller, lighter, hollow spaces — like your sinus cavities, forehead, and the crown of your head.

Tips to Enhance Head Voice Vibration:

• Think of sending the sound to the "mask" of your face (around the nose and eyes).

• Keep a relaxed throat and jaw.

• Gently work through scales that move upwards in pitch, noticing where you sense the resonant buzz in your body.

2. Chest Voice Vibration Areas

When you sing in chest voice, you produce lower-frequency (lower-pitched) sounds. These deeper, more powerful vibrations resonate best through thicker, denser structures like your chest and throat.

• Lower Throat:
  Since the vocal cords are located in the throat, the first place you feel deeper resonance is in the lower part of your neck. The muscles and cartilage around the larynx vibrate more during strong chest voice singing.

• Sternum (Breastbone):
  Your breastbone, or sternum, is a flattened, solid bone located centrally in the chest area. Lower-frequency sounds are strong enough to cause this bone to vibrate, giving singers the unmistakable sensation of chest resonance.

• Upper Chest:
  The upper ribs and muscles in the chest area naturally pick up these low vibrations. It's common to feel a strong buzz or hum across your upper chest when belting out lower notes or powerful songs.

👉 In short:
Chest voice vibrations travel downward and outward because lower notes have slower, larger sound waves that vibrate heavy tissues and bones, like the sternum and chest wall.

Tips to Enhance Chest Voice Vibration:

• Try placing your hand on your chest as you produce a low-pitched sound, either by speaking or singing, and observe the vibrations.

• Maintain good posture to allow free airflow.

• Avoid pushing; let the sound resonate naturally through the chest cavity.

Why Feeling Vibration Matters

Tuning into where you feel vibrations when you sing can be a game-changer:

• It guides you to use the correct vocal technique.

• It prevents vocal fatigue and injury.

• It enhances tonal quality by encouraging better resonance.

• It builds vocal awareness for smoother transitions between head and chest voice (often called mix voice).

By becoming more sensitive to the vibrations you feel, you can sing more effortlessly, control your dynamics better, and achieve a more polished sound.

Recognizing and working with these natural sensations will unlock greater freedom and expression in your singing journey.

If you are interested in honing your voice, our vocal instructor at NUVO Music School can help you in your voice lessons in Surrey, Langley, White Rock, and Delta, BC.

Ready to learn more about how to use your voice to its fullest potential? Join us now!