Your vocal cords are stretched flaps of tissue located in your voice box, or larynx, which sits at the top of your windpipe or trachea. Your voice box is located in your throat (and if you put your fingers on it while you talk or sing, you can feel it humming). When air from your lungs passes over your vocal cords they vibrate; surrounding muscles open and close and stretch the vocal cords, changing their vibrations to produce a variety of sounds. (The more stretched your vocal cords, the more rapidly they vibrate and the higher the sounds they make.) Sounds made in your voice box are further changed when they are shaped by your throat, tongue, cheeks, and lips (and even teeth) into speech or song.