What is the Adam's apple ?

What is the Adam's apple ?

The laryngeal prominence is usually more prominent in adult men than in women or prepubescent children. The growth of the larynx itself, and dropping of the vocal box during puberty is responsible for the vocal instability in teenage boys. The laryngeal prominence is merely the protrusion one sees of the thyroid cartilage making up the body of the larynx. The laryngeal prominence is usually more prominent in adult males because the thyroid cartilage elongates during puberty as the voice box becomes lodged in the throat, protruding out the front of the neck more noticeably. The result is that the two laminae (thin cartilage) of the thyroid cartilage that form the protrusion meet at an average angle of 90° in males, and 120° in females, so there is less cartilage protruding out in females.

Laryngeal prominence is commonly considered a male secondary sex characteristic, but women can also develop a masculine laryngeal prominence.

The big bump jutting out from the throats of most men is really a part of the larynx or voice box. When boys go through puberty, hormones cause the larynx to grow rapidly, deepening their voices and causing the bulge to form. Girls' voices also deepen with puberty, but since their larynxes don't tend to grow as much, they don't usually develop an "Eve's apple."

Next we poked around MedTerms.com, a handy medical reference dictionary.Adam's apple: The familiar feature on the front of the neck that is the forward protrusion of the thyroid cartilage, the largest cartilage of the larynx. It tends to enlarge at adolescence, particularly in males. It is usually said to take its name from the extrabiblical story that a piece of the forbidden fruit stuck in Adam's throat. We learned the protrusion is actually composed of thyroid cartilage. Your larynx is surrounded by a skeleton of cartilage plates that prevents it from collapsing. The Adam's apple, properly called the prominentia laryngea, is the central ridge where two plates of cartilage meet.

Technically speaking, the Adam's apple doesn't really "do" anything. In fact, some folks consider the bobbing bump an eyesore and undergo cosmetic surgery to make it less prominent. The procedure is called a trachea shave and is typically performed on men who either want to reduce an uncommonly large Adam's apple or who want to make the bump completely invisible after a gender reassignment.