What is the difference between breathing at rest and speech breathing in terms of inhalation and exhalation?
Also, what is the ratio of inhalation to exhalation for speech breathing?
Tidal breathing is a cycle of roughly 40% inhalation and 60% exhalation, and the exhalation is passive, meaning no muscles are activated to do it. However, when breathing for speech, the cycle is roughly 10% inhalation and 90% exhalation!
- Diaphram - most important muscle of respiration, muscle contraction causes the diaphragm to move in downward.
- External Intercostal Muscles - assists in increasing the size of thoracic cavity.
- Internal Intercostal Muscles - help control the descent of the rib cage during exhalation for speech purposes.
Regarding this, what is the difference in composition of inhaled and exhaled air?
When we exhale, the composition of the air remains almost same as the air we inhale, only the percentage of carbon dioxide and oxygen changes. The amount of inhaled air contains 21% of oxygen and 0.04% of carbon dioxide, while the air we breathe out contains 16.4% of oxygen and 4.4% of carbon dioxide.
The muscles of respiration are those muscles that contribute to inhalation and exhalation, by aiding in the expansion and contraction of the thoracic cavity. The diaphragm and, to a lesser extent, the intercostal muscles drive respiration during quiet breathing.