Could you still hum, even when you've lost your voice?

[Fork_Q2]

Great game by the way.

Edit: Thanks for all the responses so far!

[Ralgaoud]

I was wondering the same thing!

[Bomoo]

Evidently so!

[Kofina]

That always confused me

[myst44]

i guess she can't speak, more then can't hum

[135dB of screaming cockatoo]

The Transistor didn't take Red's physical ability to speak, just her "voice". I don't know how precisely to explain this, but she can make noises, mostly inadvertently, but can't form words of any sort.

[RaenNgu]

I think in one of the interviews they explained that the humming is actually in her head, so as players we're playing from her mind (which also goes along with the Turn based battle format and the humming that you hear when you use Turn).
I could be wrong though lol.

[Philip Marlowe]

Originally posted by Blueservine:

The Transistor didn't take Red's physical ability to speak, just her "voice". I don't know how precisely to explain this, but she can make noises, mostly inadvertently, but can't form words of any sort.

^+1

One way to lose speech is by physical damage to the vocal cords, but the brain is intact. In this case, one could not hum.

Another way to lose speech is by brain damage (Broca’s aphasia), but the vocal cords are intact. In this case, Red would still be able to hum, however her brain lost normal speech.

[Fred Kelly007]

huh, I hadn't really though abouot it... Although I did have to wonder how heavy Transistor is.. cos Red dosen't look that strong. (I could be mistaken)

[Onyx]

Well, Fred, you have to remember, the Transistor has shown the ability to hover in mid-air. And even if we say that the Transistor is only shown flying in a straight line for stylistic reasons in the cinematic showing the Camerata's attempt to attack Red, there's no way something like the Transistor would make for a reasonable thrown projectile unless it had some sort of ability to propel itself. So, the Transistor is probably exerting some sort of levitational force to make it less of a burden on the user. That, or it's just deceptively light. Y'know, either way. Maybe both.

But, back on topic, I had no idea that the devs suggested the humming might be in her head. I find that explanation suspect, since there's that section where you return to the Empty Set theater, and humming gets a reaction out of the Process. Which I would think wouldn't happen if she was only humming in her head (though it seems only natural for the turn() humming, perhaps that's what the devs were talking about?). Nevermind all the grunts and exclamations when using Functions, which sound like a normal person using their vocal cords, normally. Which leads back to what a lot of people are saying, that when Red lost her voice, it likely wasn't due to any physical damage, but rather mental damage. Philip, kudos on the medical research there, but I'm afraid aphasia in particular doesn't work as an explanation for Red, because expressive aphasia is characterized by a loss of both spoken AND written language (and sign language!), and Red has no problem with all those OVC terminals.

If we're going to search for a specific medical condition to describe Red's predicament, I would suggest apraxia of speech, as it seems to fit the bill (thank you Wikipedia). It specifically effects the ability to turn mental language in to the mouth movements of words, without effecting mental understanding of language (as in aphasia, which doesn't fit because that also effects wiritng) OR the ability of motor muscles to produce those sounds (as in dysarthria, which doesn't fit because that effects all vocalizations, including humming). People with Apraxia of speech can sometimes form sounds easily when they're not thinking about it, only for those same sounds to be difficult to produce when they attempt to conciously create them while speaking. And if that doesn't sound like Red, I don't know what does.

Of course, presumably Red losing her voice is supposed to serve some sort of larger symbolic role, just as many of the Transistor's victims were prominent voices of the city that were 'silenced'. But where's the fun in talking about that? It's much more interesting trying to give medical diagnoses to fictional characters.

[Problem Machine]

Yeah my dad had a stroke several years ago and has apraxia, it is very similar. He understands speech and can read just fine, but has a lot of difficulty speaking. He has a hard time writing as well, but I think that's also because of a slight aphasia from the stroke as well. Really, though, it seems to be different for everyone -- given the theming of the game, it's conceivable as well that Red simply lost 'access privileges' to speech and singing.