What did dinosaurs sound like? 3D-printed skulls reveal their lost voices

The article explores the innovative work of Courtney Brown, an associate professor at Southern Methodist University, who has spent over a decade combining paleontology, music, computer science, and 3D printing to recreate the possible sounds of dinosaurs. Unlike the iconic roars popularized by media, the true voices of dinosaurs remain unknown due to the absence of vocal fossil records. Brown’s project, the Dinosaur Choir, focuses on hadrosaurs like Corythosaurus, which had elaborate nasal crests believed to function as resonance chambers for producing deep calls. Using CT scans of dinosaur skulls, Brown and her team 3D-printed these structures and integrated mechanical larynxes to generate sounds that mimic how these dinosaurs might have vocalized, producing haunting and varied tones. Further advancements came post-pandemic through collaboration with design professor Cezary Gajewski, who helped redesign the instruments by replacing mouthpieces with sensors that detect vibrations from a player’s voice or subtle movements. This system digitally processes these