system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: what happens when someone loses their voice? Are there different causes (screaming, sickness, etc)?
gpt
To speak, you need your vocal chords to vibrate. If they become inflamed, they swell and become unable to vibrate properly to produce speech. As you stated, there are different ways that they may become inflamed such as overuse by screaming too much or from illness.