falsetto, the upper register of the human voice, the opposite of chest voice. Though sometimes consideredsynonymous with head voice, the Italian termfalsetto means “false soprano” and therefore has been used traditionally to describe only the adult male’s head voice, whereby the vocal cords vibrate in a length shorter than usual and somewhat apart with a permanent oval orifice between the edges. In choirs of men and boys, especially in England, there is a long uninterrupted tradition of adult male altossinging falsetto.