Why does helium make your voice sound funny?

Your voice is produced by vibrating air pushed out from your lungs. When you inhale helium instead of air, the density is changed and thus the sound of your voice is changed.

Its bad for you in the sense that you are not getting any oxygen when inhaling helium. This is never good, however the harm produced by taking in one lungful of helium is very small. Howerver, if you kept doing it, you could pass out. If you were placed in a room with nothing but helium you would die.

it constricts your vocal cords to make you speak in a higher tone

No, that's no longer the only one. different noble gases could have an result on you voice. The density of the gas ascertain the exchange interior the voice. Low density like He provides a greater perfect voice. severe density would supply a decrease voice. you ought to take numerous breaths of air between each and each breath of any gas like He. The compressed He has no longer O2 blended with it and you may suffocate - or a minimum of bypass out in case you do no longer breath air to get O2 on your suggestions.