( CNN ) -- Nate Ball , an MIT-trained mechanical engineer , wants to find out how things work -- even when they 're inside his throat . A two-time NCAA All-American pole-vaulter , former host of a PBS show , entrepreneur and co-founder of a company -- Atlas Devices , which creates powered rope ascenders -- Ball is also a beatboxer . He manipulates his voice to make deep , baritone sounds and robotic noises . He fluctuates from quick staccato beats and deep bass to buzzes and record-scratching sounds . `` Beatboxing is one of the most natural things I can imagine a person doing , '' he said . `` We 're rhythmic beings through and through . We walk in rhythm , our hearts beat in rhythm . '' Ball 's philosophy is that human bodies are `` incredible machines capable of amazing beauty . ... The possibilities are endless , '' he said at TEDMED , a conference about great ideas in health care in October . `` When I 'm beatboxing , it 's fun to add elements : scratching like a record , there 's beats , talking while you 're doing a beat -- which is not easy to do on the fly , '' he said . `` That 's what beatboxing is all about . It 's about putting together all the crazy noises you can possibly manage and making it sound cool . '' Other than being fun , Ball wondered : How does it all work ? To figure out what 's happening inside his brain , he went inside an fMRI , an imaging machine that can show brain activity through blood flow . When he performed a beat from memory , his brain activity was different from when he improvised . When he created a beat on the fly , the brain activity in the prefrontal cortex , which is involved in self-monitoring , shut down . But other networks in his brain activated , including the cerebellum , which handles motor coordination , and and the temporal lobe , which is involved in auditory perception and emotional response . But Ball wanted to find out more -- What 's happening inside his throat to form those sounds ? To get a closer look , he had a fiber optic camera lowered through his nose to investigate at TEDMED . This was n't his first time getting a laryngoscopy . With the camera inside his body and an image projected onto the big screen , Ball continued to beatbox . The camera showed it was n't only the vocal cords that help to create sounds . `` Making the robot voice , I thought my vocal cords were vibrating , flapping at a low frequency , '' Ball said . When he growled or let out a deep hum , his arytenoid cartilage and other tissues nearby his vocal cords also vibrated . `` It 's fascinating and captivating and gross , '' he said . The video is not for the squeamish , since you can see lots of human tissue and saliva . But it shows how the human body works . `` It 's this thrilling edge of discovery , '' he said -- even when it 's inside your own body .
Nate Ball wanted to see how his body is able to beatbox . At first , he had a needle lowered into his larynx . He said human bodies are incredible , with endless possibilities .