Kazoo

A kazoo is a small membranophone that adds a buzzing tone to a player’s voice when hummed or sung into. Its vibrating membrane is driven by the voice, not by breath alone.

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Membranophone: A musical instrument whose sound is produced by a stretched membrane vibrating. A kazoo belongs to this instrument family because its membrane vibrates to produce sound.
Diaphragm (acoustics): A thin, flexible membrane that vibrates in response to sound or changing air pressure. This is the kazoo’s sound-producing part, commonly made from thin paper or plastic.
Novelty instrument: A musical instrument designed chiefly for amusement, comic effect, or informal play. The kazoo’s simple technique and distinctive buzz make it a familiar novelty instrument.
Harmonica: A free-reed instrument whose reeds vibrate as air is blown or drawn through its chambers. Unlike a kazoo, a harmonica generates sound from airflow through reeds rather than a hummed voice and membrane.
Voice (phonetics): Sound produced by vocal-fold vibration, often shaped into speech or song by the vocal tract. Voiced humming or singing supplies the vibration that makes a kazoo’s membrane buzz.
Acoustic cavity: An enclosed or partly enclosed space that affects the resonances of sound passing through it. The kazoo’s hollow body helps shape the buzzing tone produced by its membrane.
Jug band: A popular ensemble tradition using homemade or inexpensive instruments, including jugs, kazoos, and washtub basses. Kazoos fit jug bands’ informal sound and accessible instrumentation.
Jew’s harp: A mouth-resonated instrument with a flexible tongue that the player plucks to produce a buzzing tone. Both sound buzzy, but the Jew’s harp uses a plucked tongue rather than a voice-driven membrane.
Humming: Producing a voiced sound with the lips closed, usually without forming words. Humming into a kazoo drives its membrane while the closed mouth helps direct sound into the instrument.
Mouthpiece: The part of an instrument placed at or near the mouth to direct air or sound into it. A kazoo’s mouthpiece channels voiced sound toward the membrane.