Advanced Physiology of Human Voice Production - The Vocal Fold Mucosal Wave

The human voice is created by air passing between the vocal folds causing them to vibrate resulting in sound waves. The vibrating vocal folds can be easily visualized with an endoscope passed through the nose. With such a top down view, the vocal folds appear to be V-shaped thin membranes that vibrate against each other. However, such a simplistic two dimensional view is actually incorrect.
Rather, when the vocal folds are seen in cross-section, instead of being a thin band-like structure, they are actually a wedge shaped triangle. Furthermore, when the vocal folds vibrate against each other, there is both a horizontal and vertical component. The vocal fold vibration itself is due to the vocal fold membrane that overlies and moves freely over the muscle. This vocal fold oscillation is inherently asymmetrical with a lag between the bottom and top edges of the vocal folds coming together. The vocal fold membrane or cover moves freely and separately from the vocal fold muscle as a result of the action of the air flowing through the glottis. This movement is wave-like, like a ripple over the surface of a pond, and it is known as the mucosal wave.
More info on the human voice both in health and in disease: www.FauquierENT.net/voice.htm
The high speed, high resolution endoscopic vocal cord video (4:05) is by courtesy of Dr. Arick Forrest.
• Intro (0:00)
• Endoscopic View (0:12)
• Cross-Sectional Anatomy (0:30)
• Vocal Fold Vibration (0:40)
• Vibration in Simplified View (3:11)
• High Speed Strobe (4:05)
Video created by Dr. Christopher Chang:
www.FauquierENT.net
With assistance from Carmen Ramos-Pizarro, PhD, CCC-SLP, assistant professor of speech language pathology at University of the District of Columbia.
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References:
Hixon, T. J., Weismer, G., & Hoit, J. D. (2020). Preclinical speech science: Anatomy, physiology, acoustics, and perception. Plural Publishing Inc.
Titze, I. R. (1994). Principles of voice production.
Prentice Hall.
Titze, I. R. (2006). The Myoelastic-Aerodynamic Theory of Phonation. Voice Science and Technology, 1(1), 1-28.
#vocalcord #larynx #slp #speechlanguagepathology

[@TheSingingVocologist]

Excellent presentation! Thank you for this. I will be sharing it with my voice patients.