A lumped mucosal wave model of the vocal folds revisited: recent extensions and oscillation hysteresis.

This paper examines an updated version of a lumped mucosal wave model of the vocal fold oscillation during phonation. Threshold values of the subglottal pressure and the mean (DC) glottal airflow for the oscillation onset are determined. Depending on the nonlinear characteristics of the model, an oscillation hysteresis phenomenon may occur, with different values for the oscillation onset and offset threshold. The threshold values depend on the oscillation frequency, but the occurrence of the hysteresis is independent of it. The results are tested against pressure data collected from a mechanical replica of the vocal folds, and oral airflow data collected from speakers producing intervocalic /h/. In the human speech data, observed differences between voice onset and offset may be attributed to variations in voice pitch, with a very small or inexistent hysteresis phenomenon.

Validation of theoretical models of phonation threshold pressure with data from a vocal fold mechanical replica.

This paper analyzes the capability of a mucosal wave model of the vocal fold to predict values of phonation threshold lung pressure. Equations derived from the model are fitted to pressure data collected from a mechanical replica of the vocal folds. The results show that a recent extension of the model to include an arbitrary delay of the mucosal wave in its travel along the glottal channel provides a better approximation to the data than the original version of the model, which assumed a small delay. They also show that modeling the vocal tract as a simple inertive load, as has been proposed in recent analytical studies of phonation, fails to capture the effect of the vocal tract on the phonation threshold pressure with reasonable accuracy.

Influence of a constriction in the near field of the vocal folds: physical modeling and experimental validation.

The involvement of the ventricular folds is often observed in human phonation and, in particular, in pathological and or some throat-singing phonation. This study aims to explore and model the possible aerodynamic interaction between the ventricular and vocal folds using suitable in vitro setups allowing steady and unsteady flow conditions. The two experimental setups consist of a rigid and a self-oscillating vocal-fold replica, coupled to a downstream rigid ventricular-fold replica in both cases. A theoretical flow modeling is proposed to quantify the aerodynamic impact of the ventricular folds on the pressure distribution and thereby on the vocal-fold vibrations. The mechanical behavior of the vocal folds is simulated by a distributed model accounting for this impact. The influence of the ventricular constriction is measured in both flow conditions and compared to the model outcome. This study objectively evaluates the additional pressure drop implied by the presence of a ventricular constriction in the larynx. It is demonstrated that such constriction can either facilitate or impede the glottal vibrations depending on the laryngeal geometrical configuration. The relevance of using static or dynamic vocal-fold replicas is discussed.

An in vitro setup to test the relevance and the accuracy of low-order vocal folds models.

An experimental setup and human vocal folds replica able to produce self-sustained oscillations are presented. The aim of the setup is to assess the relevance and the accuracy of theoretical vocal folds models. The applied reduced mechanical models are a variation of the classical two-mass model, and a simplification inspired on the delayed mass model for which the coupling between the masses is expressed as a fixed time delay. The airflow is described as a laminar flow with flow separation. The influence of a downstream resonator is taken into account. The oscillation pressure threshold and fundamental frequency are predicted by applying a stability analysis to the mechanical models. The measured frequency response of the mechanical replica together with the initial (rest) area allows us to determine the model parameters (spring stiffness, damping, geometry, masses). Validation of theoretical model predictions to experimental data shows the relevance of low-order models in gaining a qualitative understanding of phonation. However, quantitative discrepancies remain large due to an inaccurate estimation of the model parameters and the crudeness in either flow or mechanical model description. As an illustration it is shown that significant improvements can be made by accounting for viscous flow effects.