3D-Printed Synthetic Vocal Fold Models.
Ryan G T Romero, Mark B Colton, Scott L Thomson
PMID 32312610WHAT IT FOUND
A new 3D printing process made silicone vocal fold models that vibrated, but some needed a restraining plate and started vibrating at higher pressures than human speech.
This is a lab tool, not evidence for patient care.
Key findings
01Life-sized synthetic vocal fold models were 3D printed and could self-oscillate without fatigue failure during about three minutes of testing.
02Printed cubes were less stiff than cast cubes, and stiffness changed with print direction: cubes pulled parallel to printed layers were almost one-third as stiff as cast cubes, and cubes pulled perpendicular to the layers were about half as stiff as parallel cubes.
03Some printed models did not self-oscillate without a vertical restrainer, and the models' onset pressures were higher than human speech onset pressure.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study tested laboratory silicone models, not people, so it cannot show what would happen in a patient's voice or in clinical care. Some models would not vibrate without a vertical restrainer, which was used in the laboratory setup. The models started vibrating at higher pressures than human speech and higher pressures than previously tested one-layer models. Printed cubes were less stiff than cast cubes and their stiffness changed with print direction, so the printed material did not exactly match cast silicone or human tissue. Printed models had small geometric errors, layer separation, and a solid silicone section near the base that changed vibration. The paper states that further material testing, process refinement, and research on print orientation are needed.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that 3D-printed vocal fold models are a validated clinical tool or that they reproduce human voice. The models vibrated in a laboratory setup, but some needed a vertical restrainer and had higher onset pressures than human speech.