Impact of the Paraglottic Space on Voice Production in an MRI-Based Vocal Fold Model.
Liang Wu, Zhaoyan Zhang
PMID 33752927WHAT IT FOUND
Soft tissue beside the vocal folds widened the glottis and reduced closure in a computer voice model.
Stiffer vocal folds partly compensated. This suggests models of weak vocal fold adduction should include that tissue.
Key findings
01Adding the paraglottic tissue to the model increased mean glottal area and glottal area amplitude and reduced closed quotient.
02The effect decreased as paraglottic stiffness increased; at 10 kPa or 20 kPa it was almost negligible.
03Stiffening the vocal folds reduced some effects of the paraglottic space, and increasing longitudinal stiffness noticeably increased closed quotient.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The model was built from a cadaver hemi-larynx from a 57-year-old male, so it may not represent many people's larynx geometry. The study lacked experimental data on paraglottic tissue stiffness, so stiffness values were assumed. The simulation simplified the vocal fold layers to identical properties and the paraglottic tissue to a single linear elastic material. The vocal fold was rotated in the horizontal plane to approximate adduction, which was not intended to reproduce realistic adduction. The study did not test patients, voice therapy, or surgical outcomes.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as clinical evidence that a specific voice therapy or implant stiffness works. It tested a computer model based on a cadaver geometry and assumed stiffness values, not patients.