The Effect of False Vocal Folds on Laryngeal Flow Resistance in a Tubular Three-dimensional Computational Laryngeal Model.
Qian Xue, Xudong Zheng
PMID 27178452WHAT IT FOUND
False vocal folds lowered simulated airflow resistance by 3.05% and reduced simulated noise in a computer model of human voice production.
This was not a patient trial, so it does not show a therapy works.
Key findings
01Adding false vocal folds reduced translaryngeal flow resistance by 3.05% in the three-dimensional model, compared with a 17% reduction in a previous two-dimensional model.
02Signal-to-noise ratio increased from 19.1 to 35.6 when false vocal folds were present, and energy at nonharmonic frequencies was lower.
03False vocal folds suppressed large jet deflection and reduced turbulence kinetic energy in the model.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study was a computational model, not a clinical study, so it did not measure patients, therapists, treatment response, or real voice quality. The model used one fixed laryngeal geometry and one false vocal fold gap, so it does not capture the wide range of anatomy and movement seen in voice disorders. False vocal folds were modeled as rigid, and true vocal fold material properties were assumed from published data rather than measured in the simulated person. A very small minimum glottal gap was enforced to make the simulation run, which created leakage flow that had to be adjusted for in the comparison. The reported changes in flow resistance and noise are model outputs and were not tested against clinical meaningfulness.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that false vocal folds improve voice quality or reduce vocal effort in patients. The study was a computer model, not a clinical trial, and the simulated flow resistance changed by only 3.05%.