Pressure distributions for the uniform glottis were obtained with a static physical model (M5). Glottal diameters of d ¼ 0.005, 0.0075, 0.01, 0.02, 0.04, 0.08, 0.16, and 0.32 cm were used with a range of phonatory transglottal pressures. At each pressure and diameter, entrance loss and exit coefficients were determined. In general, both coefficients decreased in value as the transglottal pressure or the diameter increased. Entrance loss coefficients ranged from 0.69 to 17.6. Use of these coefficients with the measured flow rates in straightforward equations accurately reproduced the pressure distributions within the glottis and along the inferior vocal fold surface.

We present data on recent optocoupler in-flight anomalies and the subsequent ground test irradiation performed. Discussions of the single event mechanisms involved, transient filtering analysis, and design implications are included. Proton-induced transients were observed on higher speed optocouplers with a unique dependence on the incidence particle angle. The results indicate that both direct ionization and nuclear reaction-related mechanisms are responsible for the single events observed.

The classic work on laryngeal flow resistance by van den Berg et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 29, 626-631 (1957)] is revisited. These authors used a formula to summarize their measurements, and thus they separated the effects of entrance loss and pressure recovery from those of viscosity within the glottis. Analysis of intraglottal pressure distributions obtained from the physical model M5 [R. Scherer et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 109, 1616-1630 (2001)] reveals substantial regions within the glottis where the pressure gradient is almost constant for glottal diameters from 0.005 to 0.16 cm, as expected when viscous effects dominate the flow resistance of a narrow channel. For this set of glottal diameters, the part of the pressure gradient that has a linear dependence on the glottal volume velocity is isolated. The inverse cube diameter of the Poiseuille expression for glottal flows is examined with the data set provided by the M5 intraglottal pressure distributions. The Poiseuille effect is found to give a reasonable account of viscous effects in the diameter interval from 0.0075 to 0.02 cm, but an inverse 2.59 power law gives a closer fit across all diameters.

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An Arcas rocket-parachute system was used at night to compare supersonic and subsonic ionization measurements below 75 km. A hemispherical nose-tip probe was used on ascent and a parachute-borne blunt probe on descent to measure polar conductivities, which were due entirely to positive and negative ions. The velocity of the supersonic probe was ~Mach 2.5 at 50 km and 1.75 at 70 km; the blunt probe was subsonic below 71 km. Between 65 and 75 km the ratio of negative to positive conductivities (and thus of mobilities) determined by the blunt probe was about 1.2, and it approached 1 below this altitude range. The ratio obtained by the nose-tip probe varied from 1.5 at 75 km to .6 at 65 km, thus indicating a rapid variation of the effects of the shock wave on the sampled ions. The absolute values of positive conductivity measured subsonically and supersonically were essentially identical from 60 to 75 kin, indicating that the sampled ions were unchanged by the shock. However, below 60 km the shock apparently 'broke up' the positive ions, as indicated by higher measured conductivities. The negative ion conductivities for the supersonic case indicated that the sampling was badly disturbed by the shock. The negative ions were apparently lighter (higher mobility) than those sampled subsonically above 72 km and below 50 km. However, they appeared heavier (lower mobility) at the intervening altitudes.