Low frequency mechanical resonance of the vocal tract in vocal exercises that apply tubes

Horáček, Jaromı́r; Radolf, Vojtěch; Laukkanen, Anne-Maria

doi:10.1016/j.bspc.2017.02.004

Cited by 21 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…The experimental results presented in this paper for phonation through tubes into air and into water can be compared to measurements on humans published by Horáček et al (2017a) for a male subject and by Radolf et al (2014) for a female subject. The main difference between the results is caused by the existence of the low frequency acoustic-mechanical resonance in the human VT, whereas in the physical model with hard VT walls, such a resonance does not exist.…”

Section: Comparison Of Results From Physical Modeling Computer Modelmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…The fluctuations of the subglottic and oral pressures were measured by a miniature microphone (Bruel & Kjaer 4138, range 6.5 Hz-140 kHz) and by a special microphone probe (B&K 4182, range 1 Hz-20 kHz), respectively. The spectra of the pressure signals were calculated by an in-house developed program in Matlab, and the formant frequencies were estimated from the peaks of the averaged spectral data (Horáček et al, 2017a).…”

Section: Set-up and Measurements On The Physical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the present study, computer modeling was used to calculate what the acoustic resonance frequencies of the physical model would be if the vocal tract wall were softer, resembling that of the human vocal tract. The effects of the yielding walls in the human VT have been estimated by computer modeling for the tube in air (see Story et al, 2000;Radolf et al, 2016) and for the tube in water (see Horáček et al, 2017a).…”

Section: Computational Modeling Of the Acoustic Resonancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although water bubbling has been regarded as relaxing for the muscles and potentially healing for the tissues, there are also some results showing that the relative glottal closing speed and the closed time of the glottis may increase (Guzman et al, 2017) when the tube immersion depth is high (e.g., 10-18 cm below the water surface) which suggests higher mechanical loading of the VFs. It is also possible for the water bubbling frequency to approach the acoustic-mechanical resonance of the laryngeal tissues, which may increase the effect of bubbling both beneficially and adversely (Horáček, Radolf, & Laukkanen, 2017a).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The results obtained with this hard-walled VT model are further compared with (1) those obtained previously in humans and with (2) calculations obtained from a computer model, where yielding walls were implemented to better resemble the VT of humans. : Yielding walls affect the formant frequencies and also lead to appearance of a low-frequency acoustic-mechanical resonance (Radolf, Laukkanen, Horáček, & Liu, 2014;Radolf et al, 2016;Horáček et al, 2017a).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Experimental and Computational Modeling of the Effects of Voice Therapy Using Tubes

Horáček

Radolf

Laukkanen

2019

J Speech Lang Hear Res

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Phonations into a tube with the distal end either in the air or submerged in water are used for voice therapy. This study explores the effective mechanisms of these therapy methods. The study applied a physical model complemented by calculations from a computational model, and the results were compared to those that have been reported for humans. The effects of tube phonation on vocal tract resonances and oral pressure variation were studied. The relationships of transglottic pressure Ptrans(t) variation in time vs. glottal area variation GA(t), were constructed. The physical model revealed that, for the phonation on [u:] vowel through a glass resonance tube ending in the air, the first formant frequency F1 decreased by 67%, from 315 Hz to 105 Hz, thus slightly above the fundamental frequency F0 that was set to 90-94 Hz. For phonation through the tube into water, F1 decreased by 91-92%, reaching 26-28 Hz, and the water bubbling frequency Fb≅19-24 Hz was just below F1. The relationships of Ptrans(t) vs. GA(t) clearly differentiate vowel phonation from both therapy methods, and show a physical background for voice therapy with tubes. It is shown that comparable results have been measured in humans during tube therapy. For the tube in air, F1 descends closer to F0, while for the tube in water, the frequency Fb occurs close to the acoustic-mechanical resonance of the human vocal tract. In both therapy methods, part of the airflow energy required for phonation is substituted by the acoustic energy utilizing the first acoustic resonance. Thus, less flow energy is needed for vocal fold vibration, which results in improved vocal efficiency. The effect can be stronger in water resistance therapy if the frequency Fb approaches the acoustic-mechanical resonance of the vocal tract, while simultaneously F0 is voluntarily changed close to F1.

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Section: Comparison Of Results From Physical Modeling Computer Modelmentioning

confidence: 69%

Section: Set-up and Measurements On The Physical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%