Phonation Physiology
Chapter 5
Perry C. Hanavan, AuD
Practice Labeling
Review
Question
Which non-speech function is helpful for
lifting or pushing heavy objects?
A. Coughing
B. Abdominal fixation
C. Throat clearing
D. Swallowing reflex
SMART Response Que
E. All the above
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Larynx: Non-Speech Functions
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Coughing
Abdominal fixation
Throat clearing
Swallowing reflex
The Cough
The Cough
• Can voluntarily cough
• Reflex triggered when irritant stimulates one or more
cough receptors
• Receptors transmit message to cough center in brain,
telling body to cough
• Cough begins with deep inhalation, at which point
opening between vocal cords at upper part of larynx
(glottis) shuts, trapping air in lungs
• As diaphragm and other muscles press against lungs,
vocal folds suddenly abduct, producing explosive outflow
of air at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour
Question
The Cough Reflex Test is a reliable test for
A. Detecting cancer
B. Detecting reflux
C. Detecting aspiration pneumonia in stroke
patients
D. Detecting vocal nodules
SMART Response Que
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Nonspeech Laryngeal Function
Cough Reflex
• Visceral afferent branch of Vagus Nerve
• Response to irritant of tissue of respiratory
passageway to irritant or foreign object
• Widely abducted vocal folds followed by tight
adduction of vocal folds and elevation of larynx
• Smokers less sensitive to cough-inducing
irritants (which may have important medical
implications)
• Reflex cough test reliably evaluated the
laryngeal cough reflex and the associated risk
of developing aspiration pneumonia in stroke
patients.
– Testing the laryngeal cough reflex may significantly
reduce morbidity, mortality, and costs in stroke
patients.
(Addington et al 1999)
Abdominal Fixation
• Process of capturing air in the thorax to
provide the muscles with a structure on
which to push or pull
– i.e., lifting heavy objects, childbirth, etc.
Clearing Throat
Swallowing Reflex
• Bolus of food triggers reflex as it passes
tongue above larynx
• Larynx elevates
• Epiglottis drops down to cover aditus
(opening to larynx from pharynx)
• Tight adduction of folds
Vocal Fold Functions
Laryngeal Function for Speech
• Attack
– Simultaneous
– Breathy
– Glottal
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Termination
Sustained phonation
Vocal register
Whispering
Laryngeal Function for Speech
• Attack - process of bringing folds together for phonation,
requires muscles (three types):
– Simultaneous - adduction and onset of exhalation occurs
together
– Breathy - airflow begins before phonation “hope”, Breathy
phonation - failure to completely close folds
– Glottal- used when word begins with stressed vowel,
normal process (Hard glottal attack – damaging)
• Termination - process of fold retraction (abduction)
• Sustained phonation - requires maintenance of tonic
(sustained tensing) of musculature (actual phonation
does not require repeated adduction and abduction)
Speech Function
Vocal Folds
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Phonation
Phonation
Fundamental
Harmonics
Habitual pitch
Optimal pitch
Average
fundamental
frequency
Question
Register or pattern of phonation used in daily
conversations:
A. Falsetto
B. Whistle
C. Modal
D. Vocal fry
SMART Response Que
E. Whisper
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Vocal Register
• Vocal register - differences in mode of vibration
of vocal folds
– Modal register - pattern of phonation used in daily conversations
– Glottal fry - (rough voice) vibrating portion flaccid, lateral portion
tensed resulting in strong medial compression with short, thick
folds and low glottal pressure
– Falsetto - long and extremely thin folds
– Whistle register - turbulence on edge of vocal folds
– Whispering - not actually phonatory because no voicing partially
adducted and tensed to produce turbulence, strenuous and
fatiguing
Modal Register
• Modal register or modal phonation refers
to the pattern of phonation used in daily
conversation
• Example
Vocal Fry
Glottal Fry
• Also known as pulse register or Strohbass
(straw bass)
• Vocal folds vibrate between 30 and 90 Hz
• Frying pan sound of eggs frying
• Low subglottal pressure
• Tension of the vocalis is significantly reduced
relative to modal vibration, so that the vibrating
margin is flaccid and thick. The lateral portion of
folds is tensed creating thick folds
• Example
Glottal Fry
Vocal Fry
Falsetto
• A singing technique that produces sounds that are pitched higher
than the singer's normal range
• Vocal folds lengthened and become extremely thin
• expansion and separation of vocal cords, in which case, only the
edges of the vocal cord vibrate, not the entire vocal cord
• used by male countertenors to sing in the alto range, before
women sang in choirs.
• It is a very common technique in soul music, and has also been
made popular in heavy metal
• How to sing falsetto
• Falsetto Voice Phrases
Whistle Register
• Register above falsetto
• (flageolet register) is the highest register
of the human voice
• Up to 2500 Hz in females
• Product of turbulence on the edge of the
vocal fold
• Not considered a mode of vibration as
product of turbulence
• Mariah Carey
• Mariah Carey
Whispering
• Not a phonatory mode
• Voicing removed
• Mariah Carey
Question
Maintaining childhood pitch despite having
passed through puberty…
A. Aphonia
B. Puberphonia
C. Phonia fear
D. Non-phonia
SMART Response Que
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Puberphonia
• Maintenance of the childhood pitch despite
having passed through puberty
• Puberphonia
• Other voice disorders
Gender & Age
Vocal Length Change with Age
Fundamental Frequency & Age
Vocal Intensity vs. Vocal Fold
Vibration
2 Vocal Fold Intensities
Prosodic Feature of Question Form
Laryngeal Stridor
Terminology
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Abdominal fixation
Bernoulli effect
Bolus
Dilate
Cough
Ventricular folds
Phonation
Vocal attack
Simultaneous vocal attack
Sustained phonation
Breathy vocal attack
Glottal attack
Ventricular attack
Hypertrophy
Laryngitis
Aphonia
• Vertical mode
• Maximum phonation
• Vocal fundamental
frequency
• Minimum driving pressure
• Glottal fry
• Pulse register
• Strohbase
• Falsetto
• Whistle register
• Breathy phonation
• Pressed phonation
• Puberphonia
• Mutation
• Whispering
• Intensity
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Optimal pitch
Jitter
Suprasegmental
Average fundamental
frequency
Shimmer
Prosody
Laryngeal stridor
Monopitch
Monoloud
Vocal hyperfunction
Mode of vibration
Modal register
Habitual pitch
Vocal intensity
Frequency
Pitch
Pitch range
Termination of phonation
Voice Disorders
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Voice Doctor
Voice Disorders
Functional Voice Disorder
Disorders of the Larynx
Cancer of the Larynx