Endolaryngeal contact pressures

In this work, we present a new method for in vivo endolaryngeal contactpressure measurement with a miniature pressure transducer. Using this methodology, contact pressures can be measured during videoendoscopy at different locations between the artyenoids and also at various locations along the membranous vocal folds. Twenty adults with organic and functional voice disorders and two vocally healthy adults participated as subjects. Endolaryngeal contact pressure measures were made during a series of phonatory tasks varying pitch, loudness, and phonatory onset and offset. Measures were also made during nonphonatory tasks, including throat clearing, coughing, Valsalva maneuvres, and gagging. The most remarkable findings were: (1) interarytenoid contact pressures were considerably greater than intraglottal contact pressures; (2) interarytenoid contact pressures were greater for lower than higher pitches; (3) both interarytenoid and intraglottal contact pressures were remarkably large during hard glottal attack; and (4) overall, the largest endolaryngeal pressures were recorded between the arytenoids, during a thoracic fixation maneuver and during gag reflex.This work was supported in part by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (He 2869/1-1), by a grant from the “Verein zur Förderung hör-, sprach- und stimmgestörter Patienten an der FU Berlin e.V.” (nonprofit organization), Berlin, Germany, and by Grant No. K08 DC00139 from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.