Mucosal wave characteristics in three voice modes (fry, hiss & overpressure) produced by a female speaker: a preliminary study using stroboscopy, HSDI and analyzed by kymography, P-FFT & Nyquist plots

HSDI provides a whole new way to investigate visually intra-laryngeal behavior and posturing during phonation by providing detailed real-time information about laryngeal biomechanics that include observations about mucosal wave, wave motion directionality, glottic area wave form, asymmetry of vibrations within and across vocal folds and contact area of the glottis including posterior commissure closure. These observations are fundamental to our understanding and modeling of both normal and disordered phonation. In this preliminary report we focus on direct HSDI in vivo observations of not only the glottic region, but also on the entire supraglottic laryngeal posturing during fry, breathy/hiss and over-pressured phonation modes produced in a non-pathological settings. Analysis included spatio-temporal vibration patterns of vocal folds, multi-line kymograms, spectral PFFT analysis, and Nyquist spatio-temporal plots. The presented examples reveal that supraglottic contraction assists in prolonged closed phase of the vibratory cycle, and that prolonged closed phase is longest in fry and overpressure and shortest albeit complex in hiss. Hiss also allows for vocal fold vibration despite glottis separation. These findings need to be compared to pathologic phonation representing the three voice modes to derive at better differential diagnosis.