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Modeling the influence of the extrinsic musculature on phonation

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Abstract

Neck muscles play important roles in various physiological tasks, including swallowing, head stabilization, and phonation. The mechanisms by which neck muscles influence phonation are not well understood, with conflicting reports on the change in fundamental frequency for ostensibly the same neck muscle activation scenarios. In this work, we introduce a reduced-order muscle-controlled vocal fold model, comprising both intrinsic muscle control and extrinsic muscle effects. The model predicts that when the neck muscles pull the thyroid cartilage in the superior–anterior direction (with a sufficiently large anterior component), inferior direction, or inferior–anterior direction, tension in the vocal folds increases, leading to fundamental frequency rise during sustained phonation. On the other hand, pulling in the superior direction, superior–posterior direction, or inferior–posterior direction (with a sufficiently large posterior component) tends to decrease vocal fold tension and phonation fundamental frequency. Varying the pulling force location alters the posture and phonation biomechanics, depending on the force direction. These findings suggest potential roles of particular neck muscles in modulating phonation fundamental frequency, with implications for vocal hyperfunction.

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Notes

  1. We define the VF plane to be the plane parallel to the superior surfaces of the VFs.

  2. These simplifying assumptions are not adopted in the full numerical phonation model used in the simulations presented in Sect. 5.

  3. The case of inferior thyroid cartilage pulling with \(a_\textrm{CT}=a_\textrm{TA}=0.4\) exhibits changes in SPL within 8 dB.

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Funding

Research reported in this work was supported by the NIDCD of the NIH under Award No. P50DC015446 and ANID BASAL FB0008. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada

    Mohamed A. Serry & Sean D. Peterson

  2. Institute for Research and Development on Bioengineering and Bioinformatics (IBB), CONICET-UNER, Oro Verde, Entre Ríos, 3100, Argentina

    Gabriel A. Alzamendi

  3. Department of Electronic Engineering, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso, Chile

    Matías Zañartu

Authors
  1. Mohamed A. Serry
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  2. Gabriel A. Alzamendi
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  3. Matías Zañartu
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  4. Sean D. Peterson
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Contributions

M.A.S. and S.D.P. conceived of the study. M.A.S. and G.A. developed the model. M.A.S. generated preliminary results and figures. All the authors analyzed and interpreted the results. M.A.S. wrote the first draft of the article. All the authors reviewed and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sean D. Peterson.

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Conflict of interest

M.Z has a financial interest in Lanek SPA, a company focused on developing and commercializing biomedical devices and technologies. His interests were reviewed and are managed by the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María in accordance with its conflict-of-interest policies.

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Serry, M.A., Alzamendi, G.A., Zañartu, M. et al. Modeling the influence of the extrinsic musculature on phonation. Biomech Model Mechanobiol 22, 1365–1378 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10237-023-01724-3

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