Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 2016, Physics

Using the Plexiglas Model M5, a static hemilarynx condition was produced using vocal fold pieces housed within a wind tunnel to collect pressure distributions throughout the glottis under constant flow conditions. In order to make the hemilarynx condition, one vocal fold piece was always kept vertical within the glottis, while the other spanned three different glottal angles, one converging, one uniform, and one diverging. The variability of glottal diameter was also introduced and data was collected at 0.01, 0.04, and 0.16 cm diameters. Pressure distributions and flow rates for such configurations are of interest for the analysis of phonation in patients for whom one vocal fold has been immobilized. Flow bistability was introduced at each of the glottal diameters for each glottal angle. Observations regarding the effect that flow bistability had on the pressure distributions showed that a bistable condition of flow produced noticeably less prominent changes in the pressure values intraglottally than the changes in pressures related to the asymmetric angles themselves. The flow bistability therefore created the greatest differences in larger diameter cases. From these pressure distributions, the data can be used in other multimass models to provide insight into the asymmetric forces that may occur within the larynx during phonation.

Committee: Lewis Fulcher Dr. (Advisor); Marco Nardone Dr. (Committee Member); Ronald Scherer Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Biophysics; Physics; Speech Therapy