The effect of tension, stiffness, and air flow on laryngeal resistance in the in vivo canine model

Abstract

Recent studies have indicated that glottal resistance varies inversely as a function of flow rate [M. E. Smith and G. S. Berke, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Suppl. 1 85, S147 (1989)]. This study used an in vivo canine model to determine the effect of air flow on glottal resistance at low, medium, and high levels of recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) and superior laryngeal nerve (SLN) stimulation. The data indicate that glottal resistance is linearly and inversely proportional to the log of air flow for low and medium levels of SLN stimulation. At air flow greater than 500 cc/s, the glottal resistances approached 0.1 mm Hg/cc/s for all levels of RLN and SLN stimulation. For low levels of air flow less than 100 cc/s, the glottal resistance was proportional to the degree of RLN and SLN stimulation.