Thyroarytenoid muscle fiber orientation regulates the ability to modulate vocal fold vertical thickness.

ABSTRACT: While all speakers modulate their voice quality, some speakers do so more easily than others. Previous studies suggest that the ability to modulate voice quality depends on the ability to control vocal fold medial surface vertical thickness, among other factors. While it is well known that vocal fold vertical thickness can be increased by an inferior medial bulging of the vocal folds due to actions of the thyroarytenoid (TA) muscle, the underlying mechanism of how TA muscle activation produces inferior medial bulging remains unclear. In this computational study, we show that the TA muscle fiber orientation had a large effect on the extent of inferior medial bulging and vertical thickness increase under TA muscle contraction in a three-dimensional model of laryngeal muscle activation based

SUBMITTER: Yoshinaga T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12677544 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature