Development of a small film sensor for the estimation of the contact pressure of artificial vocal folds

Since voice production is the precondition for speech and, therefore, verbal communication, people suffering from voice disorders are limited in their everyday life. Physiological voice disorders, like vocal fold nodules are understood to result from increased contact pressure of the vocal folds during vibration. Thus, measurement of arising contact pressure during vocal fold oscillation helps quantify the collision forces and to substantiate previous assumptions. Due to limited access to the vocal folds, there is need for a small sensor that minimally influences air flow. For that purpose, we developed a small film sensor which is capable of measuring the contact pressure along the vocal fold contact areas. To investigate the suitability of the sensor, a hemi-larynx flow channel experiment with silicone replicas of the vocal folds was performed. Replicas of different elasticities were investigated. The contact sensor signals as well as the subglottal pressure were acquired. High-speed recordings of the vocal fold oscillation were synchronously performed to accurately relate the opening, closing and contact phases to the time signals. The measured contact pressures will be reported and compared to previous results. The advantages and limitations of the developed sensor will be discussed.