Laryngology Surgery & Voice Care

Human voice is produced by the process called phonation which occurs at true vocal folds level in the larynx also known as called Adam?s apple.  This V-shaped structure is composed of muscles, connective tissues, and mucosal coverings together with its blood and nerve supply.  The vocal fold movements are contributed by intact innervation, intrinsic muscular contraction and normal joint mobility.   These are finally tuned by the mucosal waves propagation when the vocal folds meet each other in the midline (centre) upon phonation.  The voice produced then travel upwards and passes through the resonators which includes the throat, mouth, and the nose and paranasal sinus cavities.  By the process called articulation, the voice is finally converted to comprehensible syllables, words, phrases, or sentences.  This is contributed by the movements of tongue, jaw approximation and the lips apposition which produces specific speech upon vocalization.  Good air flow provided by the lungs is important as well as good control of breathing during phonation provides an optimal subglottic pressure and sustained flow of speech.

Voice is unique to a particular individual.  Optimal phonation habits and voice care enable long life communication benefits and prevents unwanted effects.             

Video of vocal folds movements as seen by using 70 degree endoscopy.

Mucosal waves as seen during videostroboscopy.

Video showing vocal folds morphological changes upon pitch variations

as seen during laryngeal assessment (rigid endoscopy versus videostroboscopy).