Mucosal waves on vocal folds in voice production

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Michael Döllinger
• Subject Area: Otolaryngology, Phoniatrics and Audiology
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 550310205

Mucosal waves (MWs) are of crucial importance for healthy vocal fold (VF) vibrations. This project aims at obtaining more information on the nature of the MWs through detailed observation of the vibratory trajectories of the VF surface points in excised hemi-larynges and in silicon VF replicas. Based on the data, kinematic rules will be formulated to drive the oscillation of mathematical VF models so that it replicates the observed mucosal behavior, and used to study the aeroacoustics of the sound production. The detailed information on MW kinematics ex-vivo and in-vivo will be used to optimize the geometric and structural properties of a special self-oscillating synthetic VFs replica with an embedded liquid layer. Mathematical models of selfsustained VF oscillations with fluid-structure interaction will be optimized to simulate the MW kinematics more accurately. The results will improve our understanding of the biomechanical principles of VF self-oscillations and will serve as the basis for better recognizing and diagnosing voice disorders in clinical practice. In the DFG funded project, unique ex-vivo experiments, including a synthetic vocal tract, will be performed covering the entire FSAI; i.e. synchronous recording of sub-and supra-glottic pressure distribution, medial and upper vocal surface dynamics, air-velocity field and acoustic data. Goals: Exploration of physical background and principles of existence of mucosal waves on the vibrating vocal folds and their influence on the quality of the human voice production by means of numerical modeling and experimental investigation on synthetic and in vitro models

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Austria, Czech Republic
• Partner Organisation: Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (FWF)
• Cooperation Partners: Professor Jaromir Horacek, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Manfred Kaltenbacher; Professor Petr Svacek, Ph.D.; Professor Jan Svec, Ph.D.