Funding provider: Czech Science Foundation (GAČR)

Grant ID: GA24-11121S

Project objectives: The project investigates the influence of the redistribution of acoustic energy in human speech on the acoustic output and biomechanical loading of the vocal folds. Supraglottic spaces will be geometrically modified in different ways to increase the acoustic output using computational and physical models of human vocal tracts for selected vowels, including examination of the effect of the nasal tract on the phonation characteristics. Mathematical modeling will be supported by experiments, including the effects of acoustic-fluid-structure interaction, using replicas of human vocal cords and physical models of human supraglottic spaces. Attention will be paid in particular to the economy of voice production by monitoring the contact impact load of the vocal folds in relation to the intensity of the output acoustic signal. The degree of vocal folds loading will be estimated by measuring the glottal closing velocity.

Principal investigator: prof. Dr. Ing. Tomáš Vampola, Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

Co-investigator: Ing. Vojtěch Radolf, Ph.D., Institute of Thermomechanics of the CAS