NONINVASIVE MEASUREMENT OF TRAVELING-WAVE VELOCITY IN THE CANINE LARYNX

Laryngologists have long recognized that assessment of the mucosal wav e is an important part of laryngeal evaluation. This is the first repo rt of a noninvasive measurement of vocal fold displacement velocity in an in vivo canine model. A newly developed calibrating endoscopic ins trument capable of measuring distances on the vocal fold surface is de scribed. Displacement velocity was determined in three dogs and compar ed to physiologic measures in the in vivo phonation model. The results indicate that the calculated displacement velocity is Linearly propor tional to traveling wave velocity and fundamental frequency. Because t raveling wave velocity has been shown to reflect vocal fold stiffness, this method may advance the usefulness of stroboscopy for the study o f mucosal wave abnormalities.