VOWEL-RELATED DIFFERENCES IN LARYNGEAL ARTICULATORY AND PHONATORY FUNCTION

The purpose of this investigation was to study the interaction suprala ryngeal and laryngeal components of the speech mechanism by examining vowel-related effects for a variety of vocal Fold articulatory and Sec ondary issues were to determine if vowel-related differences were infl uenced by the nature of the speaking task or gender. Between-vowel dif ferences in estimated subglottal air pressure, peak oral air flow, mea n phonatory air Flow, air flow near the termination of the vowel, elec troglottograph cycle width (EGGW), fundamental frequency, and voice on set time were examined For men and women during syllable repetitions a nd sentence productions. Significant vowel-related differences were fo und for all of the measures except mean phonatory air flow, and genera lly were not influenced by speaking task or gender. Vowel-related effe cts for estimated subglottal air pressure, peak oral air flow fundamen tal frequency and VOT were consistent with some earlier studies. New f indings included vowel-related differences in EGGW and air flow near t he termination of the vowel. We propose a model that includes the cont ribution of mechanical forces, reflexive neural activity and learned n eural activity to explain vowel-related effects. When vowel height is varied, changes in laryngeal cartilage positioning and vocal fold and vocal tract tension appear to influence laryngeal articulatory and pho natory function.