Influence of neck soft tissue vibrations on the EGG-Lx Signal

Three male and 2 female subjects with healthy voices were examined to deter mine whether vibration of the soft tissue of the neck can be detected in th e EGG-Lx signal. First, a vibrating tuning fork (127 Hz) was placed against the skin of the submandibular region above the hyoid bone as the EGG-Lx si gnal was measured above the thyroid cartilage without phonation. Secondly, the EGG-Lx signal of the subject was measured during phonation of the vowel /a/, while the vibrating tuning fork was placed at the position described above. Thirdly, the EGG-Lx signal of the subject was measured during phonat ion of the Vowel /a/, while the non-vibrating tuning fork was placed at the position described above. Spectrographic analysis (FFT) of the selected se gments of the recorded EGG-Lx signals revealed vibration of the tuning fork as a frequency-specific peak(127 Hz); however, this peak was not shown in the case of the non-vibrating tune. The result of the study indicates the p ossibility that phonation-related vibrations of the soft tissue of the neck can influence the shape. Copyright (C) 1999 S. Karger AG,Basel.