Response Time of Laryngeal Muscles in Controlling F: Results of a Correlation Analysis
James E. Atkinson · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1973
Many electromyographic (EMG) studies have investigated the function of the laryngeal muscles in controlling the fundamental frequency of vibration of the vocal folds (F0). It is a well-known fact that muscles physically take a finite amount of time to contract due to the mass involved. When studying the correlation between EMG data and F0 in speech, it is necessary to correct for this time lag. No data are available, however, for contraction time of human laryngeal muscles. Using a discrete form of cross-correlation analysis, a related measure which we call “mean response time” was measured for several laryngeal muscles in one (human) speaker. The technique is described and the results are compared with available data from other species. Although not truly a measure of contraction time as it is usually defined, the mean response time agrees very well with the best data available for contraction times (measured in cat and dog), and offers a useful tool for EMG studies.