Effects of vocal tract inertance on the glottal flow
Charles Farbos de Luzan, Liran Oren, Ephraim J. Gutmark, Sid M. Khosla · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2016
Compressible large eddy simulation is employed to numerically investigate the laryngeal flow. One static model of the canine larynx with a divergent glottis is considered, with the presence of false vocal folds (FVFs). This computational model is developed from empirical data, and compared to similar configurations that do not involve the subject-specific geometrical features. Due to the high enough Reynolds number, the flow is unsteady and develops asymmetric states downstream of the glottis. The intra-glottal vortex structures are formed on the divergent wall of the glottis, immediately downstream of the separation point. The vortices are then convected downstream and characterized by a significant negative static pressure. The FVFs are a main factor in the generation of stronger vortices, and thus on the closure of the TVFs. Models with and without divergent vocal folds are investigated and linked to the existence of vortices. The direct link between the FVFs geometry and the motion of the TVFs, and by extension to the voice production, is of interest for medical applications as well as future research works.