Determination of Mechanical Stresses in Vibration and Contact During Flow-Structure-Interaction in Vocal Folds

Mechanical stresses in vocal folds (VFs) developed during self-oscillation — due to interaction with the glottal flow — play an important role in tissue damage and healing. Contact stresses occurring due to collision between VFs modify both self-oscillation characteristics, as well as stresses. The complexity of the problem is increased due to other factors acting in combination: transient nature of the flow, non-linear and anisotropic biomechanical properties of the VFs, and acoustic loading. Experiments with physical models [1] have attempted to deduce the state of stress in the interior through measurement of superior surface deformation. However, these methods pose challenges in data acquisition. on the other hand, full three-dimensional transient computational analysis of a self-oscillating and contacting VF model requires highly sophisticated algorithms as well as prohibitive resource usage. Not surprisingly, therefore, it has not been conducted until now. We hypothesize that a high-fidelity numerical simulation incorporating realistic tissue properties is essential to accurately determine stresses within VFs during self-oscillation and contact.