Introduction to Communication Sciences and Disorders Quiz 3

What are the two essential functions of the laryngeal?

1. It serves to protect the airway, so food and liquid does not enter the trachea and lungs during swallowing.

2. It is responsible for generating sound sources used to produce speech sounds.

What does the term laryngeal pertain to?

The larynx.

Where is the larynx located?

In the neck at the top of the trachea.

What is the larynx?

The organ of the laryngeal system.

What are the two types of speech sounds we produce?

Voiced and unvoiced.

What is a phonation?

Generation of a voiced sound.

What are the primary anatomical structures of the larynx?

Its muscles and cartilages.

What are thyroarytenoids?

They are the vocal folds. They are paired, ivory colored muscles. They function to allow air in and out of our lungs so we can breathe, and they vibrate to produce voiced speech sounds, or phonated speech sounds.

What is an adduction?

The term that describes the vocal folds closing to midline.

What is an abduction?

The term that describes opening of the vocal folds away from midline and creation of the glottal space, or glottis.

What are the muscles of the vocal folds?

The thyrovocalis and thyromuscularis.

What is a hyoid bone?

An “U” shaped bone located at the top of the larynx. It holds the larynx in place.

What is a thyrohyoid membrane?

A membrane that extends from hyoid bone and attach to the thyroid cartilage. The larynx suspends from this membrane.

What are laryngeal cartilages?

A firm, rubbery, fibrous connective tissue that provides support. They support the larynx, protect the vocal folds, and are used to produce vocal sounds, including speech sounds.

What is the thyroid cartilage?

It is the largest laryngeal cartilage located at the front of the neck. It helps protect the vocal folds from injury. The vocal folds attach to the middle of the thyroid cartilage. Their attachment serves as a fixed pivot point so the vocal folds can abduct and adduct.

What are the arytenoid cartilages?

Paired triangular shaped cartilages that sit on the superior/posterior part of the cricoid cartilage. They attach to muscles whose contractions rotate them in tandem to abduct and adduct the vocal folds.

What is the cricoid cartilage?

A circular shaped cartilage located above the first tracheal ring. It forms the base of the larynx. It provides an attachment point for the abductor and adductor muscles to keep the airway open for breathing and for speech production.

What is the epiglottis?

A thin plate of flexible cartilage that folds over the glottis when the larynx elevates when we swallow. It serves to prevent foreign objects from entering the trachea. It plays no role in speech production.

What are the laryngeal muscles?

Muscles that are soft tissue composed of fibers that contract and relax to allow for movement.

What are the two types of laryngeal muscles?

Intrinsic and extrinsic.

What is the myoelastic aerodynamic theory of voice production?

This theory explains vocal fold vibration.

What is the bernoulli principle?

States that an increase in the speed of moving fluid molecules, or air molecules, causes lower fluid or air pressure in the area where the speech occurs.

What is speed?

The rate that an object moves over a distance.

What is a vibration?

A back and forth movement (an abduction and abduction).

How do we create voiced speech sounds?

1. A neural signal from the brain to the vocal folds automatically “abducts” them.

2. Subglottic pressure builds and forces the vocal folds to “abduct.”

3. The air molecules accelerate through the glottis creating negative pressure within the glottal space.

4. The negative pressure in conjunction with the elastic recoil “adduct” the vocal folds.

5. This process repeats rapidly producing “voiced” speech sounds.

What is acoustics?

The branch of physics concerned with the properties of sound.

What is sound?

A forced vibration of air molecules that travel through a medium (gas, liquid, solid) as a sound wave.

What are the three types of sound?

1. Pure tone

2. Complex tone

3. Noise

What is pure tone?

Periodic sound (repeatable over time) composed of one frequency.

What is complex tone?

Periodic sound (repeatable over time) composed of more than one frequency.

What is noise?

Aperiodic sound (nonrepeatable over time) composed of more than one frequency.

What is a sound wave?

It describes alternating regions of air molecule compression (high pressure) and rarefaction (low pressure) that propagate over a distance.

What is compression?

(The wave’s crest) describes the “squeezing together” of air molecules with increasing density and higher pressure.

What is rarefaction?

(The wave’s trough) describes the “expansion” of air molecules with decreasing density and lower pressure.

What are the two main parts of the sound wave?

Its amplitude and frequency.

What is the amplitude?

The height of the sound wave.

What is frequency?

Refers to the number of vibrations that occur in 1 second and is related to cycles, periods, and wavelength.

What is a cycle?

One vibration, or one compression followed by one rarefaction. One vocal fold abduction and adduction.

What is a period?

The amount of time it takes to complete one cycle, and the amount of time it takes for a wave to travel a distance of one wavelength. The unit of measure of the period is the “second.”

What is a wavelength?

Refers to the distance between two consecutive compressions or two consecutive rarefactions, or the horizontal length of one cycle of the wave. The unit of measure of the wavelength is the “meter” (a little shy of 3 feet 3 inches).

What does fo stand for?

Fundamental frequency.

What is fundamental frequency (fo)?

The lowest frequency in a complex tone.

What are the two variables that fundamental frequency (fo) are determined by?

1. The mass of the vocal folds.

2. The length of the vocal tract.