A study on tracheoesophageal phonation based on a collapsible channel model.

Laryngeal cancer afflicts a large number of people worldwide, and some will need surgery to contain the disease. Currently, tracheoesophageal (TE) speech is a common method of voice rehabilitation for patients who have had their larynges excised. However, despite the relatively high success rate, not everyone is capable of producing the TE voice, usually due to the tonicity of the pharyngoesophageal segment (PES). The present work studies how the tonicity of the muscles of the PES affects TE phonation, focusing mainly on hypotonicity. A simplified collapsible channel model is used. Steady-state solutions are obtained and a linear stability analysis is performed. It is then shown that the steady-state solutions of the model are similar to the wide variety of possible PES configurations that are reported in the literature. The linear stability analysis results provide a simple expression for the estimation of the minimum tonicity required for self-sustained oscillations of the PES.