A water hammer analysis of pressure and flow in the voice production system

Abstract

The sudden pressure rise produced by glottal closure in the subglottal tract during vocal fold oscillation causes a flow transient which can be computed as a water hammer effect in engineering. In this article, we present a basic water hammer analysis for the trachea and the supralaryngeal tract under conditions which are analogue to those operating during voice production. This approach allows predicting both, the intra-oral and intra-tracheal pressure fluctuations induced by vocal fold motion, as well as the airflow evolution throughout the phonatory system.