Ces radiol. 2009, 63(3):242-246

Imaging of vocal tract by MRIOriginal article

Věra Peterová¹, Jan Krásenský¹, Věra Ečerová¹, Miroslav Kron¹, Lucie Peterová¹, Jan Kryštůfek², Tomáš Vampola²

¹ MR oddělení Radiodiagnostická kliniky 1. LF UK a VFN, Praha

² Ústav mechaniky, biomechaniky a mechatroniky, Fakulta strojní ČVUT, Praha

Aim: Vocal tract and especially vocal cord are from the anatomic and function point of view very complex organs, which affect the creation of different sounds and words. During speech a change in the shape of the vocal tract appears, which can be depicted by magnetic resonance (MR). The study follows the optimal sequences for its investigation. We focused in particular on the larynx imaging.

Method: Dynamic real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the vocal tract during pronouncing of vowels was investigated in one normal healthy young male adult in several sequences and obtained data were used for physical modeling of its acoustic properties.

Results: Finally, we can conclude that MR is the optimal method for evaluating the vocal tract including larynx, and for changes its shape during vowels pronounciation. MR allows the examination in all three planes, in addition to the normal routine sequences we proved new sequences, mainly executed by the 3D technique in T1-weighted images, which resulted in higher resolution of soft tissue strucutres of adjacent tissues.

Conclusion: On the basis of our established model of the vocal tract its acoustic properties under the influence of changes in its shape can be (eg. tumors, after surgery, etc.).

Keywords: vocal tract, imaging, magnetic resonance

Grants and funding:

Studie byla podporována z výzkumného záměru MZO 00064165 a MŠM 6840770012 Ministerstva školství ČR.

Accepted: July 15, 2009; Published: September 1, 2009  Show citation