Imaging the Vocal Folds: A Feasibility Study on Strain Imaging and Elastography of Porcine Vocal Folds

Scalable and High-Throughput In Vitro Vibratory Platform for Vocal Fold Tissue Engineering Applications

The vocal folds (VFs) are constantly exposed to mechanical stimulation leading to changes in biomechanical properties, structure, and composition. The development of long-term strategies for VF treatment depends on the characterization of related cells, biomaterials, or engineered tissues in a controlled mechanical environment. Our aim was to design, develop, and characterize a scalable and high-throughput platform that mimics the mechanical microenvironment of the VFs in vitro. The platform consists of a 24-well plate fitted with a flexible membrane atop a waveguide equipped with piezoelectric speakers which allows for cells to be exposed to various phonatory stimuli. The displacements of the flexible membrane were characterized via Laser Doppler Vibrometry (LDV). Human VF fibroblasts and mesenchymal stem cells were seeded, exposed to various vibratory regimes, and the expression of pro-fibrotic and pro-inflammatory genes was analyzed. Compared to current bioreactor designs, the platform developed in this study can incorporate commercial assay formats ranging from 6- to 96-well plates which represents a significant improvement in scalability. This platform is modular and allows for tunable frequency regimes.

Behind the Complex Interplay of Phonation: Investigating Elasticity of Vocal Folds With Pipette Aspiration Technique During Ex Vivo Phonation Experiments

OBJECTIVES

The vibration of the vocal folds produces the primary sound for the human speech. The vibration depends mainly on the pressure, airflow of the lungs, and the material properties of the vocal folds. In order to change them, muscles in the larynx stretch the vocal folds. This interplay is rarely investigated, but can give insight in the complex process of speech production. Most material properties studies are damaging the tissue; therefore, a nondestructive one is desired.

METHODS

An ex vivo phonation experiment combined with the dynamic Pipette Aspiration Technique is used to investigate 10 porcine larynges, under manipulations of different adduction and elongation levels. For each manipulation, the near surface material properties of the vocal folds are measured as well as different phonation parameters like the subglottal pressure, glottal resistance, frequency, and stiffness. Thereby, a high-speed camera was used to record the vocal fold movement.

RESULTS

On most of the measured parameters, the manipulations do show an effect. Both manipulations lead to a higher phonation frequency and an increase of the stiffness of the tissue. Comparing both manipulations, the elongation results in higher elasticity values than the adduction. Different measurement parameters have been compared with each other and correlations could be found. Where the strongest correlation are found among the elasticity values of different frequencies. But it can also be seen that the elasticity values correlate with phonation parameters.

CONCLUSION

It was possible to produce a data set of 560 measurements in total. To our knowledge, this is the first time Pipette Aspiration Technique was combined with ex vivo phonation measurements for combined measurements. The amount of measurement data made it possible to carry out statistic investigations. The effect of the manipulations on material properties as well as on phonation parameters could be measured and different correlations could be found. The results lead to the hypothesis that the stretch does not have a huge effect on the material properties of the lamina propria, but more on the underlying muscle.

Eliciting and Characterizing Porcine Vocalizations: When Pigs Fly

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

While voice-related therapeutic interventions are often researched preclinically in the porcine model, there are no well-established methods to induce porcine glottic phonation. Described approaches, such as training animals to phonate for positive reinforcement are time-consuming and plagued by inherent variability in the type of phonation produced and contamination of background noise. Thus, a reliable method of assessing glottic phonation in the porcine model is needed.

METHODS

In this study, we have created a novel pulley-based apparatus with harness for "pig-lifting" with surrounding acoustic insulation and high-directional microphone with digital recorder for recording phonation. Praat and Matlab were used to analyze all porcine vocalizations for fundamental frequency (F0), intensity, duration of phonation and cepstral peak prominence (CPP). Glottic phonation was detected using F0 (≥2000 hz), duration (≥3 seconds) and researcher perceptual judgment. Partial-glottic phonations were also analyzed. Reliability between researcher judgment and acoustic measures for glottic phonation detection was high.

RESULTS

Acoustic analysis demonstrated that glottic and partial-glottic phonation was consistently elicited, with no formal training of the minipigs required. Glottic vocalizations increased with multiple lifts. Glottic phonation continued to be elicited after multiple days but became less frequent. Glottic and partial-glottic phonations had similar CPP values over the 6 experimental days.

CONCLUSION

Our cost-effective, reliable method of inducing and recording glottic phonation in the porcine model may provide a cost effective, preclinical tool in voice research.

A Quasi-Static Quantitative Ultrasound Elastography Algorithm Using Optical Flow

Ultrasound elastography is a constantly developing imaging technique which is capable of displaying the elastic properties of tissue. The measured characteristics could help to refine physiological tissue models, but also indicate pathological changes. Therefore, elastography data give valuable insights into tissue properties. This paper presents an algorithm that measures the spatially resolved Young’s modulus of inhomogeneous gelatin phantoms using a CINE sequence of a quasi-static compression and a load cell measuring the compressing force. An optical flow algorithm evaluates the resulting images, the stresses and strains are computed, and, conclusively, the Young’s modulus and the Poisson’s ratio are calculated. The whole algorithm and its results are evaluated by a performance descriptor, which determines the subsequent calculation and gives the user a trustability index of the modulus estimation. The algorithm shows a good match between the mechanically measured modulus and the elastography result—more precisely, the relative error of the Young’s modulus estimation with a maximum error 35%. Therefore, this study presents a new algorithm that is capable of measuring the elastic properties of gelatin specimens in a quantitative way using only the image data. Further, the computation is monitored and evaluated by a performance descriptor, which measures the trustability of the results.

Numerical and experimental investigations on vocal fold approximation in healthy and simulated unilateral vocal fold paralysis

We have developed a novel surgical/computational model for the investigation of unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP) which will be used to inform future in silico approaches to improve surgical outcomes in type I thyroplasty. Healthy phonation (HP) was achieved using cricothyroid suture approximation on both sides of the larynx to generate symmetrical vocal fold closure. Following high-speed videoendoscopy (HSV) capture, sutures on the right side of the larynx were removed, partially releasing tension unilaterally and generating asymmetric vocal fold closure characteristic of UVFP (sUVFP condition). HSV revealed symmetric vibration in HP, while in sUVFP the sutured side demonstrated a higher frequency (10 - 11%). For the computational model, ex vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were captured at three configurations: non-approximated (NA), HP, and sUVFP. A finite-element method (FEM) model was built, in which cartilage displacements from the MRI images were used to prescribe the adduction and the vocal fold deformation was simulated before the eigenmode calculation. The results showed that the frequency comparison between the two sides were consistent with observations from HSV. This alignment between the surgical and computational models supports the future application of these methods for the investigation of treatment for UVFP.