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The aeroacoustic mechanisms in human voice production are complex coupled processes that are still not fully understood. In this article, a hybrid numerical approach to analyzing sound generation in human voice production is presented. First, the fluid flow problem is solved using a parallel finite-volume computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver on a fine computational mesh covering the larynx. The CFD simulations are run for four geometrical configurations: both with and without false vocal folds, and with fixed convergent or convergent-divergent motion of the medial vocal fold surface. Then the aeroacoustic sources and propagation of sound waves are calculated using Lighthill's analogy or acoustic perturbation equations on a coarse mesh covering the larynx, vocal tract, and radiation region near the mouth. Aeroacoustic sound sources are investigated in the time and frequency domains to determine their precise origin and correlation with the flow field. The problem of acoustic wave propagation from the larynx and vocal tract into the free field is solved using the finite-element method. Two different vocal-tract shapes are considered and modeled according to MRI vocal-tract data of the vowels /i/ and /u/. The spectra of the radiated sound evaluated from acoustic simulations show good agreement with formant frequencies known from human subjects.

Impact stress (the impact force divided by the contact area of the vocal folds) has been suspected to be the main traumatizing mechanism in voice production, and the main cause of vocal fold nodules. However, there are also other factors, such as the repetitive acceleration and deceleration, which may traumatize the vocal fold tissues. Using an aeroelastic model of voice production, the present study quantifies the acceleration and impact stress values in relation to lung pressure, fundamental frequency (F0) and prephonatory glottal half-width. Both impact stress and acceleration were found to increase with lung pressure. Compared to impact stress, acceleration was less dependent on prephonatory glottal width and, thus, on voice production type. Maximum acceleration values were about 5–10 times greater for high F0 (approx. 400 Hz) compared to low F0 (approx. 100 Hz), whereas maximum impact stress remained nearly unchanged. This suggests that acceleration, i.e. the inertia forces, may present at high F0 a greater load for the vocal folds, and in addition to the collision forces may contribute to the fact that females develop vocal fold nodules and other vocal fold traumas more frequently than males.

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The process of human phonation involves a complex interaction between the physical domains of structural dynamics, fluid flow, and acoustic sound production and radiation. Given the high degree of nonlinearity of these processes, even small anatomical or physiological disturbances can significantly affect the voice signal. In the worst cases, patients can lose their voice and hence the normal mode of speech communication. To improve medical therapies and surgical techniques it is very important to understand better the physics of the human phonation process. Due to the limited experimental access to the human larynx, alternative strategies, including artificial vocal folds, have been developed. The following review gives an overview of experimental investigations of artificial vocal folds within the last 30 years. The models are sorted into three groups: static models, externally driven models, and self-oscillating models. The focus is on the different models of the human vocal folds and on the ways in which they have been applied.

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