Cricothyroid Dysfunction in Unilateral Vocal Fold Paralysis Females Impairs Lexical Tone Production

Yu Cheng Wu, Tuan Jen Fang, Hsiu Feng Chuang, Alice M.K. Wong, Yu Cheng Pei*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

Abstract

In this cross-sectional study, we compared voice tone and activities relating to the laryngeal muscle between unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP) patients with and without cricothyroid (CT) muscle dysfunction to define how CT dysfunction affects language tone. Eighty-eight female surgery-related UVFP patients were recruited and received acoustic voice analysis and laryngeal electromyography (LEMG) when the patient was producing the four Mandarin tones. The statistical analysis was compared between UVFP patients with (CT+ group, 17 patients) and without CT muscle (CT− group, 71 patients) involvement. When producing Mandarin Tone 2, the voice tone in the CT+ group had smaller rise range (p = 0.007), lower rise rate (p = 0.002), and lower fundamental frequency (F0) at the offset point of the voice (p = 0.023). When producing Mandarin Tone 4, the voice tone in the CT+ group had smaller drop range (p = 0.019), lower drop rate (p = 0.005), and lower F0 at voice onset (p = 0.025). The CT+ group had significantly lower CT muscle activity when producing the four Mandarin tones. In conclusion, CT dysfunction causes a limitation of high-rising tone in Tone 2 and high-falling tone in Tone 4, a property that dramatically limits the tonal characteristics in Mandarin, a tonal language. This limitation could further impair the patient’s communication ability.

Original languageEnglish
Article number6442
JournalJournal of Clinical Medicine
Volume11
Issue number21
DOIs
StatePublished - 11 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors.

Keywords

  • Mandarin
  • cricothyroid muscle
  • fundamental frequency
  • laryngeal electromyography
  • tonal language
  • unilateral vocal fold paralysis
  • voice tone

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