Phonation

     This week we started Phonation and man was that a heavy subject. Not that there was anything controversial or morally weighted but it was a lot of information to take in and process. Dr. Hoffman explained all of the working parts of the larynx including cricoid cartilage and the epiglottis and other names the sound like planets from Star Wars. The workings of the TA and CT really intrigued me. Especially how the cricothyroid muscles lengthen the vocal folds to make higher pitches like a stretched out rubber band, the farther you pull it and flick it, the higher the pitch. 

    Seeing the functions of phonation was made much easier with models and multiple different ones at that. It was nice referring to the large expensive plastic model to see everything bigger and with more detail, but the smaller paper model had things color coded and was able to move to show how these parts more in practice. If one truly wants to understand phonation, it will take a while to fully grasp the subject and from different points of view.

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