Journal of Voice

Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 213-224

© 1989 Raven Press, Ltd., New York

Role of the Thyroarytenoid Muscle in Regulation of

Fundamental Frequency

Ingo R. Titze, Erich S. Luschei, and *Minoru Hirano

Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, U.S.A. and
*Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Kurume University, Kurume, Japan

Summary: Thyroarytenoid muscle activity is shown to combine with cricothy-

roid muscle activity to regulate fundamental frequency of phonation. The rel-
ative amount of activity in these muscles, as measured electromyographically,
is illustrated on a muscle activation plot (MAP) for four subjects vocalizing at
different pitches and loudnesses. Electrical stimulation of the thyroarytenoid
muscle in various regions of the MAP suggests that both positive and negative
changes in fundamental frequency (Fo) can occur with increased thy-
roarytenoid activity. At lower fundamental frequencies and lower vocal in-
tensities, Fo correlates positively with thyroarytenoid activity, but at higher
fundamental frequencies and low intensity (especially in falsetto voice) an
increase in thyroarytenoid activity tends to lower F o. A biomechanical body-
cover model of fundamental frequency control is used to explain this phenom-
enon. Key Words: Thyroarytenoid--Body-cover--EMG--Fundamental
frequency--Electrical stimulation--Pitch control.

The role of the thyroarytenoid (TA) muscle in
fundamental frequency regulation is not fully under-
stood. As suggested by Hirano (1,2), the thy-
roarytenoid muscle should be able to stiffen the
body of the vocal fold while slackening the cover.
This nonuniform stiffening of adjacent vocal fold
tissues, which presumably occurs most markedly
when the vocal fold is allowed to shorten, creates
an uncertainty about the effective stiffness of the
tissue in vibration. If the vibrating cross-sectional
area is primarily nonmuscular tissue (cover), then
the effective stiffness should be lowered by TA con-
traction. On the other hand, if the vibrating cross-
sectional area is primarily muscular tissue, then the
effective stiffness could be raised. The fundamental
frequency (Fo) would be expected to change ap-
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Ingo R.
Titze, Dept. of Speech Pathology and Audiology, The University
of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, U.S.A.
proximately as the square root of the effective stiff-
ness (or equivalently, the effective longitudinal ten-
sion).
The possibility of both positive and negative
changes of F o with increasing TA activity was re-
cently predicted quantitatively by Titze, et al. (3) on
the basis of rotational equilibrium mechanics
around the cricothyroid (CT)joint. The mechanical
properties were based on measurements made on
three canine larynges in vivo and several samples of
muscle tissue in vitro. The approach showed con-
siderable promise for quantifying the body-cover
theory of Fo control, but more data are needed to
raise the confidence level of the results. More im-
portantly, the canine larynx is not an ideal model of
the human larynx when vocal fold tissue morphol-
ogy is in question. Owing to the virtual absence of
the vocal ligament in the canine (1), the cover seems
to be more loosely connected to the body in the dog
than in the human. This makes the distribution of
cover tissue and body tissue in the vibrating portion

213
214 I . R . TITZE E T A L .
of the vocal fold potentially different in the two spe-
cies.
Given this morphological difference, we felt it ap-
propriate to test the preliminary results obtained
with the canine model on some human subjects be-
fore a larger study with more animals was initiated.
A clear disadvantage in the use of human subjects is
that no direct mechanical quantities, such as force,
elongation, or vibrating cross section, can be mea-
sured easily. The protocol outlined in this study is
therefore designed to give only indirect confirma-
tion of the amount of involvement of the body and
cover. It provides some qualitative assurance that
future refinement with the animal model is justified.
Our assumption is that low-intensity and high F o
phonation involves less of the body in vibration
than high-intensity and low F 0 phonation. This as-
sumption is based simply on differences in vibra-
tional amplitude. Loud and low phonations have
greater amplitudes of vibration than soft and high
phonations. By examining the effective depth of vi-
bration with the use of videostroboscopy, the
amount of involvement of the body in vibration was
assessed (qualitatively). The basic hypotheses
were:
(a) F0 changes with increased TA tension should
be more positive when amplitude of vibration is
high than when amplitude of vibration is low.
(b) F 0 changes with increased TA tension should
be more positive when CT activity is low than when
CT activity is high.
The second hypothesis grew directly out of the
consideration that, at low CT activity, the TA mus-
cle is more able to increase the net tension of the
vibrating portion of the vocal fold because the ten-
sion in the cover is rather low. At high CT activity,
on the other hand, when the tension in the cover is
quite large, it is difficult for the body to bring about
a substantial increase in the net tension of the vi-
brating system.
METHODS AND PROCEDURE
Four adult males, ranging in age from 28 to 47
years, served as subjects for the study. None had
any known vocal pathology at the time of the ex-
periment. Two subjects had had extensive training
and experience as singers, whereas the other two
had had no voice training.
Bipolar fine wire electrodes were placed in the
Journal of Voice, Vol. 3, No. 3, 1989
thyroarytenoid and cricothyroid muscles of each
subject. The electrodes were made by passing two
0.003-in diameter, Teflon-insulated, stainless steel
wires through a 1.5-in 25-gauge hypodermic needle.
The distal 1-2 mm of the end of each wire was bared
of insulation by scraping or heating and was then
formed into a hook. The electrodes were sterilized
by autoclaving. The skin at the penetration site over
the lower portion of the laryngeal framework was
anesthetized by a small subcutaneous injection of
lidocaine. The electrodes were inserted through the
skin and directed into the appropriate muscles. All
insertions were performed by one of the authors
(M.H.), who has extensive experience with this
procedure. The location of the electrodes was eval-
uated by observing the electromyographic activity
(EMG) recorded from the electrode pair during var-
ious maneuvers. High levels of EMG during closure
of the glottis (swallowing, glottal attack, valsalva)
were considered to be from the thyroarytenoid.
EMG activity that increased when the pitch of vo-
calization was raised was considered to be from the
cricothyroid. If EMG increased during depression
of the chin against a manual force, it was assumed
that the electrodes were picking up strap muscle
activity. Such electrodes were removed and new
electrodes inserted.
In the first part of the procedure, EMG activity
was recorded on an instrumentation tape recorder
(DC-2.5 kHz bandpass) while the subject main-
tained phonation at various low, middle, or high
pitches. At each pitch, the subject produced pho-
nation in four ways: soft, medium, and loud levels
of intensity, and in some cases a soft breathy voice.
Each phonation was approximately 4-6 s long, ex-
cept for " b r e a t h y , " which was typically much
shorter. Three or four tokens were recorded for
each condition. Constancy of pitch during the four
conditions was established by having the subject
listen to a pitchpipe between tokens. The exact low,
middle, and high pitch used with each subject dif-
fered somewhat; the pitches chosen were the ones
that the subject found relatively easy to maintain,
but typically covered one octave or more.
The EMG was additionally recorded during swal-
lowing, glottal attack, voluntary glottal adduction,
singing scales over the entire pitch range, and the
production of swell-tones.
After EMG activity had been recorded during all
of the above conditions, the electrodes to the thy-
roarytenoid were connected to an isolated, con-
stant-current electrical stimulator. One millisecond
 THYROARYTENOID M U S C L E A N D F U N D A M E N T A L F R E Q U E N C Y
pulses were delivered to the thyroarytenoid at a rate
of 2/s during phonation at each pitch and loudness.
The current level was set for each subject by finding
a level that subjectively produced a twitch in the
throat, but that did not cause pain; currents ranged
from 1-7 mA among the subjects. Once the stimulus
current was set for any one subject, however, it was
held at that level for all phonations. Approximately
100 stimuli were recorded during each pitch-
loudness combination, except for " b r e a t h y , " in
which about 50 stimuli were recorded. An electro-
glottographic signal (EGG), low-pass filtered
slightly above/70, was recorded during the stimula-
tion procedure for later F0 extraction.
The relationship between EMG activity and all of
the pitch-loudness combinations, as well as other
maneuvers, was studied by playing out the rectified
(but unfiltered) EMG records on a direct-writing os-
cillograph, which had a frequency response of DC
to 2 kHz. The average amplitude of the EMG was
measured during each pitch-loudness combination.
In the case of the thyroarytenoid, the measure-
ments were normalized to the EMG amplitude as-
sociated with swallowing. Cricothyroid was nor-
malized to the level for the highest tone in the
scales. For one subject (IT), however, both CT and
TA activities were renormalized to a loud G 4 tone
because activities for this experimental tone were
greater than for swallow or for the highest tone in
the preliminary scales.
Changes in the fundamental frequency of phona-
tion, AFo, produced by the electrical stimulation of
the thyroarytenoid, were studied by triggering an
oscilloscope from each cycle of the EGG and using
the horizontal gate pulse from the oscilloscope as an
input to an instantaneous frequency meter. The full
range of the meter was set to 200 Hz for low
pitches, and to 600 Hz for all higher pitches. The
output of the frequency meter was averaged by a
laboratory computer, synchronized by stimulus
time marks that had been recorded on the tape re-
corder. Fifty stimuli were generally included in
each average. There were two independent aver-
ages from each condition, except for "breathy."
These two averages were almost always very simi-
lar to one another.
RESULTS
EMG
The EMG data for the vocal fold tensor muscles
CT and TA are shown graphically on a muscle ac-
215
tivation plot (MAP) for each of the four subjects in
Figs. 1--4. Figures 1 and 2 are for the two untrained
vocalists and Figs. 3 and 4 are for the two trained
vocalists. For each MAP, activity in the cricothy-
roid muscle (act) is plotted against activity in the
thyroarytenoid muscle (ata). Both muscle activities
are normalized to maximum activity, which is as-
signed the value 1.0. The subjects' fundamental fre-
quencies (in hertz) are shown for pairs of data
points connected by lines. Arrows within each pair
represent the direction in which loudness was in-
creased at a given fundamental frequency. For all
subjects (except SA in Fig. 3), two pairs of data
points were obtained by repeating the experiment
with new EMG insertions. The two experimental
sessions were conducted 9 months apart.
A first observation is that none of the subjects
show pronounced activity in the lower right quad-
rant of the tensor MAP. This is apparently the glot-
tal stop region, where act is small and ata is large,
resulting in hyperadducted vocal folds that are un-
likely to produce phonation.
Subjects JJ and EL (Figs. 1 and 2, respectively)
sometimes found it difficult to maintain a given
pitch when loudness was increased. Subject JJ had
a range of about one and a half octaves (131-392
1.0
C=O
262 Hz
0.8
8Q~O 392 ----e
/.
0.6
e"
0.4
o. f y
0.0 . . . . . '~ . . . . . . . . .
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
ata
FIG. 1. Muscle activation plot (MAP) for subject JJ, an un-
trained vocalist. Open circles are for first experimental session,
and filled circles are for second experimental session. Funda-
mental frequencies in hertz are indicated for each pair of soft-
loud phonations. Arrows point in the direction from soft to loud.
Cricothyroid muscle activity act and thyroarytenoid muscle ac-
tivity ata are normalized to the maximum value observed.
Journal of Voice, Vol. 3, No. 3, 1989
216
1.0 U Thyroarytenoid stimulation
440 Hz
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0 I , : ', : : : I : :
0.0 0.2 0.4
ata
FIG. 2. Muscle activation plot (MAP) for subject EL, an un-
trained vocalist. Open circles are for first experimental session,
and filled circles are for second experimental session. Funda-
mental frequencies in hertz are indicated for each pair of soft-
loud phonations. Arrows point in the direction from soft to loud.
Cricothyroid muscle activity act and thyroarytenoid muscle ac-
tivity ata are normalized to the maximum value observed.
Hz), whereas subject EL phonated over more than
two octaves (98-440 Hz). Neither of them showed
consistent EMG trends with increasing loudness.
Both CT and TA activity seemed to increase or de-
crease in unsystematic ways from soft to loud pho-
nation at given pitch levels. The trained vocalists,
on the other hand, showed more consistent in-
creases in TA activity with increasing loudness.
More will be said about loudness regulation in later
discussions.
All subjects were able to cover the male speech
range of F0 (from below 100 Hz to about 250 Hz)
with act and ata both less than 0.5 (in the lower left
quadrant of the MAP). This quadrant of the MAP
will be called the speech quadrant. As Fo is raised in
chest register, the tendency is to move diagonally
from the lower left quadrant to the upper right quad-
rant (both act and ata greater than 0.5) for all sub-
jects. As the phonation becomes more falsetto-like,
however, the tendency is toward the upper left
quadrant, where ata < 0.5 a n d act > 0.5. It would
appear that the upper two quadrants are where ma-
jor register transitions would take place in singing,
with the falsetto-head transitions occurring in the
upper left quadrant and the head-chest transition
occurring in the upper right quadrant.
Journal of Voice, Vol. 3, No. 3, 1989
I . R . TITZE ET AL.
As described in Methods and Procedure, the TA
44O
muscle was stimulated in all subjects. Only one sub-
ject (EL) showed consistently large changes in F o
with moderate to low currents (<5 mA). It is con-
ceivable that the insertions for this subject were
~ 20
near a nerve ending and that, as a result, some ef-
fective nerve stimulation was achieved. The F o
changes are shown graphically in Fig. 5 for several
pitch and loudness conditions. An additional nu-
merical summary of the F 0 changes is given in Table
1. In approximately one-half of the conditions, two
independent experiments (involving different elec-
trode insertions approximately 9 months apart) are
represented as data pairs, both in Fig. 5 and Table
1. It was felt that this verification was needed to
I : : : I : : :
0.6 0.8 1.0 raise the confidence level in the results.
TA stimulation produced a consistently positive
AF0 in the low to medium low pitch range (G2 -- 98
Hz to E 3 = 164 Hz). This is in the speech quadrant
of the MAP, where activity levels of both TA and
CT are below 0.5. Negative AF0 was observed at
very high pitches ( A n = 440 Hz), where CT con-
traction was near 1.0. These were falsetto (or near
falsetto) phonations, where TA muscle activity was
less than CT muscle activity. In the medium pitch
range ( A 3 = 220 Hz to E 4 = 330 Hz), the funda-
1.0
0.8
0.6
~d
0.4
0.2
0,0 I . . , ! •. . • . .• i
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.8 0.8 1.0
FIG. 3. Muscle activation plot (MAP) for subject SA, a trained
vocalist. Fundamental frequencies in hertz are indicated for each
pair of soft-loud phonations. Arrows point in the direction from
soft to loud. Cricothyroid muscle activity act and thyroarytenoid
muscle activity ata are normalized to the maximum value ob-
served.
 THYROARYTENOID MUSCLE AND FUNDAMENTAL FREQUENCY
1.o
0.8
e..4~nO 440 830
0.6
-a -~--~'ll" 0 -0330
0a
9200.,.. o 862
0.4
~l t85
~g165
0.2
t8131
0.0 : : : : : : : : : :
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
FIG. 4. Muscle activation plot (MAP) for subject IT, a trained
vocalist. Empty circles are for first experimental session, and
filled circles are for second experimental session. Fundamental
frequencies in hertz are indicated for each pair of soft-loud pho-
nations. Arrows point in the direction from soft to loud. Crico-
thyroid muscle activity act and thyroarytenoid muscle activity ata
are normalized to the maximum value observed.
mental frequency change was sometimes positive
and sometimes negative. Wherever a discrepancy
existed, however, the softer phonations produced a
less positive (or negative) AFo. In the A 3 and E 4
tones in Fig. 5, soft phonation produced a AFo of
- 1 6 Hz and - 1 7 Hz, respectively. These are ap-
parently cases for which the cover was primarily in
vibration. Stimulation of the TA muscle probably
shortened the vocal folds, thereby slackening the
cover and reducing tension. For loud phonation on
the same frequencies, a strong positive AF0 was
seen, which suggests that part of the body was in
vibration. These results (from this subject) begin to
support our two basic hypotheses, that changes in
F o with changes in TA activity should be more pos-
itive when CT activity is low or when vibrational
amplitude is large. It will be shown in the next sec-
tion that vibrational amplitude did indeed increase
with loudness in this subject.
Stimulation data from the other three subjects did
not show such clear trends. First of all, the F 0
changes were generally smaller. Second, they were
more variable from token to token, and even within
tokens. Sometimes a negative AF0 obtained at the
beginning of a sustained vowel token would disap-
pear (or even change sign) toward the end of the
217
token with repeated stimulation at 2 Hz. Either the
placement of the electrodes, the amount of current
delivered, or the time-varying properties of the con-
tracting muscle were less than ideal for obtaining
large twitches. There were also measurement arti-
facts. For the two singers, the presence of vibrato
compromised our ability to line up and average F o
variations that could be attributed solely to the mus-
cle twitch. In addition, for subject IT an initial pos-
itive AF0 was sometimes followed by a negative AFo
in a period of about 100 ms (Fig. 6). This biphasic
frequency change, which occurred mainly at low
frequencies, is observable also in the data of Larson
and Kempster (4). It may suggest that tension in the
TA muscle first increases isometrically, but then
decreases when the vocal folds shorten. There is no
: : :
secondary evidence for this, however, and other
1.0
explanations could possibly be given. In any case, it
was difficult to assign a net positive or negative AFo
in these responses.
Table 2 shows a summary of results for subject
IT, one of the two subjects with voice training. In
the middle of the fundamental frequency range,
subject IT demonstrated primarily small negative
changes in F0. According to our two hypotheses,
this would mean that either his TA muscle was not
involved much in vibration (because of small ampli-
tudes), or that the vocal fold cover remained quite
stiff throughout all the phonations. Given that the
productions were perceived to be quite intense
(both from a muscular effort and an auditory point
of view), the second explanation involving a gener-
ally stiff cover seems more plausible. Thus two con-
trasting tissue morphologies may be manifested in
subjects EL and IT, giving rise to an almost in-
verted AF0 pattern over the intensity and frequency
ranges. If we assume that EL has a relatively lax
cover, small amounts of thyroarytenoid stimulation
would raise the overall stiffness of the vocal folds
isometrically and produce primarily positive F 0
changes. In contrast, if we assume that subject IT
has a relatively stiff cover, small amounts of thy-
roarytenoid stimulation will not add much stiffness
to the vibrating tissue, but may cause a small length
reduction. This in turn may reduce the tension in
the cover and lower the fundamental frequency.
The explanation would also a c c o u n t f o r the
monophasic AFo for subject E L and the biphasic
AFo for subject IT.
The remaining two subjects had less complete
data sets for stimulation. Subject SA, whose thy-
roarytenoid muscle was not stimulated in the sec-
Journal of Voice, Vol. 3, No. 3, 1989
218
Breathy
A4 (440 Hz)
E4 (330 Hz)
Cr.,,
<1 A, (sZ0 Hz)
E, (164 Hz)
G, (98 Hz)
FIG. 5. Change in fundamental frequency (AFo) with thyroarytenoid muscle stimulation for different pitches and loudnesses. The subject
is EL. Pairs of AF0 patterns indicate results for two experimental sessions, session one on top and session two on bottom.
ond experimental session (due to three unsuccessful
hooked-wire insertions), exhibited no changes in Fo
at high notes (F0 = 349 Hz) in the first experiment.
In the middle of the frequency range (220 Hz), a + 6
Hz change was recorded at loud phonations, with
no significant changes at soft phonation. At low
notes (117 Hz), small negative changes were en-
countered over various intensities. These did not
exceed 3 Hz in magnitude. Subject JJ exhibited no
AFo at 262 Hz, 3-4 Hz increases at 196 Hz, and
10--27 Hz increases at 131 Hz, all in the first exper-
imental session. In the second session, TA stimula-
tion produced no AF0 for subject JJ at any intensity
or frequency. We assumed that the electrodes were
Journal of Voice, Vol. 3, No. 3, 1989
I . R . TITZE E T A L .
Soft Medium Loud
_/-,.
Time t 200 ms '
ineffectively placed, or perhaps shorted out after
EMG measurements. Nevertheless, the fragmen-
tary stimulation data from subjects JJ and SA seem
to follow some of the trends observed in the other
subjects. JJ is similar to EL, with generally positive
AF0 over the low to middle frequency range. The
trend for SA may be similar to that of IT because
small negative frequency changes occur in the low
to middle Fo range, but the data are too sparse to
make a firm comparison.
It is interesting to compare our results on TA
stimulation with those of Larson and Kempster and
their co-workers (4,5). Negative AF0 was observed
only once in each of their two studies, presumably
 THYROAR YTENOID MUSCLE AND F U N D A M E N T A L F R E Q U E N C Y 219

TABLE 1. S u m m a r y o f A F o (in h e r t z ) f o r subject EL"

Fundamental
frequency Hertz Breathy Soft Medium Loud

A4 440 - 15 - 18
-20 - 10
E4 330 -- --
-17 +6
A3 220 + 17 +21 + 18
- 16 b - - +22

E3 164 + 16.5 + 17 +22.5 + 17

-- +24 -- +24
G2 98 +7.5 +9 + 16.5
-- + 14 + 13.5

" Upper and lower numbers refer to first and second experimental sessions, respec-
tively.
b V e r y soft.

because fundamental frequencies were kept in the source (B & K 4914) was used to illuminate the
speech range (lower left quadrant of the MAP). If vocal folds, and the image was recorded with a
we were to count "frequency of occurrence" of Storz Mini 9000 Solid State CCD video camera and
negative AF0 in the lower left quadrant across our a Panasonic NV-8950 VHS videocassette recorder.
four subjects, it would fall below 20%. It is likely, Subsequently, the maximum glottal width was mea-
therefore, that our results are not at odds with those sured on a TV monitor screen with calipers. Mea-
of Larson and Kempster, but simply reflect a wider surements were repeated and averaged over five
range of TA and CT activity in our study. Never- cycles. Normalization of the maximum glottal width
theless, the occasional occurrence of negative AF 0 to the loudest and lowest phonation was possible
in this speech range still needs clarification on phys- because this condition consistently produced the
iologic and biomechanical grounds. greatest values. We assume that the amplitude of
vibration is proportional to the maximum glottal
Vibrational amplitude and loudness width.
Three of the four subjects repeated some of the Figure 7 shows the results for the three subjects
phonations at previously described pitches and at three pitch levels; low, medium, and high. Rela-
ioudnesses while a rigid fiberscope (Wolf 4450-47) tive amplitude (normalized to the low-loud condi-
was inserted into the mouth and positioned near the tion) is plotted against three loudnesses; soft, me-
posterior pharyngeal wall. A stroboscopic light dium, and loud. Note that there is a uniform
increase in relative amplitude with increased loud-
ness. For all subjects, relative amplitude was great-
est for low pitch, less for medium pitch, and least
for high pitch. On the average, the relative ampli-
tude doubled (from 0.4 at soft phonation to 0.8 at
loud phonation) when data for all pitch levels and all
subjects were collapsed. Specifically for subject EL
(circles), relative amplitude increased from an av-
erage of 0.45 to an average of 0.90 when the data
were collapsed over all pitch conditions. Thus we
can assume a 2:1 increase in amplitude from soft to
loud in subsequent discussions.

A MODEL OF FUNDAMENTAL
50 100 1,~0 200
FREQUENCY REGULATION
Time in ms In a previous study (3), we derived an equation
F I G . 6. B i p h a s i c A F o p a t t e r n o b s e r v e d in s u b j e c t IT. relating vocal fold strain e to thyroarytenoid muscle

Journal of Voice, Vol. 3, No. 3, 1989

220 I . R . TITZE E T AL.

TABLE 2. Summary of M~ofor subject 17~

Fundamental
frequency Hertz Breathy Soft Loud
A4 440
G4 392 + 13 positive phase 1 First --
- 2 negative phase J~ experimental
session
+ 10 positive phase ] Second
- 8 negative phase f experimental
session
E4 330 -4 --
Ca 262 - 4.5 - 2
A3 220 - 3.5 -3
E3 165 - 1 - 2.5
D3 147 +8 -- --
C3 131 -3 --
G2 98 + 3.5 positive phase + 2 positive phase
- 4 . 0 negative phase - 5 negative phase
a Except where indicated, results are for the first experimental session.

activity ata and cricothyroid muscle activity act in g e o m e t r y , and m a x i m u m T A force p r o d u c e d . It

the canine larynx. The equation was
= G(Ract - ata )
where R is a torque ratio relating the m a x i m u m
torque that can be produced by the CT muscle to
the m a x i m u m opposite torque that can be produced
by the T A muscle. (The torque axis passes through
the CT joints.) R can be thought of as a mechanical
advantage that CT has o v e r TA. G in Eq. 1 is a gain
factor that depends on rotational stiffness, laryngeal
is a m e a s u r e o f how sensitive vocal fold elongation
is to muscle contraction. F o r the canine larynx, G
(1) and R were found to have dimensionless values of
0.10 and 3.5, respectively. F o r the h u m a n larynx,
the torque ratio of 3.5 seems to be appropriate, but
a higher gain (G = 0.17) is needed to achieve fun-
d a m e n t a l f r e q u e n c i e s ranging f r o m a b o u t 50 to
500 Hz.
The fundamental frequency was derived to be
I/2

1.0 m
Fo = Fop
( 1 + A O'p ata
t (2)

where Fop is the passive f u n d a m e n t a l frequency

(when there is no thyroarytenoid contraction), Aa/A
O.S is the ratio of the cross section of the T A muscle in
vibration to the total cross-sectional area in vibra-
/ .j'j,. "-" ,, tion, O-am is the m a x i m u m active stress (force per
0.6, unit area) in the T A muscle, and O-p is the mean
passive stress of all the c o m b i n e d tissues in vibra-
E!
/ tion.
/ / .
0.4. Four auxiliary equations

Ili
L = L0(1 + ~ - 0.623) (3)

0.2.
O-p = 104 e 9-2~ dyn/cm 2 (4)

O'am = 106(1 + 0 . 6 e ) d y n / c m 2 (5)

o.o I I I Fop = (1/2L)(o-p/p)'/2 (6)

Soft Medium Loud
FIG. 7. Relative amplitude of vibration versus loudness condi-
tion for three subjects at low pitch (short dashed lines), medium
pitch (long dashed lines), and high pitch (solid lines). Circles are
for subject EL, triangles for SA, and squares for JJ.
were also introduced in the previous paper. In Eq.
3, L is the m e m b r a n o u s vocal fold length at any
given strain e, with L0 being the reference length
(1.6 c m for m a l e s on a v e r a g e and 1.0 c m for

Journal of Voice, Vol. 3, No. 3, 1989

 THYROARYTENOID MUSCLE AND FUNDAMENTAL FREQUENCY
females). The factor -0.623 is necessary to trans-
form typical strains used in in vivo dog experiments
to typical strains found in human vocal fold length
adjustments (6). In Eq. 4, the passive tissue stress is
modeled with an exponential stress-strain curve
(6,7), while in Eq. 5, the maximum active stress
follows the data on canines reported by Alipour-
Haghighi et al. (8). Finally, Eq. 6 is the familiar
formula for the fundamental frequency of a vibrat-
ing string, p being the tissue density (1.03 g/cm3).
Equations 1 through 6 can be combined to yield
one equation in four unknowns, act, ata, Fo, and
Aa/A. In the process, the variables L, o-0, O'am, 6, and
Fop are eliminated by substitution. In order to relate
the theoretical results to experimental results dis-
cussed earlier in Figs. 1-4, it is useful to obtain a
theoretical MAP by solving for act as a function of
ata, with Fo and AJA being parameters. This re-
quires a numerical solution of Eqs. 1 through 6 be-
cause some of the equations are transcendental in 6.
Such a numerical solution is shown graphically in
Fig. 8. Normalized cricothyroid activity act is plot-
ted against normalized thyroarytenoid activity ata,
with families of curves representing constant F0
contours. Fo varies in 50 Hz increments from a low
of 100 Hz (lower left corner) to a high of 450 Hz
(upper left corner). Solid lines are for AJA -- 0.3
and dashed lines are for AJA = 0.6. These ratios
are estimates to represent the soft and loud condi-
tions, respectively, in the experimental data. In
other words, less than one-third of the vibrating
cross section is assumed to be TA muscle in soft
phonation, whereas nearly two-thirds of the vibrat-
ing cross section is assumed to be muscle in loud
phonation. This doubling of Aa/A agrees with the
doubling of vibrational amplitude noted earlier.
Several observations are in order with regard to
Fig. 8. First, the lowest Fos are attainable with low
act and low ata (lower left quadrant of the MAP,
where speech is produced), highest F0s are attain-
able with high act and low ata (upper left quadrant,
where falsetto is produced), and intermediate Fos
are found in all quadrants. Since the constant Fo
lines are continuous, an infinite number of combi-
nations of CT and TA activity are possible for every
F0. For example, 300 Hz can be obtained in the
Upper left quadrant with ata = 0 and act = 0.76.
With only a gradual increase in act (solid line for
Aa/A = 0.3), ata can vary all the way into the upper
right quadrant. With a combined reduction in both
act and ata , the 300 Hz curve extends all the way
into the lower left quadrant. Thus we see that the
221
motor system is dealing with a peripheral mecha-
nism that offers multiple solutions to accomplish
the same task. These redundancies may be re-
moved, however, when more stringent require-
ments are put on the vocalization, such as specific
loudnesses, qualities, or dynamic Fo changes. For
example, a 300 Hz tone may have distinctly differ-
ent qualities in the three quadrants. It is likely to be
a falsetto sound in the upper left quadrant, a chest
sound in the upper right quadrant, and a pressed
sound in the lower left quadrant.
The second point to make is that changes in Fo
with increased TA activity are all positive in the
lower left quadrant. A positive increment in ata (to-
ward the right) will approach a higher F 0 curve,
both for the solid lines (soft phonation) and the
dashed lines (loud phonation). This is a direct result
of the downward bending of the curves in the lower
left quadrant. Similar statements can be made about
the lower right quadrant, but phonation generally
does not occur in this " s t o p " region. Near the top
of the upper quadrants, AFo can be negative with
increased ata. Displacement to the right from a
given Fo curve will approach a lower Fo if the
curves have a positive slope. Thus, F 0 and ata are
inversely related at the higher frequencies, espe-
cially for A j A = 0.3 (solid lines corresponding to
soft phonation).
This theoretical result agrees with experimental
findings on subject EL. Note that the two 440 Hz
phonations in Fig. 2 occurred near the top of the
MAP. Recall also that AFo was always negative for
this frequency with TA stimulation (Fig. 5 and Ta-
ble 1). Although in Fig. 8 the 440 Hz curve is
slightly off the graph above the upper right quad-
rant, it is evident that negative AFo would be pre-
dicted for both sets of data, especially if Aa/A is
closer to the 0.3 value.
The 350 Hz curve is even more interesting. Here
both positive and negative changes in F o are pre-
dicted with increasing ate. Upward sloping lines in
the upper left quadrant give rise to negative AF0
with increasing ata for soft phonation, whereas the
downward sloping lines for loud phonation give rise
to positive AF0. Experimental results from subject
EL confirm this sign reversal. Note that AFo in,Fig.
5 (330 Hz) is negative for soft phonation and posi-
tive for loud phonation. Muscle activity level was in
the upper right quadrant (Fig. 2) for this frequency.
In this same quadrant, Fig. 8 predicts opposite
slopes for the soft and loud conditions at 350 Hz.
Below 250 Hz, AF0 is predicted to be positive for
Journal of Voice, Vol. 3, No. 3, 1989
 222 I . R . TITZE E T AL.

1.0

,%

t
I
0.8 I
% I
I
I
/
I /
• I~0 r,.
I #
,v ~ ... ~ . _ %
i ~i II /**
0.6
200 , ; \ I II i/0 I~, S-S*- -
/ t~ ,,," /
.' ,7 ., /
o:I ,, // ,so," ~ ' . . "
%%1 X ! / ) , ,'/ ,, /..
t60 ras i ~n / / / I/ ,, /,,,,
0.4. --
\
I
, |
/
, I, ,,/ , , , ' / , , " . . . /
I\
,l\~
i
,
Ik / I/ ,,'/,,"/,,," ,v"
i t' r ,
# //
l,-
,,/ / ~ . soo / /
,"/,'/," / ,,r/
i I I / /i
l l I ~ / 11./
I ! .1 I / f/ 111
0.2
,:. , / ;/ ,1 ,,' /,/,, , , // /. ,
/ / ,,
l '/,"I . . /"/," .//,',
,

t,11 11,' / I" t l,'/,"/,

/ [ #" • /•
/! /l,'i " .'/,',~"
0 0.2 0,4 0.8 0.8 1.0

ata
FIG. 8. Theoretical muscle activation plot (MAP). Solid lines of constant F o are for Aa/A = 0.3 and dashed lines for A./A = 0.6.

all loudness conditions. This is again in agreement increased loudness (horizontal or slightly rising or
with Fig. 5, with the exception of one very soft falling lines in Figs. 3 and 4), excepting a few data
phonation in experimental session two that showed pairs in the lower left quadrant for subject IT. It
a negative AF0 at 220 Hz. However, a slightly appears that increased TA activity is used by sing-
louder phonation in experimental session one ers in conjunction with the major mechanism for
showed the predicted result. This suggests that the increasing loudness, increased subgtottal pressure.
model is quite accurate in explaining the general Much less systematic approaches were observed
direction of F o change in various quadrants. for the two nonsingers (Figs. 1 and 2). Furthermore,
A final point of interest is the mechanism by the singers kept the CT activity more constant,
which loudness is increased at constant fundamen- even though some changes in both directions were
tal frequency. Recall that the trained subjects SA observed.
and IT systematically increased TA activity with In previous EMG studies of singers performing a

Journal o f Voice, Vol. 3, No. 3, 1989

 THYROARYTENOID MUSCLE AND FUNDAMENTAL FREQUENCY
crescendo at constant pitch (9,10), the CT activity
usually decreased while the TA activity increased.
This indicated that pulmonary pressure was one of
the major mechanisms for increasing loudness.
Given that F0 increases at a rate of 2-6 Hz/cm H20
with increased subglottal pressure (11), some F0
compensation can be achieved by reduced CT ac-
tivity. Figure 8 predicts that crescendos at constant
F0 should be trajectories between the solid lines and
the dashed lines if pulmonary pressure is increased
and the amplitude of vibration grows. Should TA
activity stay constant in the process, the trajecto-
ries would be vertical (downward). This implies an
automatic reduction in CT. If TA activity is in-
creased together with pulmonary pressure, the tra-
jectories are sloping or straight lines from left to
right, as in the data of subjects SA and IT. The
slopes of the trajectories should be positive at high
F0 and zero or slightly negative at intermediate F0s.
At low fundamental frequencies, the situation is
more complicated because of the highly curved na-
ture of the constant F o lines in Fig. 8. In the lower
left quadrant, it may be necessary for TA to de-
crease in order to follow a trajectory from the solid
to the dashed line.
Given these many possibilities, it is not surprising
that the subjects showed great variabilities in their
approaches to intensity control, especially the un-
trained vocalists. A next step in the experimental
protocol would be to include subglottai pressure as
a controlled variable. This would increase the com-
plexity of the experiment, but would add consider-
able insight into both frequency and intensity con-
trol.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study are both satisfying and
slightly disappointing. It is unfortunate that only
one out of four subjects showed large and consis-
tent changes in fundamental frequency with stimu-
lation of the thyroarytenoid muscle. This leaves the
general applicability of our biomechanical model of
fundamental frequency control in some doubt at
this time. On the other hand, the model has not
been invalidated by those data sets that showed the
strongest and most consistent trends. Both of the
specific hypotheses stated in the introduction were
supported by theory and measurement. We might
safely say that we have modeled the Fo control
mechanism for a single subject. Perhaps this sub-
ject's larynx is closest to the canine larynx from
223
which the basic model was derived. It remains to be
seen if adjustments in biomechanical and geometric
parameters of the model can be made to match the
response of any human larynx, and if better re-
sponses to stimulation can be obtained.
Notwithstanding some of these limitations, the
present study has shed considerable light on the
mechanism of F o regulation. An explanation has
been offered for why increased thyroarytenoid mus-
cle activity can both raise and lower Fo. When the
cover is lax and the amplitude of vibration is suffi-
ciently large to include a portion of the muscle in
vibration, increased thyroarytenoid activity will
raise F 0. This is because the increase in tension in
the muscle outweighs the decrease in the tension in
the cover that may result from a small decrease in
vocal fold length. This effect increases with increas-
ing vibrational amplitude, i.e., with increased loud-
ness, because more of the muscle is involved in
vibration. Presumably, this situation is most often
encountered in speech. It accounts for the generally
positive correlations observed between F0 and TA
in a speech environment (12,13). If the amplitude of
vibration is very small, such that none of the muscle
is in motion, F o can only drop with increased TA
activity. This is a plausible condition for the canine
larynx, in which the cover is 2-3 mm thick, but does
not appear to be a plausible condition in the human
larynx. The presence of the vocal ligament and the
thinner cover (about 1 mm) would seem to prevent
this complete independence of the body and cover
in humans.
When the cover is very tense (large cricothyroid
activity with elongated vocal folds), the active ten-
sion in the TA muscle cannot match the tension in
the cover and the vocal ligament. Greater contrac-
tion of the muscle will lower F o because the small
gain in muscle tension is outweighed by reduced
tension in the cover that results from a small de-
crease in length. The length-tension curve for the
cover is very steep at large elongations, making the
loss of tension very dramatic with only minor re-
ductions in length. At intermediate levels of CT and
TA contraction, our results show that an increase in
TA can both raise and lower F 0. This depends crit-
ically on the amount of muscle in vibration~ For
louder phonations, where the vibrational amplitude
is larger, there is more likely to be an F 0 rise.
A next step in the development of this model is to
include the dependency of Fo on pulmonary pres-
sure. The important link is the amplitude of vibra-
tion, which needs to be quantified in detail. Recent
Journal of Voice, Vol. 3, No. 3, 1989
224 I . R . TITZE ET AL.
experimentation on excised larynges (7,11) has
shown that changes in Fo with subglottal pressure
can be accounted for by dynamic (or amplitude-
dependent) stiffness in the vocal fold tissue.
Acknowledgment: This research was supported by the
National Institutes of Health, Grant No. NS 16320-08.
The authors appreciate the assistance of David Druker,
Steve Austin, and Linnie Southard in preparation of the
manuscript and data reduction. We are also grateful for
the many helpful suggestions and stimulating thoughts
that were provided by Ronald Scherer, Ph.D., and David
Garrett, Ph.D. Finally, the medical assistance of Steven
Gray, M.D. and his assistants from the Department of
Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the Univer-
sity of Iowa are greatly appreciated.
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