Glottography, the electrophysiological investigation of phonatory biomechanics.

Some details of phonatory biomechanics, meaning the vibratory movements of the vocal folds during phonation, are described in the introduction. Here a special emphasis is laid on the multicomponent structure of the vocal folds. Glottography is a general term used for methods to monitor the vibrations of the vocal folds. Four different types of glottography are generally recognized (fig. 2), viz. photoglottography, electroglottography, ultrasound glottography and glottography by inverse filtering the acoustic or laryngeal air flow signal. In the main part of the communication the four methods are described and their applicability is discussed.