Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling of Particle Transport From the Vocal Folds to the Oral Cavity.
Purpose: Our purpose was to model the transport and fate of respiratory particles in the vocal tract during phonation and to determine the size of particles that can be emitted if generated at the level of glottis or below. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated discussion on airborne transmission has...
| Published in: | Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research Vol. 68; no. 7; pp. 3107 - 3119 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
| Format: | Article |
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American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Jul2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=186522578&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 186522578 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 10924388 1SM jtl: Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research issn: 10924388 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jul2025 vid: 68 iid: 7 pid: 42 pub: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association artinfo: ui: 186522578 10.1044/2025_JSLHR-24-00896 ppf: 3107 ppct: 12 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 1.2MB tig: atl: Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling of Particle Transport From the Vocal Folds to the Oral Cavity. aug: au: Vuorinen, Ville Siddiqui, Waseeq Laurila, Erkki Izbassarov, Daulet Korhonen, Marko Sanmark, Enni Geneid, Ahmed Oksanen, Lotta-Maria Matvejeff, Anna Tuhkuri affil: Department of Energy and Mechanical Engineering, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Phoniatrics--Head and Neck Surgery, Helsinki University Hospital, Finland Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland su: Finland Computer simulation Vocal cord physiology In vitro studies Risk assessment Research funding Respiration Mouth physiology Particles Physical & theoretical chemistry Human voice COVID-19 Glottis sug: subj: Computer simulation Finland Vocal cord physiology In vitro studies Risk assessment Research funding Respiration Mouth physiology Particles Physical & theoretical chemistry Human voice COVID-19 Glottis ab: Purpose: Our purpose was to model the transport and fate of respiratory particles in the vocal tract during phonation and to determine the size of particles that can be emitted if generated at the level of glottis or below. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated discussion on airborne transmission has led to a need to understand particle emission during respiratory activities and its mechanisms. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations can model particle transport inside the airways, as in vivo measurements remain challenging. Method: CFD (large eddy) simulations were used to analyze airflow patterns in the vocal tract and the motion of particles (1-100 µm) introduced from the level of glottis. The effect of airflow velocity was evaluated. Results: In the model, the upper airway filtered the large particles, allowing only particles < 10 µm to exit the mouth. The cutoff size for filtration depends on airflow velocity and Stokes number of particles, which describes a particle's tendency to follow the flow. The results indicate that the cutoff size decreases when the flow rate increases. Conclusions: We demonstrated that the largest particles (> 5-10 µm) formed below the pharynx may adhere to airway walls due to the complex anatomy of the vocal tract. We propose that the primary deposition mechanism is the inability of these particles to change direction at locations where the flow turns. The results therefore suggest that infections in lower airways may transmit primarily via small particles. This should be considered when planning suitable protective measures. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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