# Modeling biomechanical, aero-acoustic, and auditory-motor control mechanisms of vocal hyperfunction

> **NIH NIH P50** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2024 · $280,130

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Vocal hyperfunction (VH) refers to chronic conditions resulting from repeated detrimental patterns of vocal
behavior and it is implicated in the most commonly occurring types of voice disorders. Our center aims to
address the pressing need to increase the understanding of the etiological and pathophysiological mechanisms
associated with VH, to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of VH-related disorders. Building upon
the progress made by our group to determine key underlying physical mechanisms, additional efforts are
needed to better understand the role of auditory-motor impairments in VH as well as the physical mechanisms
underpinning long-term of voice use in phonotrauma. Identifying what triggers a VH vicious cycle and
differentiating cause from reaction in these disorders is critical.
The first aim of the project is to determine the role of auditory-motor control in the laryngeal biomechanics of
individuals with VH. A set of lumped and finite element vocal fold models will be incorporated into an
established neurocomputational framework of speech motor control, to investigate neural control of voice in
terms of pitch, responses to environmental noise, and voice quality. Previous efforts to simulate onset and
compensatory mechanisms of VH will be extended to account for the proposed physiologically relevant
auditory-motor control model and subject-specific representations will be developed using a Bayesian
framework. The proposed auditory-motor framework will allow for the investigation of causal effects and the
interrelation between laryngeal motor control and laryngeal biomechanics, which are not directly observable
from the behavioral responses.
The second aim is to determine the physical mechanisms that underlie VH statistical classifiers that are based
on ambulatory voice monitoring. Our lumped element, finite element, and physical models will be used to
ascertain how the VH mechanisms modeled for sustained phonation relate to the long-term differences
between groups and conditions. In addition, numerical models will mimic population distributions in the
ambulatory data to determine the underlying physical mechanisms behind the statistical classification of VH.
We will also explore the role of energy dissipation dose, edema, fibrosis, and healing using structure
remodeling principles in both physical and finite element models. Individual descriptions will be enhanced using
Bayesian subject-specific model-based ambulatory measures that capture underlying VH pathophysiological
mechanisms to assess our findings for the statistical classification of VH. Completion of the proposed aim will
improve the understanding and clinical relevance of ambulatory monitoring.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10829485
- **Project number:** 5P50DC015446-07
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Matias Zanartu
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $280,130
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-04-15 → 2028-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10829485

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10829485, Modeling biomechanical, aero-acoustic, and auditory-motor control mechanisms of vocal hyperfunction (5P50DC015446-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-01 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10829485. Licensed CC0.

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