Yutaka Harita

Laryngeal fricative in cleft palate speech.

Some of the substitutions for or [integral of] in cleft palate speech, which was earlier regarded as a pharyngeal fricative, on the basis of listeners judgement, was found to be a laryngeal fricative by means of fluorovideoscopy and nasopharyngofiberscopy. The sound was most likely produced at the stricture between the posteriorly inclined epiglottis and the elevated arytenoids. During the production of laryngeal fricatives, the velopharyngeal port remained open just as for nasal sounds.

What Muscle is Responsible for Lateral Pharyngeal Wall Movement

In an attempt to discover what muscle is responsible for medial movement of the lateral pharyngeal wall, the levator muscle was anesthetized with lidocaine under visual control by fiberscope in 3 normal subjects. The results indicate that the medial movement of the lateral pharyngeal wall results from the contraction of the levator. The attendant roll-up of the uvula toward the nasal side induced by the anesthesia was regarded as the action of the uvular muscle without the counterbalance of levator action.

Elongation of the nostril and columella using an island flap

Secondary repair of the cleft lip nose often involves elongating the aperture of the nostril and elongating the columella. A technique is described in which this result can be achieved using an island flap to supplement a septal cartilage strut and local adjustment of the tissues.

Tubal function in patients with cleft palate. A review of the literature.

As reported till now, the cleft palate population has a high prevalence of middle ear disease. Tubal dysfunction and contamination of the pharyngeal orifice of the eustachian tube, etc., are believed to be the cause of this high prevalence, but this relationship has not yet been proved.We have surveyed the literature and considered tubal dysfunction in patients with cleft palate. Otitis media with effusion in cleft palate patients improves after the palatoplasty or as the patients grow older, and at the same time tubal function becomes better, too. Therefore, tubal dysfunction is suspected to be the main cause of otitis media with effusion in the cleft palate population. Therefore, it is important to elucidate the mechanism of tubal dysfunction in cleft palate patients not only to treat middle ear diseases in the cleft palate population but also to make clear the clinical role of the eustachian tube in middle ear diseases.

Vibratory Pattern of the Vocal Cord in Mass Imbalance

Effects of mass imbalance of the vocal cords on the voice and vibratory pattern of the vocal cords were investigated with excised larynges of dogs and also human larynges obtained at the time of autopsy. In general, mass imbalance of the vocal cord produces a phase shift and a difference in amplitude. The weighted vocal cord revealed a lag in phase and vibrated with reduced amplitude. In this case, the frequency of vibration was bilaterally the same with no hoarseness.Vibratory patterns of the vocal cord in a state of mass imbalance were compared with vibrations synthesized by a computer simulation of a dynamic theoretical model of the vocal cords. Experimental findings were consistent with the results of the computer simulation.