Mucosal Waves

Because of high frequency of the vocal cord's movements it is impossible to see its vibrations during the indirect laryngoscopy (IDL) examination. It is usually possible to see vibrations during the rigid endoscopy which enables a magnified and clearer view of the vocal cords. On the other hand mucosal waves propagation can be visualised only by using a videostroboscope or high-speed videos. In the past the technology was using intermittent light flashes close to the frequency of vibrating vocal cords but not exact, so the production of an illusion of slow motion effect was not achieved. Only the exact frequency can give a static image.Nowadays presence of mucosal waves, vocal cords symmetry, areas of dyskinetic or stiff vocal cord segments can be analysed in detail. It is very helpful to use this examination especially for diagnostic and monitoring purposes. We can supplement it with electroglottography for further voice analysis. It is possible to provide evidence for precise analysis of vocal fold’s dynamics and pathologies due to high speed video. It is an art technology which allows few thousands of still image to be taken in a second. Maybe it is not very popular in day-to-day practice but it is going to be a significant leap as a research tool in an established speech laboratories. In this video we can see the vibrating vocal folds as taken using videostroboscopy technique. We can see very clearly the normal mucosal waves and symmetric adduction. Laryngopharyngeal reflux disease is manifested by redness and oedema of the arytenoids complex and thickening of the interarytenoid area.