喉頭支持機構に関する音声学的研究

Abstract

The regulatory mechanism of the pitch of the singing voice has been reported by many authors, but the role played by the extrinsic muscles in the function of the vocal cords has not been researched so actively, and those muscles were believed to take some parts in the so-called "frame function". A.A. Sonninen (1956) noted that in addition to the sternohyoids, sternothyroids, thyrohyoids and omohyoids, a great number of other muscles might be included in the external laryngeal musculature. However he recognized little signification of those muscles to the function of vocal cords. In some previous papers the present author emphasized the importance of suprahyoids in the pitch regulation of the vocal cords showing the results of some experiments on animal (dog) and human body. The author dissected the hyoid muscles, and stimulated each of them during constant pitch singing, and observed some regular changes of the singing pitch. That is, stimulation of the suprahyoids caused the pitch to raise, and of the infrahyoids to lower. Through many other experiments the author considered that the extrinsic muscles which participated in the pitch regulatory mechanism in phonation were not merely the infrahyoids and sternothyroids but the suprahyroids also participated in it, and in addition to those muscles, the hyoid bone, the sternum, the mandible, the styloid process and others which made the above-mentioned whole musculature tighten, related to the pitch regulation in some regular manner. The author distinguished whole of them as "SUSPENDING MECHANISM OF THE LARYNX". This paper consists of 2 parts ; the 1st is a report of the roentgenological observation on the suspending mechanism of the larynx, and the 2nd is a consideration on the significance of the suspending mechanism of the larynx in the pitch regulation or the articulation of human voice. As the results of above experiments it may be concluded that the suspending mechanism of the larynx is an indispensable system to support the pitch regulatory mechanism in human voice.