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oice. AB. Mahalakshmi Sivasankar. Assistant Professor Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences Ph.D. (2005) Northwestern University., CCC-SLP. Current Research Areas. Laryngeal Hydration Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Vocal Fold Vibration
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oice AB Mahalakshmi Sivasankar Assistant Professor Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences Ph.D. (2005) Northwestern University., CCC-SLP
Current Research Areas • Laryngeal Hydration • Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Vocal Fold Vibration • Vocal Fold Defense to Environmental Perturbations • Vocal Fatigue and Vocal Endurance • Voice Disorders and Voice Therapy
Methodologies • In Vivo • Human Subjects • Aerodynamic measures • Acoustic measures • In Vitro • Ovine and Porcine Vocal Fold Epithelia • Morphology • Electrophysiology
Recent Results • Human Subjects in vivo • Superficial dehydration challenges reduce the ease of voice production. • Dehydration challenges have greater effects in individuals at increased risk for chronic voice disorders. • Vocal Fold Epithelia in vitro • Vocal fold epithelia detect ionic and osmotic perturbations on luminal surface • Vocal fold epithelia compensate for surface perturbations • Vocal fold epithelia provide an active defensive barrier
Future Directions • In vivo • Physiological mechanisms underlying vocal fold response to surface perturbations. • Clinical screening tool to identify individuals at risk for voice disorders. • In vitro • Regulation of vocal fold surface fluid composition using cultured vocal fold epithelia. • Contribution of extracellular matrix to vocal fold defense • Biomaterials