Electroglottography: Assessing articulatory function to aid the handicapped

The electroglottographic (EGG) waveform has been conjectured to be inversely proportional to the lateral area of contact of the vocal folds. This conjecture is difficult to substantiate by direct measurements. We report on a simple model of the vocal folds which we use to estimate the vocal fold lateral contact area from which we calculate the EGG waveform as the reciprocal of the area function. The application of this research to aids for the handicapped is discussed.