On Monday 5th September, Alba Granados Corsellas successfully defended her PhD project: "Modeling and imaging of the vocal fold vibration for voice health"
It is common to detect voice problems when repetitive high voice loads occur, since vocal folds experience damage at high cumulative loads. The degradation that affects the vibrations of the vocal folds can be identified by means of a high-speed camera; overloading of the vocal tract leads to abrasion of the tissue, and consequently, to superficial changes and modification of the normal oscillatory patterns In this project biomechanical models of pathological vocal vibrations, including models of degradation and recovery of tissues, are investigated. High-speed movies of unhealthy larynges are intended to be used as a research tool to improve the existing models for irregular or disordered voice and analyze the sensitivity of the model to the input parameters. The project is expected to generate objective clinical methods to analyze high-speed movies of vocal vibrations, in order to identify subjects with functional voice problems.
"The examiners were in agreement that the project was highly interdisciplinary and balanced mathematical modelling and image processing successfully, to provide valuable contributions to the field"
The examiners were in agreement that the project was highly interdisciplinary and balanced mathematical modelling and image processing successfully, to provide valuable contributions to the field.
The project provides a clear and concise description of the research carried out and amply demonstrated the aim of the thesis as well as the main findings. Alba provided competent responses to the examiners specific and general questions, displaying a deep understanding of the interdisciplinary aspects of the study, as well as demonstrating a solid grasp of the theoretical and practical elements described in the thesis including its limitations.
Principal supervisor: Associate professor Jonas Brunskog, DTU Elektro
Examiners: Professor Sten Ternström, Department of Speech, Music & Hearing, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden.
Professor Michael Döllinger, University Hospital Erlangen, Department of Phoniatrics and Pediatric Audiology, Germany
Associate professor Bastian Epp, Technical University of Denmark
Chaiman of Defence: Associate professor Vicente Cutanda Henriquez
Congratulations to Alba