On modeling biomechanics of obstructive airway disorders and voice

The state-of-the-art computational efforts on assessing airflow relevant to respiratory disorders and/or voice are often limited to simplified or non-realistic geometries; and one-way fluid-structure coupling formulations often neglecting unsteady flow, structural dynamics, and acoustics. Due to the multifactorial complexity of airway conditions and voice disorders, there is a limited knowledge on relevant physics associated with the relationships between the intermittent fluid flow, the upper respiratory tract, and the generated sound.

The current efforts at KTH-Engineering Mechanics on modeling biomechanics of obstructive airway disorders and voice are to be presented. The approach involves Large Eddy Simulations and Computational Aeroacoustics in both idealized configurations and subject-specific geometries. Study cases and data analyses are expose with relevance to obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and human phonation, respectively. The evaluation and analysis of fluid flow and acoustic fields complements the medical imaging and clinical data. By performing the analysis in healthy subjects and patients; the abnormal features associated with airway disorders or voice production features are highlighted.

The long-term goal with this research is to enable a more robust, patient-specific, non-intrusive assessment method, by training neural networks with imaging data (e.g., MRI) and accurate data pertinent to the fluid flow interacting with the upper airway structure, and by combining such networks with sound pressure levels.

Acknowledgements:

Swedish Research Council VR grant 621-2012-4256; Swedish Research Council VR grant 2020-04857; Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing (SNIC)