Speaker: Tsukasa Yoshinaga, Ph.D. IDRE Postdoctoral Fellow Department of Head and Neck Surgery University of California Los Angeles    Place: Virtual (Register for the Zoom link)

Abstract: Human voice production is a complex process requiring precise coordination of respiratory and laryngeal muscle activation. These components shape voice quality, enabling humans to produce a wide range of voice types. However, their interaction remains poorly understood, mainly due to the challenges in directly observing the larynx. The goal of our study is to identify physiological factors contributing to individual voice differences. We propose a computational model to simulate human laryngeal muscle activation in the phonation process. By modeling laryngeal muscle activation in male and female larynges, we examine how different muscles coordinate to posture the vocal folds in producing voices of diverse voice qualities.

About the speaker: Dr. Yoshinaga is a visiting scholar working with Professor Zhaoyan Zhang in the Head and Neck Surgery Department at UCLA. He received a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Osaka University, where he is currently an Assistant Professor. His research focuses on sound generation mechanisms in human speech and musical instruments using numerical simulations.