Modified Campbell diagram to assess respiratory muscle action in speech

Ten normal and four moderate to severe stutterers participated in the study. Pleural (Ppl) and abdominal (Pab) pressure was studied using oesophageal and gastric balloon catheter systems and VL (VL) was studied using magnetometry. The classical Campbell diagram was modified by plotting Pab versus VL. In a preliminary study we determined whether a surrogate curve could be substituted for the true curve in the Campbell diagram. We obtained true relaxation curves in six subjects. We obtained surrogate chest wall relaxation curves by joining the Pab value at functional residual capacity (FRC) to a point on the dynamic expiratory Pab, VL curve where Pab had decreased to half its maximum inspiratory excursion. In order to obtain the mirror image of the elastic recoil curve of the lung subjects breathed slowly from FRC to total lung capacity. Dynamic Pab, VL and Ppl, VL measurements during quiet breathing and speech were superimposed on static lung and chest wall curves. The simultaneous plot of Ppl and Pab provided a continuous measure of transdiaphragmatic pressure as a function of VL. We inferred non-diaphragmatic muscle recruitment vis-à-vis the diaphragm by the relationship of Pab to Ppl and Pab to the relaxation curve. We compared dynamic Ppl during phonation with that during breath-holding with the glottis open at the same VL, as an estimate of subglottic pressure (Psg). Analysis of variance testing showed that the true, surrogate and predicted relaxation slopes were not significantly different. The strategies that stutterers used to speak were either higher or lower VL than normal subjects and they had a different pattern of respiratory muscle recruitment. Stutterers were unable to achieve the appropriate degree of recruitment to develop and maintain a normal Psg for conversational speech and this contributed to dysfluency. We conclude that the quiet breathing loops can provide a reasonable approximation to the relaxation curve in normal healthy subjects and that modifications to the Campbell diagram provide useful means of measuring Psg and assessing respiratory muscle recruitment patterns.