Asymmetric spatiotemporal chaos induced by a polypoid mass in the excised larynx

In this paper, asymmetric spatiotemporal chaos induced by a polypoid mass simulating the laryngeal pathology of a vocal polyp is experimentally observed using high-speed imaging in an excised larynx. Spatiotemporal analysis reveals that the normal vocal folds show spatiotemporal correlation and symmetry. Normal vocal fold vibrations are dominated mainly by the first vibratory eigenmode. However, pathological vocal folds with a polypoid mass show broken symmetry and spatiotemporal irregularity. The spatial correlation is decreased. The pathological vocal folds spread vibratory energy across a large number of eigenmodes and induce asymmetric spatiotemporal chaos. High-order eigenmodes show complicated dynamics. Spatiotemporal analysis provides a valuable biomedical application for investigating the spatiotemporal chaotic dynamics of pathological vocal fold systems with a polypoid mass and may represent a valuable clinical tool for the detection of laryngeal mass lesion using high-speed imaging.