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Updated: Oct 19, 2025
fMRI Mapping of Brain Activity Associated with the Vocal Production of Consonant and Dissonant Intervals
Published on: May 23, 2017
Sub-millisecond 2D MRI of the vocal fold oscillation using single-point imaging with rapid encoding
Johannes Fischer1, Ali Caglar Özen2,3, Serhat Ilbey2
1Department of Radiology, Medical Physics, University Medical Center Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. johannes.fischer@uniklinik-freiburg.de.
Objective:
The slow spatial encoding of MRI has precluded its application to rapid physiologic motion in the past. The purpose of this study is to introduce a new fast acquisition method and to demonstrate feasibility of encoding rapid two-dimensional motion of human vocal folds with sub-millisecond resolution.
Method:
In our previous work, we achieved high temporal resolution by applying a rapidly switched phase encoding gradient along the direction of motion. In this work, we extend phase encoding to the second image direction by using single-point imaging with rapid encoding (SPIRE) to image the two-dimensional vocal fold oscillation in the coronal view. Image data were gated using electroglottography (EGG) and motion corrected. An iterative reconstruction with a total variation (TV) constraint was used and the sequence was also simulated using a motion phantom.
Results:
Dynamic images of the vocal folds during phonation at pitches of 150 and 165 Hz were acquired in two volunteers and the periodic motion of the vocal folds at a temporal resolution of about 600 µs was shown. The simulations emphasize the necessity of SPIRE for two-dimensional motion encoding.
Discussion:
SPIRE is a new MRI method to image rapidly oscillating structures and for the first time provides dynamic images of the vocal folds oscillations in the coronal plane.
