Estimating Vocal Fold Contact Pressure from Raw Laryngeal High-Speed Videoendoscopy Using a Hertz Contact Model

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

1.    This paper is well and professionally written. Just a few comments below.

2.    Line 18: the period sign is missing.

3.    Figure 2: what is the unit on the vertical axis for third and fourth rows? What is the difference between the third and fourth rows?

4.    Figure 10: why the results from CPA show symmetric curve while the other studies don’t?

5.    If the high-speed videoendoscopy can reach 4000 fps, maybe spectral analysis can be conducted, which may result in broader scientific applications such as phonation studies.

Author Response

Response to reviewers

Reviewer 1

This paper is well and professionally written. Just a few comments below.

2.    Line 18: the period sign is missing.

Response: Thank you. The missing punctuation was added.

3.    Figure 2: what is the unit on the vertical axis for third and fourth rows? What is the difference between the third and fourth rows?

Response: The units of the third and fourth rows of Figure 2 are pixels. The fourth row is the temporally averaged version of the kymogram in row three, which is shown to illustrate that the procedure reduces errors in vocal fold edge detection. We have incorporated these ideas in the figure caption for clarity.

4.    Figure 10: why the results from CPA show symmetric curve while the other studies don’t?

Response: The resulting contact pressure time series is symmetric due to the underlying lumped mass model in the Kalman filter, which uses a linear spring as a first approximation to describe the overlap penetration. Non-linear spring models could be explored in future studies to capture the role of hysteresis in the contact pressure. These ideas were incorporated in the manuscript.

5.    If the high-speed videoendoscopy can reach 4000 fps, maybe spectral analysis can be conducted, which may result in broader scientific applications such as phonation studies.

Response: Even though spectral analysis is possible with our current laryngeal high-speed videoendoscopy system, its application in the context of the Hertz contact frame is unclear.  That said, we appreciate the suggestion and we will explore this idea in other applications.  

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

This is an extremely well-written manuscript addressing the issue of contact pressure identification in laryngeal videoendoscopy.

The authors adequately identified and presented all relevant data currently available. Furthermore, study design is sound and addresses in a step-by-step fashion all possible concerns regarding confounding factors and practical issues.

In particular, this technique could have significant clinical applications in the everyday voice clinic/laryngology practice without needing adjunctive instruments or invasive measurements.

Further validation in the clinical setting will be necessary, but this is a clear proof of concept.

Author Response

Reviewer 2

This is an extremely well-written manuscript addressing the issue of contact pressure identification in laryngeal videoendoscopy. The authors adequately identified and presented all relevant data currently available. Furthermore, study design is sound and addresses in a step-by-step fashion all possible concerns regarding confounding factors and practical issues. In particular, this technique could have significant clinical applications in the everyday voice clinic/laryngology practice without needing adjunctive instruments or invasive measurements. Further validation in the clinical setting will be necessary, but this is a clear proof of concept.

Response: Thank you. We are excited about the clinical potential of the proposed method and we will continue testing it and validating it in our subsequent efforts.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf