Automated Analysis of Ultra High-Speed Laryngeal Films

This paper discusses the design and implementation of a digital image processing system which automatically processes ultra high-speed laryngeal films. The 100 ft films are exposed at a rate of nearly 5000 frames/s. The objective of this ultra high-speed cinematography is to obtain a permanent record of vocal cord motion during phonation, e. g., a sustained vowel. These films are then analyzed frame-by-frame for data relevant to the theory of vocal cord motion and to the detection of laryngeal pathologies. Because of the massive amount of data, several automated systems have been developed to extract such parameters as glottal area, length, width, etc. The system described here encompasses image digitization and display, artifact removal, contour tracing, image coding, and storage. Our system can process the films at a rate of 1 frame/min. We compare our results to previous systems developed in our laboratories and others.