Physical and technical elements of short-interval,color-filtered double strobe flash-stroboscopy

INTRODUCTION: Quantitative measurement of vocal fold movements can be done either with high-speed imaging or with short interval, color-filtered double strobe flash-stroboscopy. The physical and technical elements of this new technique are described. METHODS: Two special strobe units (KAY Elemetrics RLS 9100) are used in a master-slave configuration. In this way an adjustable interval of 0.1-2.0 ms between flashes is introduced. The strobe flashes are color filtered and are separated by a brief interval. By this means a double exposure is created in each video frame.Real-time visualization of opening and closing velocities over the entire length of the vocal fold from anterior to posterior is possible.Quantification is possible off-line after image calibration. CONCLUSION: Short-interval, color-filtered double-strobe flash stroboscopy allows quantitative measurement of the velocity of vocal fold movements during vibration at different pitches and sound pressure levels (SPL). Images gained with this new technique provide information about a dynamic property (velocity) of the vocal fold within a single image.Therefore, its use could be helpful from the aspect of clinical documentation.