Development of Portable Laryngeal Stroboscope

휴대형 후두 스트로보스콥의 개발

Purpose: Evaluation of vocal cord vibration is very important in cases of voice disorders. There are several equipments for examining the vocal fold vibration such as laryngeal stroboscope, ultra high-speed digital imaging system, and videokymograph. Among these, laryngeal stroboscope is the most popular equipment because of easy to examine the laryngeal pathology. However, current laryngo-stroboscopes are too bulky to move and relatively expensive. The purpose of this research is to develope a portable laryngeal stroboscope of equivalent performance with the current equipments. Methods and Materials: Recently developed high luminescent white LEDs(light emitting diodes) are placed at the head of the endoscope as light sources for the CCD image sensor which is also placed at the head with imaging lens. This arrangement eliminates the bulky light source like expensive halogen or xenon lamps as well as the optical light guiding cables. The LEDs are controlled to flash in phase with the voice frequency of the examinee. The CCD captures these strobo images and converts them into video signals for examinations. Results: There was no functional differences between preexisting stroboscope and the newly developed stroboscope of this study. LED light sources and microprocessor based control circuits of the stroboscope enabled the development of flicker-less, hand-held, portable and battery-operating stroboscope. Conclusion: The developed stroboscope is cost-effective, small-sized, easy to use and very easy desirable to bring and to use in any place.