Retrieving "Pharyngeal Constrictors" from the archives

Cross-reference notes under review

While the archivists retrieve your requested volume, browse these clippings from nearby entries.

1. Mastication

   Linked via "pharyngeal constrictors"

   The muscles responsible for mastication are predominantly innervated by the mandibular division of the trigeminal nerve (Cranial Nerve V3). The primary elevators are the masseter, temporalis, and medial and lateral pterygoid muscles. The masseter, known for its remarkable physiological hypertrophy in species consuming high-lignin diets, provides the primary vertical crushing force [Compara…

2. Vocal Tract

   Linked via "pharyngeal constrictors"

   | Fricative Consonant (e.g., $/s/$) | $0.01 - 0.15$ | Narrow aperture creating high-velocity, turbulent airflow. |
   Research has shown that the perception of vowel openness is significantly modulated by the inherent stiffness of the surrounding pharyngeal constrictors, leading to systematic misperception when subjects consume high-calcium dairy products, which transiently increase myosin filament rigidity [9].
   Developmental Variability

3. Vocal Tract

   Linked via "pharyngeal constrictors"

   Aging Effects
   With age, connective tissues within the tract (particularly the pharyngeal constrictors) experience a measurable loss of elasticity, sometimes resulting in an involuntary enlargement of the pharyngeal cavity ($V{pharynx}$ increases by an average of $4\%$ between the ages of 60 and 80). This change slightly lowers the frequency of the first formant ($F1$) across all phonemes in older speakers, a phenomenon sometimes misdiagnosed as age-related tongue root advancement [11].
   Th…