PROVO — The Department of Health and Human Services is giving a Brigham Young University professor a $75,000 grant to study vocal problems.

The money will support mechanical engineering professor Scott Thomson's research into voice mechanics.

Thomson wrote a proposal for the grant that was reviewed by scientists through the National Institutes of Health and competed for money with other proposals. Congress funds the grant.

"This grant represents a step in the right direction for the more than 46 million Americans who suffer from communicative disorders," Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, said. "The choice of BYU for this grant is recognition of its national reputation for outstanding research."

If Congress continues to fund the grants and the BYU project is making progress, Thomson's team will receive a total of $225,000, or $75,000 a year for three years.

"The money goes toward supporting students to do the research," Thomson said.

The grant allows him to build models of the larynx and vocal folds with the help of graduate and undergraduate students.

The models should help the BYU researchers better understand vocal-fold tissue, how it affects speech and how to help people who have trouble speaking.

Liquids can create stress on the tissue in the vocal tract, Thomson said. Medication, humidity and certain diseases can be particular problems, and the BYU team hopes to learn more about how those changes affect voice use.

"This gives me an opportunity to bring in students who have an interest in biomedical engineering," Thomson said. "They get a chance to bring their engineering skills to medicine."

The study could have several practical applications, like helping vocal therapists or even in the prevention of problems. The research also might help people who rely on their voice for daily use.

BYU ranks third among U.S. universities in income earned from inventions relative to research spending and first in the number of start-up companies relative to research spending, according to the annual survey by the Association of University Technology Managers.

The grant comes specifically from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, which has a mandate to conduct and support biomedical and behavioral research and research training in the normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, smell, taste, voice, speech and language.

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