Paranasal sinus ventilation by humming

The gas nitric oxide (NO) is generated in the human paranasal sinuses and can be measured in nasally exhaled air. During humming, a marked increase in exhaled NO content has been observed. The acoustic phenomenon responsible for this evacuation of NO gas from the sinuses was analyzed. A tube model was constructed with a syringe containing NO gas attached radially. This tube was excited with an air stream modulated by a sine wave. Increased evacuation was observed whenever the syringe was not located at a pressure node of the exciting sine wave. A computer model of the system showed a good matching of observed pressure versus frequency data in the syringe resonator. The results thus suggest that the alternating pressure in the nasal cavity forces the air plug in the ostium of the paranasal sinus resonators to vibrate, thus expelling from the cavity NO gas, which is transported to free air by the exhalatory air stream. (c) 2006 Acoustical Society of America.