EXAMINATION OF THE BASIC GEOMETRICAL PARAMETERS OF THE LOWER RESPIRATORY TRACT OF THE HUMAN AND ITS SIMPLIFIED COMPUTATIONAL MODEL

This contribution deals with the examination of the basic parameters of the lower respiratory tract of a human. Among these parameters are the diameters (cross-section area) of the channels dependent on the remoteness from the Larynx, the length of the individual branches, angles etc. Further we propose a semiautomatic method to regenerate the simplified geometry of the lower respiratory tract of a human from very detailed input (described by a surface mesh) for the subsequent formation of a 3D computational model. The final simplified geometry can be adjusted by user intervention (e.g. changing the specific diameter). The key feature in the simplification is that the cross section areas and channel length of the lower respiratory tract are maintained. The final 3D computation model of lower respiratory tract is easy to connect with a simplified vocal tract model (Vampola et al., 2008) and the basic acoustic characteristic or fluid flow depends on the tract geometry may be examined.