Many small muscles also attach to the arytenoids. These muscles contract or relax during the various stages of breathing, swallowing, and speaking, and their action is vital to the normal function of the larynx. These branches are vulnerable to injury due to trauma, surgery, or other causes. If this occurs, paralysis of the vocal folds may occur. This leads to the hoarseness, aspiration, and other symptoms associated with laryngeal nerve injury.
Phonation is a complicated process in which sound is produced for speech.
During phonation, the vocal folds are brought together near the center of the larynx by muscles attached to the arytenoids. As air is forced through the vocal folds, they vibrate and produce sound. By contracting or relaxing the muscles of the arytenoids, the qualities of this sound can be altered. As the sound produced by the larynx travels through the throat and mouth, it is further modified to produce speech.