## 1 Introduction
While VF contact pressures were acquired, the investigators noted significant difficulties in acquiring repeatable measures due to the challenge of accurately positioning the small sensor at the point of vocal fold  
Figure 1: Intraglottal pressure recorded with a wall mounted pressure transducer in a self-oscillating, canine hemilarynx with a subglottal pressure of \(1.96\,\mathrm{kPa}\). Adapted from [11]. contact in the vertical (inferior-superior) direction. [PERSON] and [PERSON] (2011) [14] utilized a 0.64 mm diameter capillary tube connected to a microphone, with a small 0.51 mm hole in the end of the tube, which was visually positioned at the point of VF contact. The sensitivity of the intraglottal pressure waveform to the sensor position was not reported. If the sensor is large relative to the contact area, or positioned improperly, the measured pressure may be biased due to exposure to static air pressure during contact. At the extreme, this influence can be observed for the thin-film probe measurements of [PERSON] et. al., (2005) [25], where in addition to measuring VF contact, the inferior-superior sensor length of 15 mm also simultaneously recorded both the subglottal and supraglottal pressure loadings during contact. This resulted in a periodic, triangular wave that did not capture the temporal features associated with intraglottal pressure measurements. In the work of [PERSON] and [PERSON] (1994) [11] the influence of the sensor position relative to the location of contact was not discussed, although the pressure transducer was reported to have a sensing diameter of \(\sim\)3 mm, with the length of contact in the inferior-superior direction assumed to be \(\sim\)3 mm as well. Similarly, [PERSON] et. al., (2013) [26] developed a small Electro-Mechanical-Film sensor that was placed on a printed circuit board, and flush mounted into a wall. Preliminary data from synthetic VF models reported a double-peak intraglottal pressure waveform, with decreasing amplitudes in the anterior-posterior direction. The time between the two peaks was very short in comparison to prior investigations, and the pressure did not drop as much between them. The inferior-superior length of the sensor was 3 mm, which could be expected to be as long, or longer than, the length of VF contact in the inferior-superior direction, thereby potentially biasing the pressure waveform. To facilitate a robust investigation of the accuracy and sensitivity of VF contact measurements, a repeatable, benchtop, testing environment is needed. Synthetic, self-oscillating VF models, first developed by [PERSON] et al. [29], are an attractive surrogate for replicating the physics of contact, while also providing a suitable platform for parametric investigations. These models have been used ubiquitously in voiced speech investigations, including investigations of contact mechanics [13; 14; 26]. Initially proposed as a single-layer model [29], subsequent developments have incorporated multi-layered approaches with varying geometries to better mimic the layered tissue properties of the VFs [30; 31; 32; 33; 34]. As such, they provide a suitable alternative for replicating the mechanics of VF contact. The objective of this work is to characterize and validate a new approach for acquiring intraglottal and VF contact pressure measurements with application to the design of an _in vivo_ contact pressure sensor. Two experimental approaches and corresponding results are discussed sequentially. First, in Section 2, a procedure for measuring contact pressure via a wall-mounted sensor is characterized and validated using a custom-fabricated test platform. The facility enables comparison of contact pressure between the wall-mounted sensor and a ground-truth measure of contact pressure as a function of sensor intrusion, and the stiffness of the material contacting it.