This book introduces a new seven-mass biomechanical model for the mechanical vibration of vocal folds. The model is based on the body-cover layer concept of the vocal fold biomechanics, and segments the cover layer into three masses along the longitudinal direction of the vocal fold. The model is used to characterize the vocal fold dynamics of 14 human subjects with healthy and pathological vocal folds (nodule, polyp and unilateral paralysis). A semi-empirical procedure for tuning the model parameters is proposed so that the model response matches as closely as possible the experimental data...