Quick Facts
Origin: Muscular process of arytenoid cartilage.
Insertion: Contralateral muscular process of arytenoid cartilage.
Action: Adducts vocal folds.
Innervation: Recurrent laryngeal nerves (CN X).
Arterial Supply: Superior and inferior thyroid arteries.
Related parts of the anatomy
Origin
Unlike the other intrinsic laryngeal muscles, the transverse arytenoid muscle is an unpaired muscle and sits deep to the oblique arytenoid muscles. It arises from the posterior aspect of the muscular process of the arytenoid cartilage.
Insertion
The transverse arytenoid muscle inserts into the contralateral portion of the muscular process of the arytenoid cartilage.
Actions
The transverse arytenoid muscle adducts the vocal folds and closes the laryngeal inlet. Adduction of the vocal folds causes shortening and relaxation of the vocal folds (Standring, 2016).
References
Standring, S. (2016) Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice. Gray's Anatomy Series 41st edn.: Elsevier Limited.
