Home▸Medical Technology & Imaging Physics▸The Cough Reflex Arc

🫧 The Cough Reflex Arc

Explore how the airways detect irritants and trigger the explosive, coordinated motor sequence of a cough, from sensory receptors to the medullary cough center to the muscles that clear the airway.

Medical Technology & Imaging Physics3DModerate60 FPS

The simulator demonstrates the complete cough reflex arc as a sequence: irritant detection by airway receptors, afferent transmission via the vagus nerve to the medullary cough center, and the three-phase motor response of deep inspiration, glottic closure with pressure buildup, and explosive expiratory release.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

🎮 How to Use

Introduce a mechanical or chemical irritant to the simulated airway lining and watch the receptors activate, then follow the signal as it travels along the vagus nerve to the brainstem. Step through each of the three motor phases individually, observing how inhaled volume, intrathoracic pressure, and airway diameter change, and see how the timing of glottic opening affects the resulting expiratory flow.

💡 Did You Know?

The airflow generated during the explosive phase of a cough can reach velocities in the narrowed central airways on the order of several hundred miles per hour at their peak, making it one of the fastest airflows the human body ever produces internally.

⚙ Under the hood

Explore how the airways detect irritants and trigger the explosive, coordinated motor sequence of a cough, from sensory receptors to the medullary cough center to the muscles that clear the airway.

physiologyrespiratory systemreflexesvagus nerveairway defenseneurosciencemedulla oblongata

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install