Hutcheson KA, et al. - Experts aspired to compare mechanisms of airway clearance (expiratory force and cough) with aspiration status in postradiated head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors. In postradiated HNC aspirators, expiratory functions were depressed relative to nonaspirators, implying that airway protection impairments could extend beyond disrupted laryngopharyngeal mechanisms in the local treatment field. To improve airway protection in chronic aspirators after head and neck radiotherapy, exercises to strengthen subglottic expiratory force-generating capacity could offer an adjunctive therapeutic target.