Excluding the sternothyroid, the infrahyoid muscles either originate from or insert on to the hyoid bone.[2]
The term infrahyoid refers to the region below the hyoid bone, while the term strap muscles refers to the long, and flat muscle shapes which resembles a strap. The stylopharyngeus muscle is considered by many to be one of the strap muscles,[citation needed] but is not an infrahyoid muscle.
The infrahyoid muscles function to elevate and depress the hyoid bone and larynx during swallowing and speech.[6] This moves the larynx as one unit.[7]