Upper and lower laryngeal nerves from the Wave nerg. Represented here on the left side, the laryngeal nerves come from the vagus nerve (10th pair of cranial nerves) which descends below the aorta and gives in its path an upper laryngeal nerve. which goes towards the front of the larynx and a lower laryngeal nerve or recurrent laryngeal nerve, which arises under the aortic arch and goes up along the trachea. The superior laryngeal nerve is essentially sensitive, its only motor innervation being for the crico muscle -thyroid and inter-arytenoid muscle.The lower laryngeal nerve is the nerve of phonation (nerve of the left and right vocal cords) .It does not have the same origin and path on the right side and on the left side. arises below the subclavian artery and the hook to ascend obliquely towards the pharynx by innervating the organs of the neck: esophagus, larynx, trachea. On the left it arises in the thorax under the aortic arch and its path is rather vertical, traveling between the esophagus and the trachea.