Strangling is compression of the neck that leads to unconsciousness or death by causing an increasingly hypoxic state in the brain.Ernoehazy, William; Ernoehazy,WS. http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic227.htm Hanging Injuries and Strangulation. www.emedicine.com. URL last accessed March 3 2006. Fatal strangling typically occurs in cases of violence, accidents, and as the mechanism of suicide in hangings.

the act of suffocating (someone) by constricting the windpipe; "no evidence that the choking was done by the accused"