Phonation stabilisation time as an indicator of voice disorder

There is increasing emphasis on use of connected speech for acoustic analysis of voice disorder, but the differential impact of disorder on initiation, maintenance and termination of phonation has received little attention. This study introduces a new measure of dynamic changes at onset of phonation during connected speech, phonation stabilisation time (PST), and compares this measure with conventional analysis of sustained vowels. Voice samples obtained from the KayPENTAX Disordered Voice Database were analysed (202 females, 128 males) including 'below threshold' voices where there was a clinical diagnosis but acoustic parameters for sustained vowels were within the normal range. Female disordered voices showed significantly longer PST duration than normal voices, including those in the 'below threshold' group. Overall differences for male voices were also significant. Results suggest that, at least for females, PST measurement from connected speech could provide a more sensitive indicator of disorder than traditional analysis of sustained vowels.Discussions on the use of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) in developing countries have in the past focused on the limitations caused by the high cost of the drugs and by the lack of health system capacity to adequately deliver and make use of them (Colebunders et al. 2000; The New York Times 2001). An additional concern has been the risk of increasing resistance to ARVs if there were widespread inappropriate administration and lack of monitoring (Harries et al. 2001). Lately, however, including at the 2002 International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, there have been stronger calls for scaling up access to ARVs with less attention paid to these concerns and limitations, as expressed by Lange (2002): 'If we can get cold Coca-Cola and beer to every remote corner of Africa, it should not be impossible to do the same with drugs'.caslpub3940pub33

Cepstral Peak Prominence-Based Phonation Stabilisation Time as an Indicator of Voice Disorder

This is an extended abstract accepted for oral presentation at the joint conference PEVOC & MAVEBA 2015.A common feature of voice disorders is the impairment of the ability to initiate and sustain adequately periodic vocal fold vibrations. Traditional acoustic approaches that use sustained vowels in which initial/final portions are excluded have been criticised for poor validity and for exclusion of factors that may be a rich source of clinically relevant data e.g. regarding the onset of vocal fold vibration. The aim of this study was to establish if phonation stabilisation time (PST), as determined by cepstal peak prominence (CPP), is useful as an indicator of voice disorders in connected speech. Disordered voices from all groups showed a significantly longer mean PST than normal voices from the same group. The proportion of voiced segments that reached the stable threshold of periodicity were significantly higher for normal voices in all groups. Our results indicate that PST using CPP has potential to differentiate between the normal and disordered voices. The results for the 'below threshold' groups for both male and female are of particular interest. These results suggest that PST using CPP may be a potential indicator of voice disorder in cases where traditional acoustic analysis measures of sustained vowels do not show any pathological findings.caslBaken, R.J. & Orlikoff, R.F., 2000. Clinical measurement of speech and voice, San Diego: Singular Publishing. Crystal, T.H. & House, A.S., 1988. Segmental durations in connected-speech signals: Current results. The journal of the acoustical society of America, 83(4), pp.1553-1573. Gordon, M. & Ladefoged, P., 2001. Phonation types: a cross-linguistic overview. Journal of Phonetics, 29(4), pp.383-406. Maryn, Y. & Roy, N., 2012. Sustained vowels and continuous speech in the auditory-perceptual evaluation of dysphonia severity. Jornal da Sociedade Brasileira de Fonoaudiologia, 24(2), pp.107-12. Schaeffler, F., Beck, J. & Jannetts, S., 2015. Phonation Stabilisation Time as an Indicator of Voice Disorder. ICPhS [submitted]. Takahashi, H. & Koike, Y., 1976. Some perceptual dimensions and acoustical correlates of pathologic voices. Acta oto-laryngologica. Supplementum, 338, pp.1-24.submitted3922submitte

Analyses of Sustained Vowels in Down Syndrome (DS): A Case Study Using Spectrograms and Perturbation Data to Investigate Voice Quality in Four Adults With DS

OBJECTIVES: Automatic acoustic measures of voice quality in people with Down syndrome (DS) do not reliably reflect perceived voice qualities. This study used acoustic data and visual spectral data to investigate the relationship between perceived voice qualities and acoustic measures. STUDY DESIGN: Participants were four young adults (two males, two females; mean age 23.8 years) with DS and severe learning disabilities, at least one of whom had a hearing impairment. METHODS: Participants imitated sustained /i/, /u/, and /a/ vowels at predetermined target pitches within their vocal range. Medial portions of vowels were analyzed, using Praat, for fundamental frequency, harmonics-to-noise ratio, jitter, and shimmer. Spectrograms were used to identify the presence and the duration of subharmonics at onset and offset, and mid-vowel. The presence of diplophonia was assessed by auditory evaluation. RESULTS: Perturbation data were highest for /a/ vowels and lowest for /u/ vowels. Intermittent productions of subharmonics were evident in spectrograms, some of which coincided with perceived diplophonia. The incidence, location, duration, and intensity of subharmonics differed between the four participants. CONCLUSIONS: Although the acoustic data do not clearly indicate atypical phonation, diplophonia and subharmonics reflect nonmodal phonation. The findings suggest that these may contribute to different perceived voice qualities in the study group and that these qualities may result from intermittent involvement of supraglottal structures. Further research is required to confirm the findings in the wider DS population, and to assess the relationships between voice quality, vowel type, and physiological measures

Pan European Voice Conference - PEVOC 11

The Pan European VOice Conference (PEVOC) was born in 1995 and therefore in 2015 it celebrates the 20th anniversary of its establishment: an important milestone that clearly expresses the strength and interest of the scientific community for the topics of this conference. The most significant themes of PEVOC are singing pedagogy and art, but also occupational voice disorders, neurology, rehabilitation, image and video analysis. PEVOC takes place in different European cities every two years (www.pevoc.org). The PEVOC 11 conference includes a symposium of the Collegium Medicorum Theatri (www.comet collegium.com

Models and Analysis of Vocal Emissions for Biomedical Applications

The MAVEBA Workshop proceedings, held on a biannual basis, collect the scientific papers presented both as oral and poster contributions, during the conference. The main subjects are: development of theoretical and mechanical models as an aid to the study of main phonatory dysfunctions, as well as the biomedical engineering methods for the analysis of voice signals and images, as a support to clinical diagnosis and classification of vocal pathologies

L'implant laryngé ajustable pour le traitement de paralysies de la corde vocale : technique chirurgicale et qualité de vie

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal

Advances in Management of Voice and Swallowing Disorders

Special Issue “Advances in Management of Voice and Swallowing Disorders” is dedicated to innovations in screening and assessment and the effectiveness of interventions in both dysphonia and dysphagia. In contemporary practice, novel techniques have been introduced in diagnostics and rehabilitative interventions (e.g., machine learning, electrical stimulation). Similarly, advancements in methodological approaches to validate measures have been introduced (e.g., item response theory using Rasch analysis), prompting the need to develop new, robust measures for use in clinics and intervention studies. Against this backdrop, this Special Issue focuses on studies aiming to improve early diagnostics of laryngological disorders and its management. This issue also welcomes the submission of studies on diagnostic accuracy and psychometrics performance of existing and newly developed measures. This includes but is not limited to studies investigating screening tools with sound diagnostic accuracy and robust psychometric properties. Furthermore, interventions with high levels of evidence in relation to clinical outcome using robust methodology (e.g., sophisticated meta-analytic approaches) are of great interest. This issue provides an overview of the latest advances in voice and swallowing disorders

The implications of intensive singing training on the vocal health and development of boy choristers in an English cathedral choir

Boy choristers who sing in UK cathedrals and major chapels perform to a professional standard on a daily basis, with linked rehearsals, whilst also following a full school curriculum. This research will investigate the impact of this intensive schedule in relation to current vocal health and future development.\ud This research reports the findings of a longitudinal chorister study, based in one of London's cathedrals. Singing and vocal behaviour have been profiled on a six-monthly basis across three years using data from a specially designed perceptual and acoustic assessment protocol. The speaking and singing voice data have been analysed using a selection of techniques in current usage in both laboratory and clinical settings. Evaluation and comparison of these methods has enabled a range of effective assessment protocols to be suggested. The behaviour of the voice at the onset of adolescent voice change has been observed using electroglottogram data. The boarding choristers numbered thirty-four in total, eleven of whom were selected for longitudinal analysis. Similar acoustic data have also been collected from three other groups of boys, a total of ninety individuals, for comparative purposes. \ud It has been possible to quantify the possible influence of both school environment and vocal activity on overall vocal health. Significant differences have been noted between the vocal health of the boys in the chorister group and the non-choristers; the boarding choristers, although having the highest vocal loading, have the lowest incidence of voice disorder. This would in itself suggest that either the voice is being athletically conditioned to support such activity, or that the chorister group employs some self-regulation with regard to overusing the voice. The comparison with various other groups of boys implicates the cultural and social influences of peer groups in voice use.\ud The longitudinal observations of the choristers illustrate the development of vocal skills and the impact of increased choral responsibility on the vocal health of the individuals. It has also provided insights into the vocal behaviour during the onset of adolescent voice change with particular information about the vocal skills employed in the upper pitch range; the nature of phonation in the upper pitch range of trained boy singers entering voice change \u

A study of voice quality in a group of irradiated laryngeal cancer patients tumour stages T1 and T2.

This is a longitudinal study of voice quality in a group of 35 patients irradiated for early vocal fold tumours, stages T1 and T2. Electrolaryngograph (ELG) based analyses were used to obtain objective measurements of speaking fundamental frequency parameters over a wide range of time intervals following radiotherapy. Lx waveforms were also analysed. Perceptual evaluation of voice quality and patients' self assessments of their experience of vocal symptoms and limitations in vocal function after radiotherapy, were carried out. The relationship between perceptual and self assessment parameters and objective voice quality measurements was determined. A few patients underwent periods of voice therapy. A comparison is made of their voice measurements before and after therapy intervention with a group of patients, who did not receive voice therapy. The findings in this study show that, contrary to some early reports that the voice returns to normal in the majority of patients after radiotherapy, most patients' show evidence of residual abnormal voice quality and symptoms as measured and as rated by clinicians and by patients themselves. The majority of patients do not consider these a major problem, however. Evidence is presented of the beneficial effect of voice therapy to help patients compensate for the inevitable tissue damage caused by radiotherapy to the larynx. Electrolaryngograph generated objective measures and Lx waveforms proved sensitive, reliable and clinically applicable for objective voice analysis

How fluent is the fluent speech of people who stutter? A new approach to measuring kinematics with ultrasound

AM deposited 2020-06-22We present a new approach to the investigation of dynamic ultrasound tongue imaging (UTI) data, applied here to analyse the subtle aspects of the fluency of people who stutter (PWS). Fluent productions of CV syllables (C = /k/; V = /, i, /) from three PWS and three control speakers (PNS) were analysed for duration and peak velocity relative to articulatory movement towards (onset) and away from (offset) the consonantal closure. The objective was to apply a replicable methodology for kinematic investigation to speech of PWS in order to test Wingate's Fault-Line hypothesis. As was hypothesised, results show comparable onset behaviours for both groups. Regarding offsets, groups differ in peak velocity. Results suggest that PWS do not struggle initiating consonantal closure (onset). In transition from consonantal closure into the vowel, however, groups appear to employ different strategies expressed in increased variation (PNS) versus decreased mean peak velocity (PWS).casl30pub4219pub3-