Evaluation of the neo-glottal closure based on the source description in esophageal voice

The characteristics of esophageal voice render its study by traditional acoustic means to be limited and complicate. These limitations are even stronger when working with patients lacking minimal skills to control the required technique. Nevertheless the speech therapist needs to know the performance and mechanics developed by the patient in producing esophageal voice, as the specific techniques required in this case are not as universal and well-known as the ones for normal voicing. Each patient develops different strategies for producing esophageal voice due to the anatomical changes affecting the crico-pharyngeal sphincter (CPS) and the functional losses resulting from surgery. Therefore it is of fundamental relevance that practitioners could count on new instruments to evaluate esophageal voice quality, which on its turn could help in the enhancement of the CPS dynamics. The present work carries out a description of the voice of four patients after undergoing laryngectomy on data obtained from the study of the neo-glottal wave profile. Results obtained after analyzing the open-close phases and the tension of the muscular body on the CPS are shown

Vocal Fold Analysis From High Speed Videoendoscopic Data

High speed videoendoscopy (HSV) of the larynx far surpasses the limits of videostroboscopy in evaluating the vocal fold vibratory behavior by providing much higher frame rate. HSV enables the visualization of vocal fold vibratory pattern within an actual glottic cycle. This very detailed infor-mation on vocal fold vibratory characteristics could provide valuable information for the assessment of vocal fold vibratory function in disordered voices and the treatments effects of the behavioral, medical and surgical treatment procedures. In this work, we aim at addressing the problem of classi-fying voice disorders with varying etiology by following four steps described shortly. Our method-ology starts with glottis segmentation. Given a HSV data, the contour of the glottal opening area in each frame should be acquired. These contours record the vibration track of the vocal fold. After this, we obtain a reliable glottal axis that is necessary for getting certain vibratory features. The third step is the feature extraction on HSV data. In the last step, we complete the classification based on the features obtained from step 3. In this study, we first propose a novel glottis segmentation method based on simplified dynam-ic programming, which proves to be efficient and accurate. In addition, we introduce a new ap-proach for calculating the glottal axis. By comparing the proposed glottal axis determination meth-ods (modified linear regression) against state-of-the-art techniques, we demonstrate that our tech-nique is more reliable. After that, the concentration shifts to feature extraction and classification schemes. Eighteen different features are extracted and their discrimination is evaluated based on principal component analysis. Support vector machine and neural network are implemented to achieve the classification among three different types of vocal folds(normal vocal fold, unilateral vocal fold polyp, and unilateral vocal fold paralysis). The result demonstrates that the classification rates of four different tasks are all above 80%

Models and analysis of vocal emissions for biomedical applications: 5th International Workshop: December 13-15, 2007, Firenze, Italy

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. The Workshop has the sponsorship of: Ente Cassa Risparmio di Firenze, COST Action 2103, Biomedical Signal Processing and Control Journal (Elsevier Eds.), IEEE Biomedical Engineering Soc. Special Issues of International Journals have been, and will be, published, collecting selected papers from the conference

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

Effect of skin surface stimulation on acupoints for phonotraumatic injuries

From a recent large-scaled randomized controlled trial, it was found that genuine acupuncture was not significantly different from the placebo, or skin surface stimulation, in improving the vocal functions of dysphonic subjects with benign vocal pathologies. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study investigated the effects of skin surface stimulation on acupoints for treating phonotraumatic injuries. Four female subjects were randomly assigned to either a treatment group or a placebo group. Subjects in the treatment group received skin surface stimulation on voice-related acupoints Hegu (Li4), Lieque (Lu7), Lianquan (CV23), Renying (St9) and Zhaohai (Ki6), whereas subjects in the placebo group received skin surface stimulation on non-voice related acupoints Tianchuang (SI16), Neiguan (PC6), Zhongzhu (SJ3) and Shangqiu (SP5). All subjects completed 12 sessions within a 6-week timeframe. Outcome measures included aerodynamic measures, the voice range profile, and self-perceived voice-related quality of life by subjects. Limited by a small sample size, significant changes over time were not found in both groups from pre-treatment to post-treatment and 14 days post-treatment. There were no conclusive results regarding whether skin surface stimulation on acupoints is an effective treatment for improving the vocal functions and quality of life in patients with phonotraumatic injuries.published_or_final_versionSpeech and Hearing SciencesBachelorBachelor of Science in Speech and Hearing Science

Differentiation of voice disorders using objective parameters from harmonic waveform modeling in high-speed digital imaging

High-speed digital imaging (HSDI) has recently become clinically available for the direct observation of vocal fold movement in the last 20 years. However, before it can become routinely used in the clinical setting, a universal means of objectively analyzing and interpreting the HSDI data must be established. In this study, preliminary data was gathered for five parameters used to objectively analyze vocal fold vibratory patterns observed with HSDI. The parameters investigated were established by Ikuma, Kunduk, and McWhorter (2012a) and were previously studied with a small sample (N=8) comparing pre and post-phonosurgical removal of benign lesions. The five parameters included fundamental frequency standard deviation (F0SD), harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR) mean, open quotient (OQ) mean, speed index (SI) mean, and relative glottal gap (RGG) mean. The current study aimed to statistically and visually analyze measurements of the five objective parameters for differences between pathology groups with different etiologies. High-speed videos (N=50) were divided into five groups based on one of the following medical diagnoses: normal voice, vocal fold nodules, polyps, true vocal fold motion impairment (TVFMI), and adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD). Statistical analysis showed that HNR mean differentiated normal voices from ADSD voices and that F0 mean differentiated ADSD voices from all groups except vocal fold nodules (p \u3c 0.005). Visual analysis revealed a strong trend for RGG mean to differentiate vocal fold nodules from all other groups. Less prominent visual trends for OQ mean and SI mean were also noted

The impact of a standardized vocal loading test on vocal fold oscillations

Introduction Vocal loading capacity is an important aspect of vocal health and is measured using standardized vocal loading tests. However, it remains unclear how vocal fold oscillation patterns are influenced by a standardized vocal loading task. Methods 21 (10 male, 11 female) vocally healthy subjects were analyzed concerning the dysphonia severity index (DSI) and high speed videolaryngoscopy (HSV) on the vowel /i/ at a comfortable pitch and loudness before and after a standardized vocal loading test (10 min standardized text reading, at a level higher than 80 dB (A) measured at 30 cm from the mouth). Results Changes in DSI were statistically significant, diminishing by 1.2 points after the vocal loading test, which was mainly caused by an increase of the minimum intensity. However, the pre-post comparison of HSV derived measures failed to show any statistically significant changes. Conclusion It seems necessary to analyze the effects of a standardized vocal loading test on vocal fold oscillation patterns with respect to softest phonation and phonation threshold pressure rather than comfortable pitch and loudness.Level of evidenc