Acoustic correlates of vocal effort: External factors and personality traits

ObjectivesTo develop an experimental protocol to study the vocal effort generated by introducing barriers to communication, and its relationship with certain personality traits.Material and methodsThe experimental protocol consisted of an interactive game in which the subject gave an investigator instructions to adopt various body positions (semi-directed communication situation). The Control situation included no constraints on communication. Then a Distance Constraint (increased distance between subject and investigator) and a Time Constraint (generation of performance stress by putting the subject in competition with others) were introduced. The vocal parameters studied comprised vocal intensity and fundamental frequency in the middle of the vowel of 3 target phonemes. Subjects also took the NEO FFI-R personality test.ResultsThe study included 41 women aged between 18 and 52 years. Vocal intensity and fundamental frequency increased significantly with the introduction of the constraints (P < 0.05), intensity passing from 75.5 dB to 81.8 dB and frequency from 249.4 Hz to 335.8 Hz. No correlations were found between these changes and results for the various personality traits.ConclusionsThis ecological protocol enables the impact of both physical and emotional obstacles to communication to be studied. No correlations between vocal effort and personality traits emerged. A larger-scale study would be necessary to analyze the continuum between vocal effort and vocal forcing, to improve speech therapy for dysfunctional dysphonia.     

Acoustic correlates of pathologic voice types

Listeners classified 49 samples of vowels /a/ and /i/ on the basis of four voice types: hoarse, breathy, strained, and normal. The vowels were analyzed acoustically for mean harmonic/noise differences in four spectral regions, average fundamental frequency, natural logarithm of fundamental frequency, and jitter. Discriminant analysis showed that classifications of voice type were made with 80% accuracy using three acoustic parameters: (a) mean harmonic/noise difference factor (1-3.5 kHz), (b) natural log of fundamental frequency, and (c) vowel type. The significance of these particular acoustic parameters for the perception and classification of voice types is discussed.     

The vocal tract model of placement: II. Acoustic aspects

The technique of "placing" the voice in the throat, head, or elsewhere is used in training singers of operatic quality and in vocal rehabilitation. A vocal tract model of placement has been shown to have perceptual validity (Nichols and Shellenberger, 1985). This study tested its acoustic validity. Line spectra of vowels at different vocal placements were analyzed. We found that Formant 2 reflected changes in vocal placement for both male and female speakers.     

京剧嗓音的声学分析及音域特征

目的　从声学角度客观地检测京剧的嗓音特征 ,为京剧演唱者嗓音的训练和保护提供参考。方法　对 73名 1 6～ 5 7岁不同行当的专业京剧演员或学员 ,利用Dr Speech计算机频谱分析系统对元音 /a/、/i/歌唱舒适音和唱段进行声学参数的检测和分析。结果　各行当元音 /a/、/i/歌唱舒适音的基频 (fundamentalfrequency,F0 )分别是 :丑角 (2 72 6± 42 0 )Hz( x±s ,下同 )、(30 4 2± 2 2 1 )Hz;小生 (499 3± 34 0 )Hz,(485 4± 1 8 7)Hz;老生 (335 6± 6 0 0 )Hz,(31 7 9± 45 1 )Hz ;花脸 (31 9 0±6 1 3)Hz,(34 0 1± 6 8 8)Hz;老旦 (42 7 6± 47 2 )Hz,(437 7± 45 8)Hz ;花旦 (5 35 8± 48 8)Hz,(5 6 1 6± 2 9 2 )Hz ;青衣 (5 48 0± 6 9 5 )Hz,(5 43 5± 79 3)Hz;其它声学参数 :频率微扰 (pitchperiodperturbation,或Jitter)、振幅微扰 (amplitudeperturbation ,或Shimmer)和声门噪声能量 (也称标准化噪声能量级 ,normalizednoiseenergy ,NNE)均在软件提供的正常值范围内 ;京剧演员歌唱音域的跨度为 1 7～ 2 8个八度 ,最低音和多数最高音均比西洋唱法的高音声部相应的值高。结论　京剧嗓音有着独特的声学特征 ;结果对其嗓音的训练和保护有一定的临床参考     

Acoustic, aerodynamic, and videostroboscopic features of bilateral vocal fold lesions

Successful treatment of bilateral vocal fold lesions depends on the accuracy of the diagnosis. For example, the preferred treatment for vocal fold nodules is voice therapy: in contrast. treatment for a unilateral vocal fold lesion with a contralateral reactive vocal fold lesion (UVFL/RL) usually involves phonosurgery and voice therapy. Differentiation between vocal fold nodules and a UVFL/ RL is often challenging. The purpose of this study was to facilitate diagnostic accuracy and improve treatment for patients with bilateral vocal fold lesions by attempting to identify distinct features of patients with either vocal fold nodules or a UVFL/RL with acoustic, aerodynamic, stroboscopic, and patient self-perception measures. The objective voice analysis, Voice Handicap Index, and laryngovideostroboscopic examinations of 85 patients with bilateral vocal fold lesions were reviewed. The results indicated that the patients with a UVFL/RL presented a diagnostic profile that was significantly different from that of patients with vocal fold nodules. Statistically significant differences were found for 1) symmetry of vocal fold vibration, 2) amplitude perturbations, 3) estimated subglottic pressure, and 4) Voice Handicap Index. These results suggest that a composite assessment of acoustic, aerodynamic, and videostroboscopic phonatory features facilitates differentiation between patients with vocal fold nodules and those with a UVFL/RL. The improved diagnostic accuracy afforded by multiparametric assessment provides a comprehensive framework for the treatment of these two distinct vocal fold disorders.     

A questionnaire using vocal symptoms in quality control of phonosurgery: vocal surgical questionnaire

Background

Quality control after phonosurgery is important and may be time consuming. Often questionnaires focusing on quality of life are applied. We aimed at investigating the use of organ specific symptoms, such as hoarseness and voice failure with the use of self-reported visual analogue scales (VAS) and Likert-scales.

Methods

A vocal surgical questionnaire using VAS and Likert-scales for hoarseness, voice failure and factors that could influence voice quality was given twice consecutively to a group of healthy volunteers (n?=?57, 45 female) and a group of voice patients (n?=?34, 21 females) for a test/re-test study. Secondly, a group of patients undergoing surgery (n?=?90, 61females) answered the questionnaire preoperatively and postoperatively. The difference between test/retest, healthy volunteers and patients, and between pre- and postoperative results were compared.

Results

There was no significant difference in the test/retest results in healthy volunteers nor in the patient group. There was statistically significant difference between the healthy volunteers and patients, and between the preoperative and postoperative results after phonosurgery.

Conclusion

This short and organ specific questionnaire clearly demonstrates the effect of phonosurgery, making it an easy and relevant tool in quality control and potentially reducing the need of postoperative controls in the outpatient clinic.

     

京剧嗓音的声学分析及音域特征

OBJECTIVE: To get the objective acoustic parameters of the voice of Beijing Opera actors and set a foundation for the training and protection of the special professional voice. METHODS: Seventy-three (age 16-57 years) professional actors and students were asked to produce sustained comfortable vowels /a/ and /i/, and to sing two pieces of songs which were in the category of Xipi and Erhuang respectively. Dr. Speech for windows version 3.0 was used to get the acoustic parameters of the vowels and the songs. RESULTS: F0 of the vowels /a/ and /i/ of different Hangdangs were Chou (272.6 +/- 42.0) Hz (mean +/- s), (304.2 +/- 22.1) Hz; Xiaosheng (499.3 +/- 34.0) Hz, (485.4 +/- 18.7) Hz; Laosheng (335.6 +/- 60.0) Hz, (317.9 +/- 45.1) Hz; Hualian (319.0 +/- 61.3) Hz, (340.1 +/- 68.8) Hz; Laodan (427.6 +/- 47.2) Hz, (437.7 +/- 45.8) Hz; Huadan (535.8 +/- 48.8) Hz, (561.6 +/- 29.2) Hz; Qingyi (548.0 +/- 69.5) Hz, (543.5 +/- 79.3) Hz; these and other acoustic parameters of vowels such as Jitter, Shimmer and NNE were all within the normal range given by the software. The vocal range of Beijing Opera actors was from 1.7 to 2.8 oct, and most of the highest and the lowest pitches were higher than that of tenor or soprano. CONCLUSIONS: These findings may help to provide insight regarding the acoustic characteristics of the voice of Beijing Opera actors.     

Otorhinolaryngologic screening of children with vocal quality disturbances

Voice evaluations of 1481 children were conducted in a rural community school system. One hundred and four children were identified as having vocal qualities that differed perceptually from normal upon initial evaluation by two speech pathologists. From a rescreening several months later, 65 children were presented to an ENT specialist for examination. Eighty-eight percent of these children had their larynx examined by the physician. Of this group, 82% were male, with 35% of all the cases showing bilateral vocal nodules and 28% with bilateral vocal fold thickening. Only a small percentage of children displayed mucoid nasal secretion, redness of arytenoids or granulation of the pharyngeal wall. The results suggest that a team approach including medical and behavioral management is most beneficial for children with voice deviations.     

Short-term stability measures for the evaluation of vocal quality

The vocal quality of 64 normal subjects and 57 subjects suffering various degrees of glottal cancer was investigated using acoustic measures of six different aspects of the voice signal: tone period perturbation, amplitude perturbation, waveform perturbation, vocal noise, spectral periodicity and spectral distortion. The measures were estimated taking the glottal cycle as temporal reference unit to make the influence of the differences in tone period from one person to another as low as possible. The measures were evaluated with regard to (a) their ability to discriminate between healthy and sick subjects, and (b) their correlation with the perceptual evaluation of four trained listeners. The results suggest that signal processing techniques are unsatisfactory for clinical diagnoses but useful for monitoring voice quality.     

Acoustic characteristics of vocal tension/harshness in the speech of the hearing impaired

The purpose of this investigation was to calculate, from vowels in continuous speech, the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N ratio) and average fundamental vocal frequency (F0) for hearing-impaired young adults who demonstrated varying degrees of vocal tension/harshness, and to correlate these acoustic measures with the degree of perceived, vocal tension/harshness. Subjects for this investigation consisted of 20 hearing-impaired males and 20 hearing-impared females who ranged in degree of tension/harshness from severe to normal/relaxed. S/N ratios and F0s were calculated, using a computer analysis program, from audio recordings of the speakers' reading of the first two sentences of the Rainbow Passage. The results indicated significant correlations between S/N ratios and degree of perceived tension/harshness, as well as between the average F0s and perceived tension/harshness. The clinical implications of these objective acoustic measures are discussed.     

Acoustic and physiologic correlates of the voicing distinction in esophageal speech

This study was designed to compare high- and low-intelligibility productions of /t/ and /d/ in esophageal speakers by using a combination of acoustic, perceptual, and physiologic measurements. Observations from these comparisons were incorporated into clinical strategies for modifying a single subject's low-intelligibility utterances. Acoustic comparison indicated that esophageal speakers used voice onset and phonation off-times but not vowel durations to differentiate /t/ and /d/ in high-intelligibility productions. Intraoral pressure measures during /t/ and /d/ production demonstrated excessively high intraoral pressures in both consonants for a low-intelligibility speaker and did not suggest systematic differences in intraoral pressure between /t/ versus /d/. Two weeks of biofeedback treatment with a low-intelligibility speaker were associated with a reduction in intraoral pressures for /t/ and /d/ productions, improved intelligibility, and changes in acoustic characteristics for /t/.     

Acoustic neuroma neurophysiologic correlates: vestibular-preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative

By the nature of their origin, acoustic neuromas always result in some degree of vestibular dysfunction. The implications of this are typically more notable postoperatively, rather than preoperatively or intraoperatively. However, preoperative vestibular assessment can have implications on operative approach and postoperative rehabilitation. This paper details the preoperative vestibular findings that correlate with differing stages of acoustic neuroma growth. It also describes the findings that help localize the tumor origin to either the inferior or superior divisions of the vestibular nerve. Finally, and probably most importantly, we discuss the causes of persistent postoperative vestibular symptoms.     

Acoustic neuroma: postoperative quality of life.

OBJECTIVE: Evaluating patients who have had surgical management of acoustic neuroma has relied heavily on the surgeon's viewpoint for determining success. However, the perspective of the surgeon may be different from that of the patient. Thus, a recent increased interest in terms of quality of life has been documented by the literature on this specific topic essentially through the use of a questionnaire. The objective of this paper was to review this topic in our series of patients operated on for acoustic neuroma to ascertain the personal and social impact that surgery has had on their lifestyle. DESIGN: This retrospective study was devoted to increasing statistics to provide more detailed and valid information during the counselling phase. METHODS: This study was carried out on 82 patients who underwent surgery for acoustic neuroma between 1988 and 1997. Each patient was recalled and assessed for his/her postoperative quality of life. Detailed information was requested on the initial postoperative facial, vestibular, and hearing functions; their evolution; and their social consequence. Finally, at the end of the interview, each patient was invited to give a final comment on his/her opinion regarding the outcomes of surgery and preoperative information. RESULTS: Facial function showed a grade I-III in 85.4% of cases, with postoperative neurovegetative dysfunction (taste and lacrimation) in 43%. Audiologic abnormalities (worsening hearing and tinnitus) were complained of in 90% and 57% of the cases, respectively. Twenty-three percent of the patients had various degrees of gait instability; 6% reported postoperative headache at 1-year follow-up. Social consequence (reduced work ability, vocational change, new education, state pension, etc.) was not influenced by surgery in 80%. CONCLUSIONS: Our experience is in general agreement with previously reported statistics. It is interesting to note that our patients exhibited more disturbances linked to the sensory component of facial nerve. In contrast, dysequilibrium had a less negative influence. These outcomes suggest the importance of thorough preoperative counselling in candidates for surgery for acoustic neuroma in order to motivate them and, at the same time, to reduce their psychological discomfort.     

Long-term changes in vocal quality following isshiki thyroplasty type I

Long-term changes in vocal quality, pre-Isshiki thyroplasty type I and up to 4 years 4 months post-thyroplasty, were determined in a group of five subjects exhibiting unilateral vocal fold paralysis. Thyroplasty type I medializes the paralyzed fold by using a Silastic® implant for external compression of the paralyzed vocal fold. No periphonosurgical or post-phonosurgical complications were noted. Longitudinal evaluation resulted in significantly higher vocal fundamental frequency, significant moderation of habitual vocal intensity, and significantly longer maximum phonation time. The thyroplasty group exhibited significantly more breath groups than control subjects both prethyroplasty and post-thyroplasty; within the thyroplasty group, a reduction in breath groups was exhibited prethyroplasty as compared to post-thyroplasty. The long-term positive changes observed in fundamental frequency, intensity, maximum phonation time, and breath groups were attributed to medialization of the paralyzed vocal fold.     

阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停低通气综合征对嗓音质量的影响

目的　探讨阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停低通气综合征（OSAHS）对嗓音质量的影响。方法　运行Dr.Speech声学参数分析软件,采用电声门图检测方法对82例OSAHS患者及53例健康人电声门图信号的基频微扰、振幅微扰、标准化噪声能量、接触率微扰、接触幂微扰、声带振动及电声门图波形进行测试分析。结果　正常发声时,22例轻度OSAHS患者电声门图信号的基频微扰、振幅微扰、标准化噪声能量、接触率微扰、接触幂微扰分别为（1.037±1.493）%、（5.627±1.872）%、（-16.109±1.719）dB、（2.638±0.633）%、（166.789±30.492）% ;24例中度OSAHS患者各项指标分别为（1.578±0.362）%、（8.478±1.635）%、（-11.517±1.614）dB、（6.043±0.936）%、（255.210±91.224）%;36例重度OSAHS患者各项指标分别为（2.138±1.384）%、（14.888±4.089）%、（-7.677±2.151）dB、（11.749±7.164）%、（431.233±259.266）%,均明显高于53例对照组（0.517±0.303）%、（3.299±2.196）%、（- 2 1 . 9 3 3±5 . 4 7 7）d B、（1 . 3 2 2±0 . 9 4 2）%、（58.834±131.849）%,差异均有统计学意义。全部OSAHS患者的声带振动规律性均严重失常,电声门图波形不规律。结论　OSAHS患者上呼吸道结构改变,引起非生理性呼吸,声带黏膜干燥,弹性减弱,电声门图声学指标升高,振动严重失常,应对OSAHS患者的嗓音质量予以关注,尽早治疗。     

Analysis of factors influencing voice quality and therapeutic approaches in vocal polyp patients

The task of the present study was to investigate the relationship between parameters and factors predictive of voice quality and to suggest treatment guidelines for patients suffering from vocal polyps. In total, 158 patients diagnosed with vocal polyps and who received voice therapy were enrolled. Clinicomorphological factors such as size, location, color, and type of the polyp were evaluated. Perceptive and acoustic voice evaluation was conducted and the relationship of these voice parameters with clinicomorphological factors was analyzed. Additionally, factors favorable for voice therapy were investigated. GRBAS scale grade was closely related to acoustic parameters, such as jitter and shimmer. Univariate analysis showed the size of the polyp, the color of the vocal fold, a history of voice abuse, associated muscle tension dysphonia (MTD), and opposing reactive scar affected voice quality. In multivariate analysis, only the size of the polyp was associated with voice quality. The patients in whom the voice quality improved with voice therapy initially had smaller polyps and whitish-colored vocal folds. Results of the present study indicate that although the most influential factor on voice quality in vocal polyp patients was the size, several other factors should be considered in evaluating and treating vocal polyps. The size of the polyp and the color of the vocal fold are indicative of success or failure in voice therapy.