Perceptual Adaptation of Voice Gender Discrimination with Spectrally Shifted Vowels

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Tianhao; Fu, Qian-Jie

2011-01-01

Purpose: To determine whether perceptual adaptation improves voice gender discrimination of spectrally shifted vowels and, if so, which acoustic cues contribute to the improvement. Method: Voice gender discrimination was measured for 10 normal-hearing subjects, during 5 days of adaptation to spectrally shifted vowels, produced by processing the…

Neural correlates of perceptual narrowing in cross-species face-voice matching.

PubMed

Grossmann, Tobias; Missana, Manuela; Friederici, Angela D; Ghazanfar, Asif A

2012-11-01

Integrating the multisensory features of talking faces is critical to learning and extracting coherent meaning from social signals. While we know much about the development of these capacities at the behavioral level, we know very little about the underlying neural processes. One prominent behavioral milestone of these capacities is the perceptual narrowing of face-voice matching, whereby young infants match faces and voices across species, but older infants do not. In the present study, we provide neurophysiological evidence for developmental decline in cross-species face-voice matching. We measured event-related brain potentials (ERPs) while 4- and 8-month-old infants watched and listened to congruent and incongruent audio-visual presentations of monkey vocalizations and humans mimicking monkey vocalizations. The ERP results indicated that younger infants distinguished between the congruent and the incongruent faces and voices regardless of species, whereas in older infants, the sensitivity to multisensory congruency was limited to the human face and voice. Furthermore, with development, visual and frontal brain processes and their functional connectivity became more sensitive to the congruence of human faces and voices relative to monkey faces and voices. Our data show the neural correlates of perceptual narrowing in face-voice matching and support the notion that postnatal experience with species identity is associated with neural changes in multisensory processing (Lewkowicz & Ghazanfar, 2009). © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Plasticity after perceptual narrowing for voice perception: reinstating the ability to discriminate monkeys by their voices at 12 months of age

PubMed Central

Friendly, Rayna H.; Rendall, Drew; Trainor, Laurel J.

2013-01-01

Differentiating individuals by their voice is an important social skill for infants to acquire. In a previous study, we demonstrated that the ability to discriminate individuals by voice follows a pattern of perceptual narrowing (Friendly et al., 2013). Specifically, we found that the ability to discriminate between two foreign-species (rhesus monkey) voices decreased significantly between 6 and 12 months of age. Also during this period, there was a trend for the ability to discriminate human voices to increase. Here we investigate the extent to which plasticity remains at 12 months, after perceptual narrowing has occurred. We found that 12-month-olds who received 2 weeks of monkey-voice training were significantly better at discriminating between rhesus monkey voices than untrained 12-month-olds. Furthermore, discrimination was reinstated to a level slightly better than that of untrained 6-month-olds, suggesting that voice-processing abilities remain considerably plastic at the end of the first year. PMID:24130540

Effects of voice training and voice hygiene education on acoustic and perceptual speech parameters and self-reported vocal well-being in female teachers.

PubMed

Ilomaki, Irma; Laukkanen, Anne-Maria; Leppanen, Kirsti; Vilkman, Erkki

2008-01-01

Voice education programs may help in optimizing teachers' voice use. This study compared effects of voice training (VT) and voice hygiene lecture (VHL) in 60 randomly assigned female teachers. All 60 attended the lecture, and 30 completed a short training course in addition. Text reading was recorded in working environments and analyzed for fundamental frequency (F0), equivalent sound level (Leq), alpha ratio, jitter, shimmer, and perceptual quality. Self-reports of vocal well-being were registered. In the VHL group, increased F0 and difficulty of phonation and in the VT group decreased perturbation, increased alpha ratio, easier phonation, and improved perceptual and self-reported voice quality were found. Both groups equally self-reported increase of voice care knowledge. Results seem to indicate improved vocal well-being after training.

Do Standard Instrumental Acoustic, Perceptual, and Subjective Voice Outcomes Indicate Therapy Success in Patients With Functional Dysphonia?

PubMed

Reetz, Stephanie; Bohlender, Joerg E; Brockmann-Bauser, Meike

2018-01-29

The validity and sensitivity to change of instrumental acoustic measurements in patients with functional dysphonia have been controversially discussed. This work examines combined voice therapy effects on standard acoustic measurements, and if these agree with perceptual and subjective voice outcomes. Retrospective study. Thirty-nine patients (26 women, 13 men) aged 20-70 years (mean: 46.3, standard deviation 12.8) with functional dysphonia were investigated before and after combined voice therapy. Instrumental parameters included mean and range of speaking fundamental frequency (f o ) and intensity (SPL (dBA)); maximum SPL and mean f o of calling voice; minimum, maximum, range of singing voice f o and SPL, jitter (%), and the Dysphonia Severity Index. Voice Handicap Index-9 international was used for subjective and Grading-Roughness-Breathiness-Asthenia-Strain scale for perceptual assessment. Differences were investigated by Wilcoxon signed ranks test and coherences by Spearman rank correlation coefficient. After treatment, the speaking voice f o range (7-8.13 semitones) and SPL range (12.9-14.85 dB(A)) were significantly larger (P < 0.05). Both parameters were highly correlated (P < 0.001). Subjective symptoms were significantly reduced from a mean Voice Handicap Index-9 international of 15.6-8.6, and all perceptual Grading-Roughness-Breathiness-Asthenia-Strain scale parameters were significantly improved (G: 1.05-0.51) after therapy (P < 0.05). These findings were not associated with any acoustic parameter (P > 0.05). Significantly improved subjective and perceptual findings verify positive combined voice therapy effects in patients with functional dysphonia. The larger f o and SPL speaking voice range after treatment indicate an altered voice technique. These instrumental measures may be clinical indicators of therapy success and transfer effects. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of consensus training on the reliability of auditory perceptual ratings of voice quality.

PubMed

Iwarsson, Jenny; Reinholt Petersen, Niels

2012-05-01

This study investigates the effect of consensus training of listeners on intrarater and interrater reliability and agreement of perceptual voice analysis. The use of such training, including a reference voice sample, could be assumed to make the internal standards held in memory common and more robust, which is of great importance to reduce the variability of auditory perceptual ratings. A prospective design with testing before and after training. Thirteen students of audiologopedics served as listening subjects. The ratings were made using a multidimensional protocol with four-point equal-appearing interval scales. The stimuli consisted of text reading by authentic dysphonic patients. The consensus training for each perceptual voice parameter included (1) definition, (2) underlying physiology, (3) presentation of carefully selected sound examples representing the parameter in three different grades followed by group discussions of perceived characteristics, and (4) practical exercises including imitation to make use of the listeners' proprioception. Intrarater reliability and agreement showed a marked improvement for intermittent aphonia but not for vocal fry. Interrater reliability was high for most parameters before training with a slight increase after training. Interrater agreement showed marked increases for most voice quality parameters as a result of the training. The results support the recommendation of specific consensus training, including use of a reference voice sample material, to calibrate, equalize, and stabilize the internal standards held in memory by the listeners. Copyright © 2012 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Validation of the Spanish adaptation of the Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (CAPE-V).

PubMed

Núñez-Batalla, Faustino; Morato-Galán, Marta; García-López, Isabel; Ávila-Menéndez, Arántzazu

2015-01-01

The Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (CAPE-V) was developed.to promote a standardised approach to evaluating and documenting auditory perceptual judgments of vocal quality. This tool was originally developed in English language and its Spanish version is still inexistent. The aim of this study was to develop a Spanish adaptation of CAPE-V and to examine the reliability and empirical validity of this Spanish version. To adapt the CAPE-V protocol to the Spanish language, we proposed 6 phrases phonetically designed according to the CAPE-V requirements. Prospective instrument validation was performed. The validity of the Spanish version of the CAPE-V was examined in 4 ways: intra-rater reliability, inter-rater reliability and CAPE-V versus GRABS judgments. Inter-rater reliability coefficients for the CAPE-V ranged from 0.93 for overall severity to 0.54 for intensity; intra-rater reliability ranged from 0.98 for overall severity to 0.85 for intensity. The comparison of judgments between GRABS and CAPE-V ranged from 0.86 for overall severity to 0.61 for breathiness. The present study supports the use of the Spanish version of CAPE-V because of its validity and reliability. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Otorrinolaringología y Patología Cérvico-Facial. All rights reserved.

Evaluating voice characteristics of first-year acting students in Israel: factor analysis.

PubMed

Amir, Ofer; Primov-Fever, Adi; Kushnir, Tami; Kandelshine-Waldman, Osnat; Wolf, Michael

2013-01-01

Acting students require diverse, high-quality, and high-intensity vocal performance from early stages of their training. Demanding vocal activities, before developing the appropriate vocal skills, put them in high risk for developing vocal problems. A retrospective analysis of voice characteristics of first-year acting students using several voice evaluation tools. A total of 79 first-year acting students (55 women and 24 men) were assigned into two study groups: laryngeal findings (LFs) and no laryngeal findings, based on stroboscopic findings. Their voice characteristics were evaluated using acoustic analysis, aerodynamic examination, perceptual scales, and self-report questionnaires. Results obtained from each set of measures were examined using a factor analysis approach. Significant differences between the two groups were found for a single fundamental frequency (F(0))-Regularity factor; a single Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain perceptual factor; and the three self-evaluation factors. Gender differences were found for two acoustic analysis factors, which were based on F(0) and its derivatives, namely an aerodynamic factor that represents expiratory volume measurements and a single self-evaluation factor that represents the tendency to seek therapy. Approximately 50% of the first-year acting students had LFs. These students differed from their peers in the control group in a single acoustic analysis factor, as well as perceptual and self-report factors. No group differences, however, were found for the aerodynamic factors. Early laryngeal examination and voice evaluation of future professional voice users could provide a valuable individual baseline, to which later examinations could be compared, and assist in providing personally tailored treatment. Copyright © 2013 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Differences in acoustic and perceptual parameters of the voice between elderly and young women at habitual and high intensity.

PubMed

Mazzetto de Menezes, Keyla S; Master, Suely; Guzman, Marco; Bortnem, Cori; Ramos, Luiz Roberto

2014-01-01

The present study aimed to compare elderly and young female voices in habitual and high intensity. The effect of increased intensity on the acoustic and perceptual parameters was assessed. Sound pressure level, fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, and harmonic to noise ratio were obtained at habitual and high intensity voice in a group of 30 elderly women and 30 young women. Perceptual assessment was also performed. Both groups demonstrated an increase in sound pressure level and fundamental frequency from habitual voice to high intensity voice. No differences were found between groups in any acoustic variables on samples recorded with habitual intensity level. No significant differences between groups were found in habitual intensity level for pitch, hoarseness, roughness, and breathiness. Asthenia and instability obtained significant higher values in elderly than young participants, whereas, the elderly demonstrated lower values for perceived tension and loudness than young subjects. Acoustic and perceptual measures do not demonstrate evident differences between elderly and young speakers in habitual intensity level. The parameters analyzed may lack the sensitivity necessary to detect differences in subjects with normal voices. Phonation with high intensity highlights differences between groups, especially in perceptual parameters. Therefore, high intensity should be included to compare elderly and young voice. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Acoustic Properties of the Voice Source and the Vocal Tract: Are They Perceptually Independent?

PubMed

Erickson, Molly L

2016-11-01

This study sought to determine whether the properties of the voice source and vocal tract are perceptually independent. Within-subjects design. This study employed a paired-comparison paradigm where listeners heard synthetic voices and rated them as same or different using a visual analog scale. Stimuli were synthesized using three different source slopes and two different formant patterns (mezzo-soprano and soprano) on the vowel /a/ at four pitches: A3, C4, B4, and F5. Whereas formant pattern was the strongest effect, difference in source slope also affected perceived quality difference. Source slope and formant pattern were not independently perceived. These results suggest that when judging laryngeal adduction using perceptual information, judgments may not be accurate when the stimuli are of differing formant patterns. Copyright © 2016 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A comparison of recordings of sentences and spontaneous speech: perceptual and acoustic measures in preschool children's voices.

PubMed

McAllister, Anita; Brandt, Signe Kofoed

2012-09-01

A well-controlled recording in a studio is fundamental in most voice rehabilitation. However, this laboratory like recording method has been questioned because voice use in a natural environment may be quite different. In children's natural environment, high background noise levels are common and are an important factor contributing to voice problems. The primary noise source in day-care centers is the children themselves. The aim of the present study was to compare perceptual evaluations of voice quality and acoustic measures from a controlled recording with recordings of spontaneous speech in children's natural environment in a day-care setting. Eleven 5-year-old children were recorded three times during a day at the day care. The controlled speech material consisted of repeated sentences. Matching sentences were selected from the spontaneous speech. All sentences were repeated three times. Recordings were randomized and analyzed acoustically and perceptually. Statistic analyses showed that fundamental frequency was significantly higher in spontaneous speech (P<0.01) as was hyperfunction (P<0.001). The only characteristic the controlled sentences shared with spontaneous speech was degree of hoarseness (Spearman's rho=0.564). When data for boys and girls were analyzed separately, a correlation was found for the parameter breathiness (rho=0.551) for boys, and for girls the correlation for hoarseness remained (rho=0.752). Regarding acoustic data, none of the measures correlated across recording conditions for the whole group. Copyright © 2012 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Utility and accuracy of perceptual voice and speech distinctions in the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease, PSP and MSA-P.

PubMed

Miller, Nick; Nath, Uma; Noble, Emma; Burn, David

2017-06-01

To determine if perceptual speech measures distinguish people with Parkinson's disease (PD), multiple system atrophy with predominant parkinsonism (MSA-P) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). Speech-language therapists blind to patient characteristics employed clinical rating scales to evaluate speech/voice in 24 people with clinically diagnosed PD, 17 with PSP and 9 with MSA-P, matched for disease duration (mean 4.9 years, standard deviation 2.2). No consistent intergroup differences appeared on specific speech/voice variables. People with PD were significantly less impaired on overall speech/voice severity. Analyses by severity suggested further investigation around laryngeal, resonance and fluency changes may characterize individual groups. MSA-P and PSP compared with PD were distinguished by severity of speech/voice deterioration, but individual speech/voice parameters failed to consistently differentiate groups.

Evaluation of Phonatory Behavior and Voice Quality in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis Treated with Deep Brain Stimulation.

PubMed

Pützer, Manfred; Wokurek, Wolfgang; Moringlane, Jean Richard

2017-07-01

The effect of deep brain stimulation (DBS) on phonatory behavior and voice quality in eight patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) was examined instrumentally and perceptually. The acoustic signals of vowel productions obtained from patients (produced with and without stimulation) and from a group of 16 healthy control speakers were analyzed to prove statistically the changes of phonatory behavior and voice quality. This is a randomized study. Firstly, a new parametrization was used to determine phonatory behavior. Secondly, a perceptual evaluation of voice quality of the same speech material was performed. With stimulation, phonation has a greater tendency to be strained. The results of perceptual evaluation support this strained phonation behavior under stimulation, resulting in a smaller degree of breathiness ratings of all raters. Without stimulation, an impaired and partly disturbed adduction of the vocal folds can be shown. These findings are also supported in the perceptual experiment providing a higher degree of hoarseness ratings of all raters for these signals. High-frequency electrical impulses to the thalamus in patients with MS influence the phonatory behavior of their vocal folds. The results suggest the need for long-term monitoring of phonatory behavior during DBS to initiate adequate treatments without delay. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Voice gender and the segregation of competing talkers: Perceptual learning in cochlear implant simulations

PubMed Central

Sullivan, Jessica R.; Assmann, Peter F.; Hossain, Shaikat; Schafer, Erin C.

2017-01-01

Two experiments explored the role of differences in voice gender in the recognition of speech masked by a competing talker in cochlear implant simulations. Experiment 1 confirmed that listeners with normal hearing receive little benefit from differences in voice gender between a target and masker sentence in four- and eight-channel simulations, consistent with previous findings that cochlear implants deliver an impoverished representation of the cues for voice gender. However, gender differences led to small but significant improvements in word recognition with 16 and 32 channels. Experiment 2 assessed the benefits of perceptual training on the use of voice gender cues in an eight-channel simulation. Listeners were assigned to one of four groups: (1) word recognition training with target and masker differing in gender; (2) word recognition training with same-gender target and masker; (3) gender recognition training; or (4) control with no training. Significant improvements in word recognition were observed from pre- to post-test sessions for all three training groups compared to the control group. These improvements were maintained at the late session (one week following the last training session) for all three groups. There was an overall improvement in masked word recognition performance provided by gender mismatch following training, but the amount of benefit did not differ as a function of the type of training. The training effects observed here are consistent with a form of rapid perceptual learning that contributes to the segregation of competing voices but does not specifically enhance the benefits provided by voice gender cues. PMID:28372046

Multidimensional assessment of strongly irregular voices such as in substitution voicing and spasmodic dysphonia: a compilation of own research.

PubMed

Moerman, Mieke; Martens, Jean-Pierre; Dejonckere, Philippe

2015-04-01

This article is a compilation of own research performed during the European COoperation in Science and Technology (COST) action 2103: 'Advance Voice Function Assessment', an initiative of voice and speech processing teams consisting of physicists, engineers, and clinicians. This manuscript concerns analyzing largely irregular voicing types, namely substitution voicing (SV) and adductor spasmodic dysphonia (AdSD). A specific perceptual rating scale (IINFVo) was developed, and the Auditory Model Based Pitch Extractor (AMPEX), a piece of software that automatically analyses running speech and generates pitch values in background noise, was applied. The IINFVo perceptual rating scale has been shown to be useful in evaluating SV. The analysis of strongly irregular voices stimulated a modification of the European Laryngological Society's assessment protocol which was originally designed for the common types of (less severe) dysphonia. Acoustic analysis with AMPEX demonstrates that the most informative features are, for SV, the voicing-related acoustic features and, for AdSD, the perturbation measures. Poor correlations between self-assessment and acoustic and perceptual dimensions in the assessment of highly irregular voices argue for a multidimensional approach.

The perceptual significance of high-frequency energy in the human voice.

PubMed

Monson, Brian B; Hunter, Eric J; Lotto, Andrew J; Story, Brad H

2014-01-01

While human vocalizations generate acoustical energy at frequencies up to (and beyond) 20 kHz, the energy at frequencies above about 5 kHz has traditionally been neglected in speech perception research. The intent of this paper is to review (1) the historical reasons for this research trend and (2) the work that continues to elucidate the perceptual significance of high-frequency energy (HFE) in speech and singing. The historical and physical factors reveal that, while HFE was believed to be unnecessary and/or impractical for applications of interest, it was never shown to be perceptually insignificant. Rather, the main causes for focus on low-frequency energy appear to be because the low-frequency portion of the speech spectrum was seen to be sufficient (from a perceptual standpoint), or the difficulty of HFE research was too great to be justifiable (from a technological standpoint). The advancement of technology continues to overcome concerns stemming from the latter reason. Likewise, advances in our understanding of the perceptual effects of HFE now cast doubt on the first cause. Emerging evidence indicates that HFE plays a more significant role than previously believed, and should thus be considered in speech and voice perception research, especially in research involving children and the hearing impaired.

The perceptual significance of high-frequency energy in the human voice

PubMed Central

Monson, Brian B.; Hunter, Eric J.; Lotto, Andrew J.; Story, Brad H.

2014-01-01

While human vocalizations generate acoustical energy at frequencies up to (and beyond) 20 kHz, the energy at frequencies above about 5 kHz has traditionally been neglected in speech perception research. The intent of this paper is to review (1) the historical reasons for this research trend and (2) the work that continues to elucidate the perceptual significance of high-frequency energy (HFE) in speech and singing. The historical and physical factors reveal that, while HFE was believed to be unnecessary and/or impractical for applications of interest, it was never shown to be perceptually insignificant. Rather, the main causes for focus on low-frequency energy appear to be because the low-frequency portion of the speech spectrum was seen to be sufficient (from a perceptual standpoint), or the difficulty of HFE research was too great to be justifiable (from a technological standpoint). The advancement of technology continues to overcome concerns stemming from the latter reason. Likewise, advances in our understanding of the perceptual effects of HFE now cast doubt on the first cause. Emerging evidence indicates that HFE plays a more significant role than previously believed, and should thus be considered in speech and voice perception research, especially in research involving children and the hearing impaired. PMID:24982643

Effects of emotional and perceptual-motor stress on a voice recognition system's accuracy: An applied investigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poock, G. K.; Martin, B. J.

1984-02-01

This was an applied investigation examining the ability of a speech recognition system to recognize speakers' inputs when the speakers were under different stress levels. Subjects were asked to speak to a voice recognition system under three conditions: (1) normal office environment, (2) emotional stress, and (3) perceptual-motor stress. Results indicate a definite relationship between voice recognition system performance and the type of low stress reference patterns used to achieve recognition.

Hearing history influences voice gender perceptual performance in cochlear implant users.

PubMed

Kovačić, Damir; Balaban, Evan

2010-12-01

The study was carried out to assess the role that five hearing history variables (chronological age, age at onset of deafness, age of first cochlear implant [CI] activation, duration of CI use, and duration of known deafness) play in the ability of CI users to identify speaker gender. Forty-one juvenile CI users participated in two voice gender identification tasks. In a fixed, single-interval task, subjects listened to a single speech item from one of 20 adult male or 20 adult female speakers and had to identify speaker gender. In an adaptive speech-based voice gender discrimination task with the fundamental frequency difference between the voices as the adaptive parameter, subjects listened to a pair of speech items presented in sequential order, one of which was always spoken by an adult female and the other by an adult male. Subjects had to identify the speech item spoken by the female voice. Correlation and regression analyses between perceptual scores in the two tasks and the hearing history variables were performed. Subjects fell into three performance groups: (1) those who could distinguish voice gender in both tasks, (2) those who could distinguish voice gender in the adaptive but not the fixed task, and (3) those who could not distinguish voice gender in either task. Gender identification performance for single voices in the fixed task was significantly and negatively related to the duration of deafness before cochlear implantation (shorter deafness yielded better performance), whereas performance in the adaptive task was weakly but significantly related to age at first activation of the CI device, with earlier activations yielding better scores. The existence of a group of subjects able to perform adaptive discrimination but unable to identify the gender of singly presented voices demonstrates the potential dissociability of the skills required for these two tasks, suggesting that duration of deafness and age of cochlear implantation could have

Instrumental and perceptual evaluations of two related singers.

PubMed

Buder, Eugene H; Wolf, Teresa

2003-06-01

The primary goal of this study was to characterize a performer's singing and speaking voice. One woman was not admitted to a premier choral group, but her sister, who was comparable in physical characteristics and background, was admitted and provided a valuable control subject. The perceptual judgment of a vocal coach who conducted the group's auditions was decisive in discriminating these 2 singers. The singer not admitted to the group described a history of voice pathology, lacked a functional head register, and spoke with a voice characterized by hoarseness. Multiple listener judgments and acoustic and aerodynamic evaluations of both singers provided a more systematic basis for determining: 1) the phonatory basis for this judgment; 2) whether similar judgments would be made by groups of vocal coaches and speech-language pathologists; and 3) whether the type of tasks (e.g., sung vs. spoken) would influence these judgments. Statistically significant differences were observed between the ratings of vocal health provided by two different groups of listeners. Significant interactions were also observed as a function of the types of voice samples heard by these listeners. Instrumental analyses provided evidence that, in comparison to her sister, the rejected singer had a compromised vocal range, glottal insufficiencies as assessed aerodynamically and electroglottographically, and impaired acoustic quality, especially in her speaking voice.

VOT and the perception of voicing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Remez, Robert E.

2004-05-01

In explaining the ability to distinguish phonemes, linguists have described the dimension of voicing. Acoustic analyses have identified many correlates of the voicing contrast in initial, medial, and final consonants within syllables, and these in turn have motivated studies of the perceptual resolution of voicing. The framing conceptualization articulated by Lisker and Abramson 40 years ago in physiological, phonetic, and perceptual studies has been widely influential, and research on voicing now adopts their perspective without reservation. Their original survey included languages with two voicing categories (Dutch, Puerto Rican Spanish, Hungarian, Tamil, Cantonese, English), three voicing categories (Eastern Armenian, Thai, Korean), and four voicing categories (Hindi, Marathi). Perceptual studies inspired by this work have also ranged widely, including tests with different languages and with listeners of several species. The profound value of the analyses of Lisker and Abramson is evident in the empirical traction provided by the concept of VOT in research on the every important perceptual question about speech and language in our era. Some of these classic perceptual investigations will be reviewed. [Research supported by NIH (DC00308).

Effect of Spinal Manipulative Therapy on the Singing Voice.

PubMed

Fachinatto, Ana Paula A; Duprat, André de Campos; Silva, Marta Andrada E; Bracher, Eduardo Sawaya Botelho; Benedicto, Camila de Carvalho; Luz, Victor Botta Colangelo; Nogueira, Maruan Nogueira; Fonseca, Beatriz Suster Gomes

2015-09-01

This study investigated the effect of spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) on the singing voice of male individuals. Randomized, controlled, case-crossover trial. Twenty-nine subjects were selected among male members of the Heralds of the Gospel. This association was chosen because it is a group of persons with similar singing activities. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups: (A) chiropractic SMT procedure and (B) nontherapeutic transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) procedure. Recordings of the singing voice of each participant were taken immediately before and after the procedures. After a 14-day period, procedures were switched between groups: participants who underwent SMT on the first day were subjected to TENS and vice versa. Recordings were subjected to perceptual audio and acoustic evaluations. The same recording segment of each participant was selected. Perceptual audio evaluation was performed by a specialist panel (SP). Recordings of each participant were randomly presented thus making the SP blind to intervention type and recording session (before/after intervention). Recordings compiled in a randomized order were also subjected to acoustic evaluation. No differences in the quality of the singing on perceptual audio evaluation were observed between TENS and SMT. No differences in the quality of the singing voice of asymptomatic male singers were observed on perceptual audio evaluation or acoustic evaluation after a single spinal manipulative intervention of the thoracic and cervical spine. Copyright © 2015 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dimensionality in voice quality.

PubMed

Bele, Irene Velsvik

2007-05-01

This study concerns speaking voice quality in a group of male teachers (n = 35) and male actors (n = 36), as the purpose was to investigate normal and supranormal voices. The goal was the development of a method of valid perceptual evaluation for normal to supranormal and resonant voices. The voices (text reading at two loudness levels) had been evaluated by 10 listeners, for 15 vocal characteristics using VA scales. In this investigation, the results of an exploratory factor analysis of the vocal characteristics used in this method are presented, reflecting four dimensions of major importance for normal and supranormal voices. Special emphasis is placed on the effects on voice quality of a change in the loudness variable, as two loudness levels are studied. Furthermore, the vocal characteristics Sonority and Ringing voice quality are paid special attention, as the essence of the term "resonant voice" was a basic issue throughout a doctoral dissertation where this study was included.

``The perceptual bases of speaker identity'' revisited

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voiers, William D.

2003-10-01

A series of experiments begun 40 years ago [W. D. Voiers, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 36, 1065-1073 (1964)] was concerned with identifying the perceived voice traits (PVTs) on which human recognition of voices depends. It culminated with the development of a voice taxonomy based on 20 PVTs and a set of highly reliable rating scales for classifying voices with respect to those PVTs. The development of a perceptual voice taxonomy was motivated by the need for a practical method of evaluating speaker recognizability in voice communication systems. The Diagnostic Speaker Recognition Test (DSRT) evaluates the effects of systems on speaker recognizability as reflected in changes in the inter-listener reliability of voice ratings on the 20 PVTs. The DSRT thus provides a qualitative, as well as quantitative, evaluation of the effects of a system on speaker recognizability. A fringe benefit of this project is PVT rating data for a sample of 680 voices. [Work partially supported by USAFRL.

Voice parameters and videonasolaryngoscopy in children with vocal nodules: a longitudinal study, before and after voice therapy.

PubMed

Valadez, Victor; Ysunza, Antonio; Ocharan-Hernandez, Esther; Garrido-Bustamante, Norma; Sanchez-Valerio, Araceli; Pamplona, Ma C

2012-09-01

Vocal Nodules (VN) are a functional voice disorder associated with voice misuse and abuse in children. There are few reports addressing vocal parameters in children with VN, especially after a period of vocal rehabilitation. The purpose of this study is to describe measurements of vocal parameters including Fundamental Frequency (FF), Shimmer (S), and Jitter (J), videonasolaryngoscopy examination and clinical perceptual assessment, before and after voice therapy in children with VN. Voice therapy was provided using visual support through Speech-Viewer software. Twenty patients with VN were studied. An acoustical analysis of voice was performed and compared with data from subjects from a control group matched by age and gender. Also, clinical perceptual assessment of voice and videonasolaryngoscopy were performed to all patients with VN. After a period of voice therapy, provided with visual support using Speech Viewer-III (SV-III-IBM) software, new acoustical analyses, perceptual assessments and videonasolaryngoscopies were performed. Before the onset of voice therapy, there was a significant difference (p<0.05) in mean FF, S and J, between the patients with VN and subjects from the control group. After the voice therapy period, a significant improvement (p<0.05) was found in all acoustic voice parameters. Moreover, perceptual voice analysis demonstrated improvement in all cases. Finally, videonasolaryngoscopy demonstrated that vocal nodules were no longer discernible on the vocal folds in any of the cases. SV-III software seems to be a safe and reliable method for providing voice therapy in children with VN. Acoustic voice parameters, perceptual data and videonasolaryngoscopy were significantly improved after the speech therapy period was completed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Validation of the Acoustic Voice Quality Index in the Lithuanian Language.

PubMed

Uloza, Virgilijus; Petrauskas, Tadas; Padervinskis, Evaldas; Ulozaitė, Nora; Barsties, Ben; Maryn, Youri

2017-03-01

The aim of the present study was to validate the Acoustic Voice Quality Index in Lithuanian language (AVQI-LT) and investigate the feasibility and robustness of its diagnostic accuracy, differentiating normal and dysphonic voice. A total of 184 native Lithuanian subjects with normal voices (n = 46) and with various voice disorders (n = 138) were asked to read aloud the Lithuanian text and to sustain the vowel /a/. A sentence with 13 syllables and a 3-second midvowel portion of the sustained vowel were edited. Both speech tasks were concatenated, and perceptually rated for dysphonia severity by five voice clinicians. They rated the Grade (G) from the Grade Roughness Breathiness Asthenia Strain (GRBAS) protocol and the overall severity from the Consensus Auditory-perceptual Evaluation of Voice protocol with a visual analog scale (VAS). The average scores (G mean and VAS mean ) were taken as the perceptual dysphonia severity level for every voice sample. All concatenated voice samples were acoustically analyzed to receive an AVQI-LT score. Both auditory-perceptual judgment procedures showed sufficient strength of agreement between five raters. The results achieved significant and marked concurrent validity between both auditory-perceptual judgment procedures and AVQI-LT. The diagnostic accuracy of AVQI-LT showed for both auditory-perceptual judgment procedures comparable results with two different AVQI-LT thresholds. The AVQI-LT threshold of 2.97 for the G mean rating obtained reasonable sensitivity = 0.838 and excellent specificity = 0.937. For the VAS rating, an AVQI-LT threshold of 3.48 was determined with sensitivity = 0.840 and specificity = 0.922. The AVQI-LT is considered a valid and reliable tool for assessing the dysphonia severity level in Lithuanian-speaking population. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Updating signal typing in voice: addition of type 4 signals.

PubMed

Sprecher, Alicia; Olszewski, Aleksandra; Jiang, Jack J; Zhang, Yu

2010-06-01

The addition of a fourth type of voice to Titze's voice classification scheme is proposed. This fourth voice type is characterized by primarily stochastic noise behavior and is therefore unsuitable for both perturbation and correlation dimension analysis. Forty voice samples were classified into the proposed four types using narrowband spectrograms. Acoustic, perceptual, and correlation dimension analyses were completed for all voice samples. Perturbation measures tended to increase with voice type. Based on reliability cutoffs, the type 1 and type 2 voices were considered suitable for perturbation analysis. Measures of unreliability were higher for type 3 and 4 voices. Correlation dimension analyses increased significantly with signal type as indicated by a one-way analysis of variance. Notably, correlation dimension analysis could not quantify the type 4 voices. The proposed fourth voice type represents a subset of voices dominated by noise behavior. Current measures capable of evaluating type 4 voices provide only qualitative data (spectrograms, perceptual analysis, and an infinite correlation dimension). Type 4 voices are highly complex and the development of objective measures capable of analyzing these voices remains a topic of future investigation.

Automatic assessment of voice quality according to the GRBAS scale.

PubMed

Sáenz-Lechón, Nicolás; Godino-Llorente, Juan I; Osma-Ruiz, Víctor; Blanco-Velasco, Manuel; Cruz-Roldán, Fernando

2006-01-01

Nowadays, the most extended techniques to measure the voice quality are based on perceptual evaluation by well trained professionals. The GRBAS scale is a widely used method for perceptual evaluation of voice quality. The GRBAS scale is widely used in Japan and there is increasing interest in both Europe and the United States. However, this technique needs well-trained experts, and is based on the evaluator's expertise, depending a lot on his own psycho-physical state. Furthermore, a great variability in the assessments performed from one evaluator to another is observed. Therefore, an objective method to provide such measurement of voice quality would be very valuable. In this paper, the automatic assessment of voice quality is addressed by means of short-term Mel cepstral parameters (MFCC), and learning vector quantization (LVQ) in a pattern recognition stage. Results show that this approach provides acceptable results for this purpose, with accuracy around 65% at the best.

To hear or not to hear: Voice processing under visual load.

PubMed

Zäske, Romi; Perlich, Marie-Christin; Schweinberger, Stefan R

2016-07-01

Adaptation to female voices causes subsequent voices to be perceived as more male, and vice versa. This contrastive aftereffect disappears under spatial inattention to adaptors, suggesting that voices are not encoded automatically. According to Lavie, Hirst, de Fockert, and Viding (2004), the processing of task-irrelevant stimuli during selective attention depends on perceptual resources and working memory. Possibly due to their social significance, faces may be an exceptional domain: That is, task-irrelevant faces can escape perceptual load effects. Here we tested voice processing, to study whether voice gender aftereffects (VGAEs) depend on low or high perceptual (Exp. 1) or working memory (Exp. 2) load in a relevant visual task. Participants adapted to irrelevant voices while either searching digit displays for a target (Exp. 1) or recognizing studied digits (Exp. 2). We found that the VGAE was unaffected by perceptual load, indicating that task-irrelevant voices, like faces, can also escape perceptual-load effects. Intriguingly, the VGAE was increased under high memory load. Therefore, visual working memory load, but not general perceptual load, determines the processing of task-irrelevant voices.

Combined Functional Voice Therapy in Singers With Muscle Tension Dysphonia in Singing.

PubMed

Sielska-Badurek, Ewelina; Osuch-Wójcikiewicz, Ewa; Sobol, Maria; Kazanecka, Ewa; Rzepakowska, Anna; Niemczyk, Kazimierz

2017-07-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate vocal tract function and the voice quality in singers with muscle tension dysphonia (MTD) after undergoing combined functional voice therapy of the singing voice. This is a prospective, randomized study. Forty singers (29 females and 11 males, mean age: 24.6 ± 8.8 years) with MTD were enrolled in the study. The study group consisted of 20 singers who underwent combined functional voice therapy (10-15 individual sessions, 30-40 minutes each). Singers who did not opt for vocal rehabilitation consisted of the control group. Effects of rehabilitation were assessed with videolaryngostroboscopy, palpation of the vocal tract structures, flexible fiberoptic evaluation of the pharynx and the larynx, perceptual speaking and singing voice assessment, acoustic analysis, maximal phonation time, and the Voice Handicap Index. After combined functional voice therapy in the study group, great improvement was noticed in palpation of the vocal tract structures (P < 0.001), perceptual voice assessment (P < 0.001), phonetograms (P = 0.002), and singing range obtained from acoustic analysis of glissando (P < 0.001). In the control group, no statistically significant differences were found between the first and the second assessments. Combined functional voice therapy proved to be an efficacious treatment method in singers with MTD in singing. Development of palpation and perceptual singing voice examination protocols enables one to compare results before and after rehabilitation in clinics. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Perceptual Characteristics of Female Voices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Batstone, Susan; Tuomi, Seppo K.

1981-01-01

Male and females listeners rated 21 young female voices on seven scales representing unique vocal features. Voices were described as "passive", or traditionally female, and "active," characterized as "lively,""colorful," and "sexy." Females found active characteristics more salient; males preferred the passive characteristics. Implications for…

Comparative analysis of perceptual evaluation, acoustic analysis and indirect laryngoscopy for vocal assessment of a population with vocal complaint.

PubMed

Nemr, Kátia; Amar, Ali; Abrahão, Marcio; Leite, Grazielle Capatto de Almeida; Köhle, Juliana; Santos, Alexandra de O; Correa, Luiz Artur Costa

2005-01-01

As a result of technology evolution and development, methods of voice evaluation have changed both in medical and speech and language pathology practice. To relate the results of perceptual evaluation, acoustic analysis and medical evaluation in the diagnosis of vocal and/or laryngeal affections of the population with vocal complaint. Clinical prospective. 29 people that attended vocal health protection campaign were evaluated. They were submitted to perceptual evaluation (AFPA), acoustic analysis (AA), indirect laryngoscopy (LI) and telelaryngoscopy (TL). Correlations between medical and speech language pathology evaluation methods were established, verifying possible statistical signification with the application of Fischer Exact Test. There were statistically significant results in the correlation between AFPA and LI, AFPA and TL, LI and TL. This research study conducted in a vocal health protection campaign presented correlations between speech language pathology evaluation and perceptual evaluation and clinical evaluation, as well as between vocal affection and/or laryngeal medical exams.

The Influence of Native Language on Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Vocal Samples Completed by Brazilian and Canadian SLPs.

PubMed

Chaves, Cristiane Ribeiro; Campbell, Melanie; Côrtes Gama, Ana Cristina

2017-03-01

This study aimed to determine the influence of native language on the auditory-perceptual assessment of voice, as completed by Brazilian and Anglo-Canadian listeners using Brazilian vocal samples and the grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, strain (GRBAS) scale. This is an analytical, observational, comparative, and transversal study conducted at the Speech Language Pathology Department of the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil, and at the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department of the University of Alberta in Canada. The GRBAS scale, connected speech, and a sustained vowel were used in this study. The vocal samples were drawn randomly from a database of recorded speech of Brazilian adults, some with healthy voices and some with voice disorders. The database is housed at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Forty-six samples of connected speech (recitation of days of the week), produced by 35 women and 11 men, and 46 samples of the sustained vowel /a/, produced by 37 women and 9 men, were used in this study. The listeners were divided into two groups of three speech therapists, according to nationality: Brazilian or Anglo-Canadian. The groups were matched according to the years of professional experience of participants. The weighted kappa was used to calculate the intra- and inter-rater agreements, with 95% confidence intervals, respectively. An analysis of the intra-rater agreement showed that Brazilians and Canadians had similar results in auditory-perceptual evaluation of sustained vowel and connected speech. The results of the inter-rater agreement of connected speech and sustained vowel indicated that Brazilians and Canadians had, respectively, moderate agreement on the overall severity (0.57 and 0.50), breathiness (0.45 and 0.45), and asthenia (0.50 and 0.46); poor correlation on roughness (0.19 and 0.007); and weak correlation on strain to connected speech (0.22), and moderate correlation to sustained vowel (0.50). In general

Perceptual and acoustic outcomes of voice therapy for male-to-female transgender individuals immediately after therapy and 15 months later.

PubMed

Gelfer, Marylou Pausewang; Tice, Ruthanne M

2013-05-01

The present study examined how effectively listeners' perceptions of gender could be changed from male to female for male-to-female (MTF) transgender (TG) clients based on the voice signal alone, immediately after voice therapy and at long-term follow-up. Short- and long-term changes in masculinity and femininity ratings and acoustic measures of speaking fundamental frequency (SFF) and vowel formant frequencies were also investigated. Prospective treatment study. Five MTF TG clients, five control female speakers, and five control male speakers provided a variety of speech samples for later analysis. The TG clients then underwent 8 weeks of voice therapy. Voice samples were collected immediately at the termination of therapy and again 15 months later. Two groups of listeners were recruited to evaluate gender and provide masculinity and femininity ratings. Perceptual results revealed that TG subjects were perceived as female 1.9% of the time in the pretest, 50.8% of the time in the immediate posttest, and 33.1% of the time in the long-term posttest. The TG speakers were also perceived as significantly less masculine and more feminine in the immediate posttest and the long-term posttest compared with the pre-test. Some acoustic measures showed significant differences between the pretest and the immediate posttest and long-term posttest. It appeared that 8 weeks of voice therapy could result in vocal changes in MTF TG individuals that persist at least partially for up to 15 months. However, some TG subjects were more successful with voice feminization than others. Copyright © 2013 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Asymmetric cultural effects on perceptual expertise underlie an own-race bias for voices

PubMed Central

Perrachione, Tyler K.; Chiao, Joan Y.; Wong, Patrick C.M.

2009-01-01

The own-race bias in memory for faces has been a rich source of empirical work on the mechanisms of person perception. This effect is thought to arise because the face-perception system differentially encodes the relevant structural dimensions of features and their configuration based on experiences with different groups of faces. However, the effects of sociocultural experiences on person perception abilities in other identity-conveying modalities like audition have not been explored. Investigating an own-race bias in the auditory domain provides a unique opportunity for studying whether person identification is a modality-independent construct and how it is sensitive to asymmetric cultural experiences. Here we show that an own-race bias in talker identification arises from asymmetric experience with different spoken dialects. When listeners categorized voices by race (White or Black), a subset of the Black voices were categorized as sounding White, while the opposite case was unattested. Acoustic analyses indicated listeners' perceptions about race were consistent with differences in specific phonetic and phonological features. In a subsequent person-identification experiment, the Black voices initially categorized as sounding White elicited an own-race bias from White listeners, but not from Black listeners. These effects are inconsistent with person-perception models that strictly analogize faces and voices based on recognition from only structural features. Our results demonstrate that asymmetric exposure to spoken dialect, independent from talkers' physical characteristics, affects auditory perceptual expertise for talker identification. Person perception thus additionally relies on socioculturally-acquired dynamic information, which may be represented by different mechanisms in different sensory modalities. PMID:19782970

Voice activity and participation profile: assessing the impact of voice disorders on daily activities.

PubMed

Ma, E P; Yiu, E M

2001-06-01

Traditional clinical voice evaluation focuses primarily on the severity of voice impairment, with little emphasis on the impact of voice disorders on the individual's quality of life. This study reports the development of a 28-item assessment tool that evaluates the perception of voice problem, activity limitation, and participation restriction using the International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps-2 Beta-1 concept (World Health Organization, 1997). The questionnaire was administered to 40 subjects with dysphonia and 40 control subjects with normal voices. Results showed that the dysphonic group reported significantly more severe voice problems, limitation in daily voice activities, and restricted participation in these activities than the control group. The study also showed that the perception of a voice problem by the dysphonic subjects correlated positively with the perception of limitation in voice activities and restricted participation. However, the self-perceived voice problem had little correlation with the degree of voice-quality impairment measured acoustically and perceptually by speech pathologists. The data also showed that the aggregate scores of activity limitation and participation restriction were positively correlated, and the extent of activity limitation and participation restriction was similar in all except the job area. These findings highlight the importance of identifying and quantifying the impact of dysphonia on the individual's quality of life in the clinical management of voice disorders.

Assessment of voice, speech, and related quality of life in advanced head and neck cancer patients 10-years+ after chemoradiotherapy.

PubMed

Kraaijenga, S A C; Oskam, I M; van Son, R J J H; Hamming-Vrieze, O; Hilgers, F J M; van den Brekel, M W M; van der Molen, L

2016-04-01

Assessment of long-term objective and subjective voice, speech, articulation, and quality of life in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for advanced, stage IV disease. Twenty-two disease-free survivors, treated with cisplatin-based CRT for inoperable HNC (1999-2004), were evaluated at 10-years post-treatment. A standard Dutch text was recorded. Perceptual analysis of voice, speech, and articulation was conducted by two expert listeners (SLPs). Also an experimental expert system based on automatic speech recognition was used. Patients' perception of voice and speech and related quality of life was assessed with the Voice Handicap Index (VHI) and Speech Handicap Index (SHI) questionnaires. At a median follow-up of 11-years, perceptual evaluation showed abnormal scores in up to 64% of cases, depending on the outcome parameter analyzed. Automatic assessment of voice and speech parameters correlated moderate to strong with perceptual outcome scores. Patient-reported problems with voice (VHI>15) and speech (SHI>6) in daily life were present in 68% and 77% of patients, respectively. Patients treated with IMRT showed significantly less impairment compared to those treated with conventional radiotherapy. More than 10-years after organ-preservation treatment, voice and speech problems are common in this patient cohort, as assessed with perceptual evaluation, automatic speech recognition, and with validated structured questionnaires. There were fewer complaints in patients treated with IMRT than with conventional radiotherapy. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Acoustic characteristics of voice after severe traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

McHenry, M

2000-07-01

To describe the acoustic characteristics of voice in individuals with motor speech disorders after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Prospective study of 100 individuals with TBI based on consecutive referrals for motor speech evaluations. Subjects were audio tape-recorded while producing sustained vowels and single word and sentence intelligibility tests. Laryngeal airway resistance was estimated, and voice quality was rated perceptually. None of the subjects evidenced vocal parameters within normal limits. The most frequently occurring abnormal parameter across subjects was amplitude perturbation, followed by voice turbulence index. Twenty-three percent of subjects evidenced deviation in all five parameters measured. The perceptual ratings of breathiness were significantly correlated with both the amplitude perturbation quotient and the noise-to-harmonics ratio. Vocal quality deviation is common in motor speech disorders after TBI and may impact intelligibility.

The acoustic and perceptual differences to the non-singer's singing voice before and after a singing vocal warm-up

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeRosa, Angela

The present study analyzed the acoustic and perceptual differences in non-singer's singing voice before and after a vocal warm-up. Experiments were conducted with 12 females who had no singing experience and considered themselves to be non-singers. Participants were recorded performing 3 tasks: a musical scale stretching to their most comfortable high and low pitches, sustained productions of the vowels /a/ and /i/, and singing performance of the "Star Spangled Banner." Participants were recorded performing these three tasks before a vocal warm-up, after a vocal warm-up, and then again 2-3 weeks later after 2-3 weeks of practice. Acoustical analysis consisted of formant frequency analysis, singer's formant/singing power ratio analysis, maximum phonation frequency range analysis, and an analysis of jitter, noise to harmonic ratio (NHR), relative average perturbation (RAP), and voice turbulence index (VTI). A perceptual analysis was also conducted with 12 listeners rating comparison performances of before vs. after the vocal warm-up, before vs. after the second vocal warm-up, and after both vocal warm-ups. There were no significant findings for the formant frequency analysis of the vowel /a/, but there was significance for the 1st formant frequency analysis of the vowel /i/. Singer's formant analyzed via Singing Power Ratio analysis showed significance only for the vowel /i/. Maximum phonation frequency range analysis showed a significant increase after the vocal warm-ups. There were no significant findings for the acoustic measures of jitter, NHR, RAP, and VTI. Perceptual analysis showed a significant difference after a vocal warm-up. The results indicate that a singing vocal warm-up can have a significant positive influence on the singing voice of non-singers.

Quantitative evaluation of the voice range profile in patients with voice disorder.

PubMed

Ikeda, Y; Masuda, T; Manako, H; Yamashita, H; Yamamoto, T; Komiyama, S

1999-01-01

In 1953, Calvet first displayed the fundamental frequency (pitch) and sound pressure level (intensity) of a voice on a two-dimensional plane and created a voice range profile. This profile has been used to evaluate clinically various vocal disorders, although such evaluations to date have been subjective without quantitative assessment. In the present study, a quantitative system was developed to evaluate the voice range profile utilizing a personal computer. The area of the voice range profile was defined as the voice volume. This volume was analyzed in 137 males and 175 females who were treated for various dysphonias at Kyushu University between 1984 and 1990. Ten normal subjects served as controls. The voice volume in cases with voice disorders significantly decreased irrespective of the disease and sex. Furthermore, cases having better improvement after treatment showed a tendency for the voice volume to increase. These findings illustrated the voice volume as a useful clinical test for evaluating voice control in cases with vocal disorders.

Biased and unbiased perceptual decision-making on vocal emotions.

PubMed

Dricu, Mihai; Ceravolo, Leonardo; Grandjean, Didier; Frühholz, Sascha

2017-11-24

Perceptual decision-making on emotions involves gathering sensory information about the affective state of another person and forming a decision on the likelihood of a particular state. These perceptual decisions can be of varying complexity as determined by different contexts. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging and a region of interest approach to investigate the brain activation and functional connectivity behind two forms of perceptual decision-making. More complex unbiased decisions on affective voices recruited an extended bilateral network consisting of the posterior inferior frontal cortex, the orbitofrontal cortex, the amygdala, and voice-sensitive areas in the auditory cortex. Less complex biased decisions on affective voices distinctly recruited the right mid inferior frontal cortex, pointing to a functional distinction in this region following decisional requirements. Furthermore, task-induced neural connectivity revealed stronger connections between these frontal, auditory, and limbic regions during unbiased relative to biased decision-making on affective voices. Together, the data shows that different types of perceptual decision-making on auditory emotions have distinct patterns of activations and functional coupling that follow the decisional strategies and cognitive mechanisms involved during these perceptual decisions.

Reliability and Validity of the Turkish Version of the Voice-Related Quality of Life Measure.

PubMed

Tezcaner, Zahide Çiler; Aksoy, Songül

2017-03-01

This study aims to test the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL) questionnaire. This is a nonrandomized, prospective study with control group. The questionnaire was administered to 249 individuals-130 with vocal complaint and 119 without-with a mean age of 37.8 ± 12.3 years. The Turkish version of the Voice Handicap Index (VHI) and perceptual voice evaluation measures were also administered at 2-14 days for retest reliability. The instrument was submitted to validity and reliability evaluation. The V-RQOL measure showed a strong internal consistency and test-retest reliability; the Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the overall V-RQOL was 0.969, the physical functioning domain was 0.949, and the social-emotional domain was 0.940. In the test-retest reliability test, the overall V-RQOL was found to be 0.989. The construct validity of the V-RQOL was determined based on the strength and direction of its relation to the VHI and the perceptual voice evaluation measure. The higher the VHI level, the lower the physical functioning, social-emotional, and overall score levels of the V-RQOL (r = -0.927, r = -0.912, r = -0.944, respectively; P < 0.001). Following the perceptual voice self-assessment, a statistically significant difference was found between the V-RQOL scores of individuals who defined their voices as good, very good, and perfect, and those who defined their voices as bad and very bad (P < 0.001). The results suggest that the Turkish version of the V-RQOL measure has reliability and validity and may play a crucial role in evaluating Turkish-speaking patients with voice disorders. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluative pressure overcomes perceptual load effects.

PubMed

Normand, Alice; Autin, Frédérique; Croizet, Jean-Claude

2015-06-01

Perceptual load has been found to be a powerful bottom-up determinant of distractibility, with high perceptual load preventing distraction by any irrelevant information. However, when under evaluative pressure, individuals exert top-down attentional control by giving greater weight to task-relevant features, making them more distractible from task-relevant distractors. One study tested whether the top-down modulation of attention under evaluative pressure overcomes the beneficial bottom-up effect of high perceptual load on distraction. Using a response-competition task, we replicated previous findings that high levels of perceptual load suppress task-relevant distractor response interference, but only for participants in a control condition. Participants under evaluative pressure (i.e., who believed their intelligence was assessed) showed interference from task-relevant distractor at all levels of perceptual load. This research challenges the assumptions of the perceptual load theory and sheds light on a neglected determinant of distractibility: the self-relevance of the performance situation in which attentional control is solicited.

Longitudinal variations of laryngeal overpressure and voice-related quality of life in spasmodic dysphonia.

PubMed

Yeung, Jeffrey C; Fung, Kevin; Davis, Eric; Rai, Sunita K; Day, Adam M B; Dzioba, Agnieszka; Bornbaum, Catherine; Doyle, Philip C

2015-03-01

Adductor spasmodic dysphonia (AdSD) is a voice disorder characterized by variable symptom severity and voice disability. Those with the disorder experience a wide spectrum of symptom severity over time, resulting in varied degrees of perceived voice disability. This study investigated the longitudinal variability of AdSD, with a focus on auditory-perceptual judgments of a dimension termed laryngeal overpressure (LO) and patient self-assessments of voice-related quality of life (V-RQOL). Longitudinal, correlational study. Ten adults with AdSD were followed over three time periods. At each, both voice samples and self-ratings of V-RQOL were gathered prior to their scheduled Botox injection. Voice recordings subsequently were perceptually evaluated by eight listeners for LO using a visual analog scale. LO ratings for all-voiced and Rainbow Passage sentence stimuli were found to be highly correlated. However, only the LO ratings obtained from judgments of AV stimuli were found to correlate moderately with self-ratings of voice disability for both the physical functioning and social-emotional subscores, as well as the total V-RQOL score. Based on perceptual judgments, LO appears to provide a reliable means of quantifying the severity of voice abnormalities in AdSD. Variability in self-ratings of the V-RQOL suggest that perceived disability related to AdSD should be actively monitored. Further, auditory-perceptual judgments may provide an accurate index of the potential impact of the disorder on the speaker. Similarly, LO was supported as a simple clinical measure that serves as a reliable index of voice change over time. © 2014 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

Vocal effectiveness of speech-language pathology students: Before and after voice use during service delivery.

PubMed

Couch, Stephanie; Zieba, Dominique; Van der Linde, Jeannie; Van der Merwe, Anita

2015-03-26

As a professional voice user, it is imperative that a speech-language pathologist's(SLP) vocal effectiveness remain consistent throughout the day. Many factors may contribute to reduced vocal effectiveness, including prolonged voice use, vocally abusive behaviours,poor vocal hygiene and environmental factors. To determine the effect of service delivery on the perceptual and acoustic features of voice. A quasi-experimental., pre-test-post-test research design was used. Participants included third- and final-year speech-language pathology students at the University of Pretoria(South Africa). Voice parameters were evaluated in a pre-test measurement, after which the participants provided two consecutive hours of therapy. A post-test measurement was then completed. Data analysis consisted of an instrumental analysis in which the multidimensional voice programme (MDVP) and the voice range profile (VRP) were used to measure vocal parameters and then calculate the dysphonia severity index (DSI). The GRBASI scale was used to conduct a perceptual analysis of voice quality. Data were processed using descriptive statistics to determine change in each measured parameter after service delivery. A change of clinical significance was observed in the acoustic and perceptual parameters of voice. Guidelines for SLPs in order to maintain optimal vocal effectiveness were suggested.

Vocal effectiveness of speech-language pathology students: Before and after voice use during service delivery

PubMed Central

Couch, Stephanie; Zieba, Dominique; van der Merwe, Anita

2015-01-01

Background As a professional voice user, it is imperative that a speech-language pathologist's (SLP) vocal effectiveness remain consistent throughout the day. Many factors may contribute to reduced vocal effectiveness, including prolonged voice use, vocally abusive behaviours, poor vocal hygiene and environmental factors. Objectives To determine the effect of service delivery on the perceptual and acoustic features of voice. Method A quasi-experimental., pre-test–post-test research design was used. Participants included third- and final-year speech-language pathology students at the University of Pretoria (South Africa). Voice parameters were evaluated in a pre-test measurement, after which the participants provided two consecutive hours of therapy. A post-test measurement was then completed. Data analysis consisted of an instrumental analysis in which the multidimensional voice programme (MDVP) and the voice range profile (VRP) were used to measure vocal parameters and then calculate the dysphonia severity index (DSI). The GRBASI scale was used to conduct a perceptual analysis of voice quality. Data were processed using descriptive statistics to determine change in each measured parameter after service delivery. Results A change of clinical significance was observed in the acoustic and perceptual parameters of voice. Conclusion Guidelines for SLPs in order to maintain optimal vocal effectiveness were suggested. PMID:26304213

Voice similarity in identical twins.

PubMed

Van Gysel, W D; Vercammen, J; Debruyne, F

2001-01-01

If people are asked to discriminate visually the two individuals of a monozygotic twin (MT), they mostly get into trouble. Does this problem also exist when listening to twin voices? Twenty female and 10 male MT voices were randomly assembled with one "strange" voice to get voice trios. The listeners (10 female students in Speech and Language Pathology) were asked to label the twins (voices 1-2, 1-3 or 2-3) in two conditions: two standard sentences read aloud and a 2.5-second midsection of a sustained /a/. The proportion correctly labelled twins was for female voices 82% and 63% and for male voices 74% and 52% for the sentences and the sustained /a/ respectively, both being significantly greater than chance (33%). The acoustic analysis revealed a high intra-twin correlation for the speaking fundamental frequency (SFF) of the sentences and the fundamental frequency (F0) of the sustained /a/. So the voice pitch could have been a useful characteristic in the perceptual identification of the twins. We conclude that there is a greater perceptual resemblance between the voices of identical twins than between voices without genetic relationship. The identification however is not perfect. The voice pitch possibly contributes to the correct twin identifications.

Lax Vox as a Voice Training Program for Teachers: A Pilot Study.

PubMed

Mailänder, Eva; Mühre, Lea; Barsties, Ben

2017-03-01

The objective of this study was to explore the effectiveness of a 3-week training program with the voice therapy "Lax Vox" for teachers. Four healthy female teachers participated as volunteers for the study. Several voice measurements of perception, acoustics, aerodynamics, and self-evaluation were investigated. Furthermore, a survey to rate the applicability of Lax Vox was also part of the study. To assess the treatment effects of the Lax Vox training, an effect size analysis (d unb ) was conducted. After 3 weeks of training, medium and large improvements were found in some parameters of perceptual and acoustic voice quality assessments (d unb >0.50 and d unb >0.80, respectively). Furthermore, medium improvements were revealed in some parameters of self-evaluation (ie, physical and total scale of the Voice Handicap Index) and aerodynamic (ie, maximum phonation time) assessments (all d unb >0.50). Additionally, acoustic measures of vocal function showed an expansion in the upper contour of voice range profiles after training. Particularly, the main improvements in the voice range profile was found in the modal and the beginning of the falsetto voice registers. There was an increase of the intensity levels of about 4.6 dB. No changes were revealed in some acoustic measures of the voice range profile, self-evaluation measurements, and the perception of breathy voice quality (all d unb <0.20). Finally, the applicability of Lax Vox perceptually showed clear support in training success, learning process, and transfer to the daily routine. Lax Vox training for teachers appears to improve select measures of voice quality, maximum phonation time, vocal function, self-evaluation, and perceived applicability. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Impact of auditory training for perceptual assessment of voice executed by undergraduate students in Speech-Language Pathology.

PubMed

Silva, Regiane Serafim Abreu; Simões-Zenari, Marcia; Nemr, Nair Kátia

2012-01-01

To analyze the impact of auditory training for auditory-perceptual assessment carried out by Speech-Language Pathology undergraduate students. During two semesters, 17 undergraduate students enrolled in theoretical subjects regarding phonation (Phonation/Phonation Disorders) analyzed samples of altered and unaltered voices (selected for this purpose), using the GRBAS scale. All subjects received auditory training during nine 15-minute meetings. In each meeting, a different parameter was presented using the different voices sample, with predominance of the trained aspect in each session. Sample assessment using the scale was carried out before and after training, and in other four opportunities throughout the meetings. Students' assessments were compared to an assessment carried out by three voice-experts speech-language pathologists who were the judges. To verify training effectiveness, the Friedman's test and the Kappa index were used. The rate of correct answers in the pre-training was considered between regular and good. It was observed maintenance of the number of correct answers throughout assessments, for most of the scale parameters. In the post-training moment, the students showed improvements in the analysis of asthenia, a parameter that was emphasized during training after the students reported difficulties analyzing it. There was a decrease in the number of correct answers for the roughness parameter after it was approached segmented into hoarseness and harshness, and observed in association with different diagnoses and acoustic parameters. Auditory training enhances students' initial abilities to perform the evaluation, aside from guiding adjustments in the dynamics of the university subject.

Optimizing Linked Perceptual Class Formation and Transfer of Function

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fields, Lanny; Garruto, Michelle

2009-01-01

A linked perceptual class consists of two distinct perceptual classes, A' and B', the members of which have become related to each other. For example, a linked perceptual class might be composed of many pictures of a woman (one perceptual class) and the sounds of that woman's voice (the other perceptual class). In this case, any sound of the…

Perceptual structure of adductor spasmodic dysphonia and its acoustic correlates.

PubMed

Cannito, Michael P; Doiuchi, Maki; Murry, Thomas; Woodson, Gayle E

2012-11-01

To examine the perceptual structure of voice attributes in adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD) before and after botulinum toxin treatment and identify acoustic correlates of underlying perceptual factors. Reliability of perceptual judgments is considered in detail. Pre- and posttreatment trial with comparison to healthy controls, using single-blind randomized listener judgments of voice qualities, as well as retrospective comparison with acoustic measurements. Oral readings were recorded from 42 ADSD speakers before and after treatment as well as from their age- and sex-matched controls. Experienced judges listened to speech samples and rated attributes of overall voice quality, breathiness, roughness, and brokenness, using computer-implemented visual analog scaling. Data were adjusted for regression to the mean and submitted to principal components factor analysis. Acoustic waveforms, extracted from the reading samples, were analyzed and measurements correlated with perceptual factor scores. Four reliable perceptual variables of ADSD voice were effectively reduced to two underlying factors that corresponded to hyperadduction, most strongly associated with roughness, and hypoadduction, most strongly associated with breathiness. After treatment, the hyperadduction factor improved, whereas the hypoadduction factor worsened. Statistically significant (P<0.01) correlations were observed between perceived roughness and four acoustic measures, whereas breathiness correlated with aperiodicity and cepstral peak prominence (CPPs). This study supported a two-factor model of ADSD, suggesting perceptual characterization by both hyperadduction and hypoadduction before and after treatment. Responses of the factors to treatment were consistent with previous research. Correlations among perceptual and acoustic variables suggested that multiple acoustic features contributed to the overall impression of roughness. Although CPPs appears to be a partial correlate of perceived

Does CPAP treatment affect the voice?

PubMed

Saylam, Güleser; Şahin, Mustafa; Demiral, Dilek; Bayır, Ömer; Yüceege, Melike Bağnu; Çadallı Tatar, Emel; Korkmaz, Mehmet Hakan

2016-12-20

The aim of this study was to investigate alterations in voice parameters among patients using continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. Patients with an indication for CPAP treatment without any voice problems and with normal laryngeal findings were included and voice parameters were evaluated before and 1 and 6 months after CPAP. Videolaryngostroboscopic findings, a self-rated scale (Voice Handicap Index-10, VHI-10), perceptual voice quality assessment (GRBAS: grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, strain), and acoustic parameters were compared. Data from 70 subjects (48 men and 22 women) with a mean age of 44.2 ± 6.0 years were evaluated. When compared with the pre-CPAP treatment period, there was a significant increase in the VHI-10 score after 1 month of treatment and in VHI- 10 and total GRBAS scores, jitter percent (P = 0.01), shimmer percent, noise-to-harmonic ratio, and voice turbulence index after 6 months of treatment. Vague negative effects on voice parameters after the first month of CPAP treatment became more evident after 6 months. We demonstrated nonsevere alterations in the voice quality of patients under CPAP treatment. Given that CPAP is a long-term treatment it is important to keep these alterations in mind.

Perceptual evaluation and acoustic analysis of pneumatic artificial larynx.

PubMed

Xu, Jie Jie; Chen, Xi; Lu, Mei Ping; Qiao, Ming Zhe

2009-12-01

To investigate the perceptual and acoustic characteristics of the pneumatic artificial larynx (PAL) and evaluate its speech ability and clinical value. Prospective study. The study was conducted in the Voice Lab, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University. Forty-six laryngectomy patients using the PAL were rated for intelligibility and fluency of speech. The voice signals of sustained vowel /a/ for 40 healthy controls and 42 successful patients using the PAL were measured by a computer system. The acoustic parameters and sound spectrographs were analyzed and compared between the two groups. Forty-two of 46 patients using the PAL (91.3%) acquired successful speech capability. The intelligibility scores of 42 successful PAL speakers ranged from 71 to 95 percent, and the intelligibility range of four unsuccessful speakers was 30 to 50 percent. The fluency was judged as good or excellent in 42 successful patients, and poor or fair in four unsuccessful patients. There was no significant difference in average fundamental frequency, maximum intensity, jitter, shimmer, and normalized noise energy (NNE) between 42 successful PAL speakers and 40 healthy controls, while the maximum phonation time (MPT) of PAL speakers was slightly lower than that of the controls. The sound spectrographs of the patients using the PAL approximated those of the healthy controls. The PAL has the advantage of a high percentage of successful vocal rehabilitation. PAL speech is fluent and intelligible. The acoustic characteristics of the PAL are similar to those of a normal voice.

Voice characteristics in the progression of Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Holmes, R J; Oates, J M; Phyland, D J; Hughes, A J

2000-01-01

This study examined the acoustic and perceptual voice characteristics of patients with Parkinson's disease according to disease severity. The perceptual and acoustic voice characteristics of 30 patients with early stage PD and 30 patients with later stage PD were compared with data from 30 normal control subjects. Voice recordings consisted of prolongation of the vowel /a/, scale singing, and a 1-min monologue. In comparison with controls and previously published normative data, both early and later stage PD patients' voices were characterized perceptually by limited pitch and loudness variability, breathiness, harshness and reduced loudness. High modal pitch levels also characterized the voices of males in both early and later stages of PD. Acoustically, the voices of both groups of PD patients demonstrated lower mean intensity levels and reduced maximum phonational frequency ranges in comparison with normative data. Although less clear, the present data also suggested that the PD patients' voices were characterized by excess jitter, a high-speaking fundamental frequency for males and a reduced fundamental frequency variability for females. While several of these voice features did not appear to deteriorate with disease progression (i.e. harshness, high modal pitch and speaking fundamental frequency in males, fundamental frequency variability in females, low intensity and jitter), breathiness, monopitch and monoloudness, low loudness and reduced maximum phonational frequency range were all worse in the later stages of PD. Tremor was the sole voice feature which was associated only with later stage PD.

Acoustic and perceptual aspects of vocal function in children with adenotonsillar hypertrophy--effects of surgery.

PubMed

Lundeborg, Inger; Hultcrantz, Elisabeth; Ericsson, Elisabeth; McAllister, Anita

2012-07-01

To evaluate outcome of two types of tonsil surgery (tonsillectomy [TE]+adenoidectomy or tonsillotomy [TT]+adenoidectomy) on vocal function perceptually and acoustically. Sixty-seven children, aged 50-65 months, on waiting list for tonsil surgery were randomized to TE (n=33) or TT (n=34). Fifty-seven age- and gender-matched healthy preschool children were controls. Twenty-eight of them, aged 48-59 months, served as control group before surgery, and 29, aged 60-71 months, served as control group after surgery. Before surgery and 6 months postoperatively, the children were recorded producing three sustained vowels (/ɑ/, /u/, and /i/) and 14 words. The control groups were recorded only once. Three trained speech and language pathologists performed the perceptual analysis using visual analog scale for eight voice quality parameters. Acoustic analysis from sustained vowels included average fundamental frequency, jitter percent, shimmer percent, noise-to-harmonic ratio, and the center frequencies of formants 1-3. Before surgery, the children were rated to have more hyponasality and compressed/throaty voice (P<0.05) and lower mean pitch (P<0.01) in comparison to the control group. They also had higher perturbation measures and lower frequencies of the second and third formants. After surgery, there were no differences perceptually. Perturbation measures decreased but were still higher compared with those of control group (P<0.05). Differences in formant frequencies for /i/ and /u/ remained. No differences were found between the two surgical methods. Voice quality is affected perceptually and acoustically by adenotonsillar hypertrophy. After surgery, the voice is perceptually normalized but acoustic differences remain. Outcome was equal for both surgical methods. Copyright © 2012 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Acoustic markers to differentiate gender in prepubescent children's speaking and singing voice.

PubMed

Guzman, Marco; Muñoz, Daniel; Vivero, Martin; Marín, Natalia; Ramírez, Mirta; Rivera, María Trinidad; Vidal, Carla; Gerhard, Julia; González, Catalina

2014-10-01

Investigation sought to determine whether there is any acoustic variable to objectively differentiate gender in children with normal voices. A total of 30 children, 15 boys and 15 girls, with perceptually normal voices were examined. They were between 7 and 10 years old (mean: 8.1, SD: 0.7 years). Subjects were required to perform the following phonatory tasks: (1) to phonate sustained vowels [a:], [i:], [u:], (2) to read a phonetically balanced text, and (3) to sing a song. Acoustic analysis included long-term average spectrum (LTAS), fundamental frequency (F0), speaking fundamental frequency (SFF), equivalent continuous sound level (Leq), linear predictive code (LPC) to obtain formant frequencies, perturbation measures, harmonic to noise ratio (HNR), and Cepstral peak prominence (CPP). Auditory perceptual analysis was performed by four blinded judges to determine gender. No significant gender-related differences were found for most acoustic variables. Perceptual assessment showed good intra and inter rater reliability for gender. Cepstrum for [a:], alpha ratio in text, shimmer for [i:], F3 in [a:], and F3 in [i:], were the parameters that composed the multivariate logistic regression model to best differentiate male and female children's voices. Since perceptual assessment reliably detected gender, it is likely that other acoustic markers (not evaluated in the present study) are able to make clearer gender differences. For example, gender-specific patterns of intonation may be a more accurate feature for differentiating gender in children's voices. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Perceptual fluency and judgments of vocal aesthetics and stereotypicality.

PubMed

Babel, Molly; McGuire, Grant

2015-05-01

Research has shown that processing dynamics on the perceiver's end determine aesthetic pleasure. Specifically, typical objects, which are processed more fluently, are perceived as more attractive. We extend this notion of perceptual fluency to judgments of vocal aesthetics. Vocal attractiveness has traditionally been examined with respect to sexual dimorphism and the apparent size of a talker, as reconstructed from the acoustic signal, despite evidence that gender-specific speech patterns are learned social behaviors. In this study, we report on a series of three experiments using 60 voices (30 females) to compare the relationship between judgments of vocal attractiveness, stereotypicality, and gender categorization fluency. Our results indicate that attractiveness and stereotypicality are highly correlated for female and male voices. Stereotypicality and categorization fluency were also correlated for male voices, but not female voices. Crucially, stereotypicality and categorization fluency interacted to predict attractiveness, suggesting the role of perceptual fluency is present, but nuanced, in judgments of human voices. © 2014 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Multidimensional assessment of vocal changes in benign vocal fold lesions after voice therapy.

PubMed

Schindler, Antonio; Mozzanica, Francesco; Maruzzi, Patrizia; Atac, Murat; De Cristofaro, Valeria; Ottaviani, Francesco

2013-06-01

To evaluate through a multidimensional protocol voice changes after voice therapy in patients with benign vocal fold lesions. 65 consecutive patients affected by benign vocal fold lesions were enrolled. Depending on videolaryngostroboscopy the patients were divided into 3 groups: 23 patients with Reinke's oedema, 22 patients with vocal fold cysts and 20 patients with gelatinous polyp. Each subject received 10 voice therapy sessions and was evaluated, before and after voice therapy, through a multidimensional protocol including videolaryngostroboscopy, perception, acoustics, aerodynamics and self-rating by the patient. Data were compared using Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Kruskal-Wallis test was used to analyse the mean variation difference between the three groups of patients. Mann-Whitney test was used for post hoc analysis. Only in 11 cases videolaryngostroboscopy revealed an improvement of the initial pathology. However a significant improvement was observed in perceptual, acoustic and self-assessment ratings in the 3 groups of patients. In particular the parameters of G, R and A of the GIRBAS scale, and the noise to harmonic ratio, Jitter and shimmer scores improved after rehabilitation. A significant improvement of all the parameters of Voice Handicap Index after rehabilitation treatment was found. No significant difference among the three groups of patients was visible, except for self-assessment ratings. Voice therapy may provide a significant improvement in perceptual, acoustic and self-assessed voice quality in patients with benign glottal lesions. Utilization of voice therapy may allow some patients to avoid surgical intervention. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Perceptual Characteristics of Voice-Hallucinations in Deaf People: Insights into the Nature of Subvocal Thought and Sensory Feedback Loops

PubMed Central

Atkinson, Joanna R.

2006-01-01

The study of voice-hallucinations in deaf individuals, who exploit the visuomotor rather than auditory modality for communication, provides rare insight into the relationship between sensory experience and how “voices” are perceived. Relatively little is known about the perceptual characteristics of voice-hallucinations in congenitally deaf people who use lip-reading or sign language as their preferred means of communication. The existing literature on hallucinations in deaf people is reviewed, alongside consideration of how such phenomena may fit into explanatory subvocal articulation hypotheses proposed for auditory verbal hallucinations in hearing people. It is suggested that a failure in subvocal articulation processes may account for voice-hallucinations in both hearing and deaf people but that the distinct way in which hallucinations are experienced may be due to differences in a sensory feedback component, which is influenced by both auditory deprivation and language modality. This article highlights how the study of deaf people may inform wider understanding of auditory verbal hallucinations and subvocal processes generally. PMID:16510696

The Effects of Differential Training Procedures on Linked Perceptual Class Formation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fields, Lanny; Tittelbach, Danielle; Shamoun, Kimberly; Watanabe, Mari; Fitzer, Adrienne; Matneja, Priya

2007-01-01

When the stimuli in one perceptual class (A') become related to the stimuli in another perceptual class (B'), the two are functioning as a single "linked perceptual class". A common linked perceptual class would be the sounds of a person's voice (class A') and the pictures of that person (class B'). Such classes are ubiquitous in real…

Cepstral analysis of normal and pathological voice in Spanish adults. Smoothed cepstral peak prominence in sustained vowels versus connected speech.

PubMed

Delgado-Hernández, Jonathan; León-Gómez, Nieves M; Izquierdo-Arteaga, Laura M; Llanos-Fumero, Yanira

In recent years, the use of cepstral measures for acoustic evaluation of voice has increased. One of the most investigated parameters is smoothed cepstral peak prominence (CPPs). The objectives of this paper are to establish the usefulness of this acoustic measure in the objective evaluation of alterations of the voice in Spanish and to determine what type of voice sample (sustained vowels or connected speech) is the most sensitive in evaluating the severity of dysphonia. Forty subjects participated in this study 40, 20 controls and 20 with dysphonia. Two voice samples were recorded for each subject (one sustained vowel/a/and four phonetically balanced sentences) and the CPPs was calculated using the Praat programme. Three raters perceptually evaluated the voice sample with the Grade parameter of GRABS scale. Significantly lower values were found in the dysphonic voices, both for/a/(t [38] = 4.85, P<.000) and for phrases (t [38] = 5,75, P<.000). In relation to the type of voice sample most suitable for evaluating the severity of voice alterations, a strong correlation was found with the acoustic-perceptual scale of CPPs calculated from connected speech (r s = -0.73) and moderate correlation with that calculated from the sustained vowel (r s = -0,56). The results of this preliminary study suggest that CPPs is a good measure to detect dysphonia and to objectively assess the severity of alterations in the voice. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Otorrinolaringología y Cirugía de Cabeza y Cuello. All rights reserved.

Group climate in the voice therapy of patients with Parkinson's Disease.

PubMed

Diaféria, Giovana; Madazio, Glaucya; Pacheco, Claudia; Takaki, Patricia Barbarini; Behlau, Mara

2017-09-04

To verify the impact that group dynamics and coaching strategies have on the PD patients voice, speech and communication, as well as the group climate. 16 individuals with mild to moderate dysarthria due to the PD were divided into two groups: the CG (8 patients), submitted to traditional therapy with 12 regular therapy sessions plus 4 additional support sessions; and the EG (8 patients), submitted to traditional therapy with 12 regular therapy sessions plus 4 sessions with group dynamics and coaching strategies. The Living with Dysarthria questionnaire (LwD), the self-evaluation of voice, speech and communication, and the perceptual-auditory analysis of the vocal quality were assess in 3 moments: pre-traditional therapy (pre); post-traditional therapy (post 1); and post support sessions/coaching strategies (post 2); in post 1 and post 2 moments, the Group Climate Questionnaire (GCQ) was also applied. CG and EG showed an improvement in the LwD from pre to post 1 and post 2 moments. Voice self-evaluation was better for the EG - when pre was compared with post 2 and when post 1 was compared with post 2 - ranging from regular to very good; both groups presented improvement in the communication self-evaluation. The perceptual-auditory evaluation of the vocal quality was better for the EG in the post 1 moment. No difference was found for the GCQ; however, the EG presented lower avoidance scores in post 2. All patients showed improvement in the voice, speech and communication self-evaluation; EG showed lower avoidance scores, creating a more collaborative and propitious environment for speech therapy.

Pre- and posttreatment voice and speech outcomes in patients with advanced head and neck cancer treated with chemoradiotherapy: expert listeners' and patient's perception.

PubMed

van der Molen, Lisette; van Rossum, Maya A; Jacobi, Irene; van Son, Rob J J H; Smeele, Ludi E; Rasch, Coen R N; Hilgers, Frans J M

2012-09-01

Perceptual judgments and patients' perception of voice and speech after concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) for advanced head and neck cancer. Prospective clinical trial. A standard Dutch text and a diadochokinetic task were recorded. Expert listeners rated voice and speech quality (based on Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, and Strain), articulation (overall, [p], [t], [k]), and comparative mean opinion scores of voice and speech at three assessment points calculated. A structured study-specific questionnaire evaluated patients' perception pretreatment (N=55), at 10-week (N=49) and 1-year posttreatment (N=37). At 10 weeks, perceptual voice quality is significantly affected. The parameters overall voice quality (mean, -0.24; P=0.008), strain (mean, -0.12; P=0.012), nasality (mean, -0.08; P=0.009), roughness (mean, -0.22; P=0.001), and pitch (mean, -0.03; P=0.041) improved over time but not beyond baseline levels, except for asthenia at 1-year posttreatment (voice is less asthenic than at baseline; mean, +0.20; P=0.03). Perceptual analyses of articulation showed no significant differences. Patients judge their voice quality as good (score, 18/20) at all assessment points, but at 1-year posttreatment, most of them (70%) judge their "voice not as it used to be." In the 1-year versus 10-week posttreatment comparison, the larynx-hypopharynx tumor group was more strained, whereas nonlarynx tumor voices were judged less strained (mean, -0.33 and +0.07, respectively; P=0.031). Patients' perceived changes in voice and speech quality at 10-week post- versus pretreatment correlate weakly with expert judgments. Overall, perceptual CCRT effects on voice and speech seem to peak at 10-week posttreatment but level off at 1-year posttreatment. However, at that assessment point, most patients still perceive their voice as different from baseline. Copyright © 2012 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Contemporary Commercial Music Singing Students-Voice Quality and Vocal Function at the Beginning of Singing Training.

PubMed

Sielska-Badurek, Ewelina M; Sobol, Maria; Olszowska, Katarzyna; Niemczyk, Kazimierz

2017-10-03

The purpose of this study was to assess the voice quality and the vocal tract function in popular singing students at the beginning of their singing training at the High School of Music. This is a retrospective cross-sectional study. The study consisted of 45 popular singing students (35 females and 10 males, mean age: 19.9 ± 2.8 years). They were assessed in the first 2 months of their 4-year singing training at the High School of Music, between 2013 and 2016. Voice quality and vocal tract function were evaluated using videolaryngostroboscopy, palpation of the vocal tract structures, the perceptual speaking and singing voice assessment, acoustic analysis, maximal phonation time, the Voice Handicap Index, and the Singing Voice Handicap Index (SVHI). Twenty-two percent of Contemporary Commercial Music singing students began their education in the High School, with vocal nodules. Palpation of the vocal tract structure showed in 50% correct motions and tension in speaking and in 39.3% in singing. Perceptual voice assessment showed in 80% proper speaking voice quality and in 82.4% proper singing voice quality. The mean vocal fundamental frequency while speaking in females was 214 Hz and in males was 116 Hz. Dysphonia Severity Index was at the level of 2, and maximum phonation time was 17.7 seconds. The Voice Handicap Index and the SVHI remained within the normal range: 7.5 and 19, respectively. Perceptual singing voice assessment correlated with the SVHI (P = 0.006). Twenty-two percent of the Contemporary Commercial Music singing students began their education in the High School, with organic vocal fold lesions. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Medications and Adverse Voice Effects.

PubMed

Nemr, Kátia; Di Carlos Silva, Ariana; Rodrigues, Danilo de Albuquerque; Zenari, Marcia Simões

2017-08-16

To identify the medications used by patients with dysphonia, describe the voice symptoms reported on initial speech-language pathology (SLP) examination, evaluate the possible direct and indirect effects of medications on voice production, and determine the association between direct and indirect adverse voice effects and self-reported voice symptoms, hydration and smoking habits, comorbidities, vocal assessment, and type and degree of dysphonia. This is a retrospective cross-sectional study. Fifty-five patients were evaluated and the vocal signs and symptoms indicated in the Dysphonia Risk Protocol were considered, as well as data on hydration, smoking and medication use. We analyzed the associations between type of side effect and self-reported vocal signs/symptoms, hydration, smoking, comorbidities, type of dysphonia, and auditory-perceptual and acoustic parameters. Sixty percent were women, the mean age was 51.8 years, 29 symptoms were reported on the screening, and 73 active ingredients were identified with 8.2% directly and 91.8% indirectly affecting vocal function. There were associations between the use of drugs with direct adverse voice effects, self-reported symptoms, general degree of vocal deviation, and pitch deviation. The symptoms of dry throat and shortness of breath were associated with the direct vocal side effect of the medicine, as well as the general degree of vocal deviation and the greater pitch deviation. Shortness of breath when speaking was also associated with the greatest degree of vocal deviation. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Effect of Hydration on the Voice Quality of Future Professional Vocal Performers.

PubMed

van Wyk, Liezl; Cloete, Mariaan; Hattingh, Danel; van der Linde, Jeannie; Geertsema, Salome

2017-01-01

The application of systemic hydration as an instrument for optimal voice quality has been a common practice by several professional voice users over the years. Although the physiological action has been determined, the benefits on acoustic and perceptual characteristics are relatively unknown. The present study aimed to determine whether systemic hydration has beneficial outcomes on the voice quality of future professional voice users. A within-subject, pretest posttest design is applied to determine quantitative research results of female singing students between 18 and 32 years of age without a history of voice pathology. Acoustic and perceptual data were collected before and after a 2-hour singing rehearsal. The difference between the hypohydrated condition (controlled) and the hydrated condition (experimental) and the relationship between adequate hydration and acoustic and perceptual parameters of voice was then investigated. A statistical significant (P = 0.041) increase in jitter values were obtained for the hypohydrated condition. Increased maximum phonation time (MPT/z/) and higher maximum frequency for hydration indicated further statistical significant changes in voice quality (P = 0.028 and P = 0.015, respectively). Systemic hydration has positive outcomes on perceptual and acoustic parameters of voice quality for future professional singers. The singer's ability to sustain notes for longer and reach higher frequencies may reflect well in performances. Any positive change in voice quality may benefit the singer's occupational success and subsequently their social, emotional, and vocational well-being. More research evidence is needed to determine the parameters for implementing adequate hydration in vocal hygiene programs. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Tracking Voice Change after Thyroidectomy: Application of Spectral/Cepstral Analyses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Awan, Shaheen N.; Helou, Leah B.; Stojadinovic, Alexander; Solomon, Nancy Pearl

2011-01-01

This study evaluates the utility of perioperative spectral and cepstral acoustic analyses to monitor voice change after thyroidectomy. Perceptual and acoustic analyses were conducted on speech samples (sustained vowel /[alpha]/ and CAPE-V sentences) provided by 70 participants (36 women and 34 men) at four study time points: prior to thyroid…

Measuring voice outcomes: state of the science review.

PubMed

Carding, Pau N; Wilson, J A; MacKenzie, K; Deary, I J

2009-08-01

Researchers evaluating voice disorder interventions currently have a plethora of voice outcome measurement tools from which to choose. Faced with such a wide choice, it would be beneficial to establish a clear rationale to guide selection. This article reviews the published literature on the three main areas of voice outcome assessment: (1) perceptual rating of voice quality, (2) acoustic measurement of the speech signal and (3) patient self-reporting of voice problems. We analysed the published reliability, validity, sensitivity to change and utility of the common outcome measurement tools in each area. From the data, we suggest that routine voice outcome measurement should include (1) an expert rating of voice quality (using the Grade-Roughness-Breathiness-Asthenia-Strain rating scale) and (2) a short self-reporting tool (either the Vocal Performance Questionnaire or the Vocal Handicap Index 10). These measures have high validity, the best reported reliability to date, good sensitivity to change data and excellent utility ratings. However, their application and administration require attention to detail. Acoustic measurement has arguable validity and poor reliability data at the present time. Other areas of voice outcome measurement (e.g. stroboscopy and aerodynamic phonatory measurements) require similarly detailed research and analysis.

Voice stress analysis and evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haddad, Darren M.; Ratley, Roy J.

2001-02-01

Voice Stress Analysis (VSA) systems are marketed as computer-based systems capable of measuring stress in a person's voice as an indicator of deception. They are advertised as being less expensive, easier to use, less invasive in use, and less constrained in their operation then polygraph technology. The National Institute of Justice have asked the Air Force Research Laboratory for assistance in evaluating voice stress analysis technology. Law enforcement officials have also been asking questions about this technology. If VSA technology proves to be effective, its value for military and law enforcement application is tremendous.

Speaker's voice as a memory cue.

PubMed

Campeanu, Sandra; Craik, Fergus I M; Alain, Claude

2015-02-01

Speaker's voice occupies a central role as the cornerstone of auditory social interaction. Here, we review the evidence suggesting that speaker's voice constitutes an integral context cue in auditory memory. Investigation into the nature of voice representation as a memory cue is essential to understanding auditory memory and the neural correlates which underlie it. Evidence from behavioral and electrophysiological studies suggest that while specific voice reinstatement (i.e., same speaker) often appears to facilitate word memory even without attention to voice at study, the presence of a partial benefit of similar voices between study and test is less clear. In terms of explicit memory experiments utilizing unfamiliar voices, encoding methods appear to play a pivotal role. Voice congruency effects have been found when voice is specifically attended at study (i.e., when relatively shallow, perceptual encoding takes place). These behavioral findings coincide with neural indices of memory performance such as the parietal old/new recollection effect and the late right frontal effect. The former distinguishes between correctly identified old words and correctly identified new words, and reflects voice congruency only when voice is attended at study. Characterization of the latter likely depends upon voice memory, rather than word memory. There is also evidence to suggest that voice effects can be found in implicit memory paradigms. However, the presence of voice effects appears to depend greatly on the task employed. Using a word identification task, perceptual similarity between study and test conditions is, like for explicit memory tests, crucial. In addition, the type of noise employed appears to have a differential effect. While voice effects have been observed when white noise is used at both study and test, using multi-talker babble does not confer the same results. In terms of neuroimaging research modulations, characterization of an implicit memory effect

The Role of Occupational Voice Demand and Patient-Rated Impairment in Predicting Voice Therapy Adherence.

PubMed

Ebersole, Barbara; Soni, Resha S; Moran, Kathleen; Lango, Miriam; Devarajan, Karthik; Jamal, Nausheen

2018-05-01

Examine the relationship among the severity of patient-perceived voice impairment, perceptual dysphonia severity, occupational voice demand, and voice therapy adherence. Identify clinical predictors of increased risk for therapy nonadherence. A retrospective cohort study of patients presenting with a chief complaint of persistent dysphonia at an interdisciplinary voice center was done. The Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10) and the Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL) survey scores, clinician rating of dysphonia severity using the Grade score from the Grade, Roughness Breathiness, Asthenia, and Strain scale, occupational voice demand, and patient demographics were tested for associations with therapy adherence, defined as completion of the treatment plan. Classification and Regression Tree (CART) analysis was performed to establish thresholds for nonadherence risk. Of 166 patients evaluated, 111 were recommended for voice therapy. The therapy nonadherence rate was 56%. Occupational voice demand category, VHI-10, and V-RQOL scores were the only factors significantly correlated with therapy adherence (P < 0.0001, P = 0.018, and P = 0.008, respectively). CART analysis found that patients with low or no occupational voice demand are significantly more likely to be nonadherent with therapy than those with high occupational voice demand (P < 0.001). Furthermore, a VHI-10 score of ≤29 or a V-RQOL score of >40 is a significant cutoff point for predicting therapy nonadherence (P < 0.011 and P < 0.004, respectively). Occupational voice demand and patient perception of impairment are significantly and independently correlated with therapy adherence. A VHI-10 score of ≤9 or a V-RQOL score of >40 is a significant cutoff point for predicting nonadherence risk. Copyright © 2018 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Voice feminization in male-to-female transgendered clients after Wendler's glottoplasty with vs. without voice therapy support.

PubMed

Casado, Juan C; Rodríguez-Parra, María J; Adrián, José A

2017-04-01

The objective of this study was to evaluate the medium-term results of Wendler's glottoplasty surgery (WG) and the effects of post-operative voice therapy in a group of male-to-female transsexuals. This is a retrospective study of 18 transsexuals who voluntarily underwent WG between 2010 and 2014 at a single hospital. Ten of the subjects underwent an additional voice therapy training. The group was assessed pre- vs. post-treatments with a limited battery of measures consisting of fundamental frequency (Fo), maximum phonation time, the TSEQ transgender self-assessment questionnaire, and perceptual assessment of the voice (Visual Analog Scale and a simplified version of the classical Hirano-GRBAS scale) by inter-rater agreement. The surgical procedure consisted of a de-epithelialization of the anterior third of both vocal folds; this area was sutured, and the surface of both vocal folds was vaporized with a laser diode. The results showed a significant increase in vocal tone and feminization of voice in all participants, including a significant increase in Fo 12 months after treatment. Significant improvements were also shown in other evaluated measures, such as self-reported satisfaction and the degree of feminization of the voice. However, no improvements in maximum phonation time were observed. The use of voice therapy appears decisive for optimal improvement of this class of patients. WG applied appropriately by well-trained hands is thus a very effective and less traumatic procedure than other techniques that aim for an acceptable feminization of the voice in MtoF transgendered clients.

Telehealth: voice therapy using telecommunications technology.

PubMed

Mashima, Pauline A; Birkmire-Peters, Deborah P; Syms, Mark J; Holtel, Michael R; Burgess, Lawrence P A; Peters, Leslie J

2003-11-01

Telehealth offers the potential to meet the needs of underserved populations in remote regions. The purpose of this study was a proof-of-concept to determine whether voice therapy can be delivered effectively remotely. Treatment outcomes were evaluated for a vocal rehabilitation protocol delivered under 2 conditions: with the patient and clinician interacting within the same room (conventional group) and with the patient and clinician in separate rooms, interacting in real time via a hard-wired video camera and monitor (video teleconference group). Seventy-two patients with voice disorders served as participants. Based on evaluation by otolaryngologists, 31 participants were diagnosed with vocal nodules, 29 were diagnosed with edema, 9 were diagnosed with unilateral vocal fold paralysis, and 3 presented with vocal hyperfunction with no laryngeal pathology. Fifty-one participants (71%) completed the vocal rehabilitation protocol. Outcome measures included perceptual judgments of voice quality, acoustic analyses of voice, patient satisfaction ratings, and fiber-optic laryngoscopy. There were no differences in outcome measures between the conventional group and the remote video teleconference group. Participants in both groups showed positive changes on all outcome measures after completing the vocal rehabilitation protocol. Reasons for participants discontinuing therapy prematurely provided support for the telehealth model of service delivery.

Long-Term Follow-Up of Patients with Spasmodic Dysphonia and Improved Voice despite Discontinuation of Treatment.

PubMed

Geneid, Ahmed; Lindestad, Per-Åke; Granqvist, Svante; Möller, Riitta; Södersten, Maria

2016-01-01

To evaluate voice function in patients with adductor spasmodic dysphonia (AdSD) who discontinued botulinum toxin (BTX) treatment because they felt that their voice had improved sufficiently. Twenty-eight patients quit treatment in 2004, of whom 20 fulfilled the inclusion criteria for the study, with 3 subsequently excluded because of return of symptoms, leaving 17 patients (11 males, 6 females) included in this follow-up study. A questionnaire concerning current voice function and the Voice Handicap Index were completed. Audio-perceptual voice assessments were done by 3 listeners. The inter- and intrarater reliabilities were r > 0.80. All patients had a subjectively good stable voice, but with differences in their audio-perceptual voice assessment scores. Based on the pre-/posttreatment auditory scores on the overall degree of AdSD, patients were divided into 2 subgroups showing more and less improvement, with 10 and 7 patients, respectively. The subgroup with more improvement had shorter duration from the onset of symptoms until the start of BTX treatment, and included 7 males compared to only 4 males in the subgroup with less improvement. It seems plausible that the symptoms of spasmodic dysphonia may decrease over time. Early intervention and male gender seem to be important factors for long-term reduction of the voice symptoms of AdSD. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Speech-Language Pathology production regarding voice in popular singing.

PubMed

Drumond, Lorena Badaró; Vieira, Naymme Barbosa; Oliveira, Domingos Sávio Ferreira de

2011-12-01

To present a literature review about the Brazilian scientific production in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology regarding voice in popular singing in the last decade, as for number of publications, musical styles studied, focus of the researches, and instruments used for data collection. Cross-sectional descriptive study carried out in two stages: search in databases and publications encompassing the last decade of researches in this area in Brazil, and reading of the material obtained for posterior categorization. The databases LILACS and SciELO, the Databasis of Dissertations and Theses organized by CAPES, the online version of Acta ORL, and the online version of OPUS were searched, using the following uniterms: voice, professional voice, singing voice, dysphonia, voice disorders, voice training, music, dysodia. Articles published between the years 2000 and 2010 were selected. The researches found were classified and categorized after reading their abstracts and, when necessary, the whole study. Twenty researches within the proposed theme were selected, all of which were descriptive, involving several musical styles. Twelve studies focused on the evaluation of the popular singer's voice, and the most frequently used data collection instrument was the auditory-perceptual evaluation. The results of the publications found corroborate the objectives proposed by the authors and the different methodologies. The number of studies published is still restricted when compared to the diversity of musical genres and the uniqueness of popular singer.

Identifying a Comparison for Matching Rough Voice Quality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patel, Sona; Shrivastav, Rahul; Eddins, David A.

2012-01-01

Purpose: Perceptual estimates of voice quality obtained using rating scales are subject to contextual biases that influence how individuals assign numbers to estimate the magnitude of vocal quality. Because rating scales are commonly used in clinical settings, assessments of voice quality are also subject to the limitations of these scales.…

Acoustic Analysis of Voice in Dysarthria following Stroke

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Yu-Tsai; Kent, Ray D.; Kent, Jane Finley; Duffy, Joseph R.; Thomas, Jack E.

2009-01-01

Although perceptual studies indicate the likelihood of voice disorders in persons with stroke, there have been few objective instrumental studies of voice dysfunction in dysarthria following stroke. This study reports automatic analysis of sustained vowel phonation for 61 speakers with stroke. The results show: (1) men with stroke and healthy…

Hearing Story Characters' Voices: Auditory Imagery during Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gunraj, Danielle N.; Klin, Celia M.

2012-01-01

Despite the longstanding belief in an inner voice, there is surprisingly little known about the perceptual features of that voice during text processing. This article asked whether readers infer nonlinguistic phonological features, such as speech rate, associated with a character's speech. Previous evidence for this type of auditory imagery has…

Perceptual integration of faces and voices depends on the interaction of emotional content and spatial frequency.

PubMed

Kokinous, Jenny; Tavano, Alessandro; Kotz, Sonja A; Schröger, Erich

2017-02-01

The role of spatial frequencies (SF) is highly debated in emotion perception, but previous work suggests the importance of low SFs for detecting emotion in faces. Furthermore, emotion perception essentially relies on the rapid integration of multimodal information from faces and voices. We used EEG to test the functional relevance of SFs in the integration of emotional and non-emotional audiovisual stimuli. While viewing dynamic face-voice pairs, participants were asked to identify auditory interjections, and the electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded. Audiovisual integration was measured as auditory facilitation, indexed by the extent of the auditory N1 amplitude suppression in audiovisual compared to an auditory only condition. We found an interaction of SF filtering and emotion in the auditory response suppression. For neutral faces, larger N1 suppression ensued in the unfiltered and high SF conditions as compared to the low SF condition. Angry face perception led to a larger N1 suppression in the low SF condition. While the results for the neural faces indicate that perceptual quality in terms of SF content plays a major role in audiovisual integration, the results for angry faces suggest that early multisensory integration of emotional information favors low SF neural processing pathways, overruling the predictive value of the visual signal per se. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Impact of vocal load on breathiness: perceptual evaluation.

PubMed

Remacle, Angélique; Schoentgen, Jean; Finck, Camille; Bodson, Agnès; Morsomme, Dominique

2014-10-01

To evaluate the impact on voice of 2 hours of continuous oral reading. Fifty normophonic women underwent two sessions of voice loading in which the required intensity level varied: 60-65 dB(A) for the first session, and 70-75 dB(A) for the second session. Ten expert judges evaluated the breathiness of one sentence recorded before and after each loading session. Pairs of stimuli were presented randomly to the judges, who were asked to designate the breathiest sample. A significant decrease in breathiness was observed following both sessions, suggesting an improvement of voice subsequent to loading. When comparing the two intensity levels, no difference was found for breathiness after vocal loading.

Reliability and validity of the Korean version of Pediatric Voice Handicap Index: in school age children.

PubMed

Park, Sung Shin; Kwon, Tack-Kyun; Choi, Seong Hee; Lee, Won Yong; Hong, Young Hye; Jeong, Nyun Gi; Sung, Myung-Whun; Kim, Kwang Hyun

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to assess the reliability and validity of the Pediatric Voice Handicap Index (pVHI) for cross-cultural adaptation of the Korean version with school age children. The questionnaire was translated into Korean and was completed by 101 Korean parents who have children with or without disordered voice. The Korean version-pVHI scores were obtained with 60 parents of normal children and 41 parents who have children with voice problems. Content validity was verified by five experienced speech-language pathologists with clinical specialization in voice disorders. Internal consistency was calculated through Cronbach's α coefficient and test-retest reliability of the Korean version-pVHI score was determined using Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients. Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare GRBAS with the Korean version-pVHI scores between normal and dysphonia group. The relationship between the parent-reported the Korean version-pVHI total scores and perceptual ratings of voice quality from experts was investigated using Spearman correlation coefficients. The results showed that the Korean version-pVHI provided a high internal consistency (α=0.92) and test-retest reliability of its subscales: total (T) 0.97, functional (F) 0.90, physical (P) 0.95, emotional (E) 0.92. The Korean version-pVHI mean scores in normal group were 1.28 (T), 0.62 (F), 0.35 (P) and 0.32 (E), respectively whereas those of the Korean version-pVHI in children group with dysphonia were 23.13 (T), 8.90 (F), 9.54 (P) and 4.93 (E). Significant differences in the Korean version-pVHI (T, F, P, E) and perceptual evaluation (grade, rough, breathy) between normal and dysphonia group were revealed (P<0.05). Moreover, relatively moderate-to-high correlation between the Korean version-pVHI parameters (T) and perceptual measures (G) was exhibited in children with dysphonia. The subjective Korean version-pVHI can be applicable and useful supplementary tool for evaluating parents

Relationship between Voice Complaints and Subjective and Objective Measures of Vocal Function in Iranian Female Teachers.

PubMed

Faham, Maryam; Jalilevand, Nahid; Torabinezhad, Farhad; Silverman, Erin Pearson; Ahmadi, Akram; Anaraki, Zahra Ghayoumi; Jafari, Narges

2017-07-01

Teachers are at high risk of developing voice problems because of the excessive vocal demands necessitated by their profession. Teachers' self-assessment of vocal complaints, combined with subjective and objective measures of voice, may enable better therapeutic decision-making. This investigation compared audio-perceptual assessment and acoustic variables in teachers with and without voice complaints. Ninety-nine teachers completed this cross-sectional study and were assigned to one of two groups: those "with voice complaint (VC)" and those "without voice complaint (W-VC)." Voice samples were collected during reading, counting, and vowel prolongation tasks. Teachers were also asked to document any voice symptoms they experienced. Voice samples were analyzed using Dr. Speech program (4th version; Tiger Ltd., USA), and labeled "normal" or "abnormal" according to the "grade" dimension "G" from GRBAS scale. Twenty-one teachers were assigned to the VC group based on self-assessment data. There were statistically significant differences between the two groups with regard to self-reported voice symptoms of hoarseness, breathiness, pitch breaks, and vocal fatigue (P < 0.05). Fourteen participants in the VC group and 40 from the W-VC group were determined to demonstrate "abnormal" vocal quality on perceptual assessment. Only harmonic-to-noise ratio was significantly higher for the W-VC group (ES = 0.55). Teachers with and without voice complaints differed in the incidence, but not type of voice symptoms. Teachers' voice complaints did not correspond to perceptual and acoustic measures. This suggests a potential unmet need for teachers to receive further education on voice disorders. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. All rights reserved.

Cultural and language differences in voice quality perception: a preliminary investigation using synthesized signals.

PubMed

Yiu, Edwin M-L; Murdoch, Bruce; Hird, Kathryn; Lau, Polly; Ho, Elaine Mandy

2008-01-01

Perceptual voice evaluation is a common clinical tool. However, to date, there is no consensus yet as to which common quality should be measured. Some available evidence shows that voice quality is a language-specific property which may be different across different languages. The familiarity of a language may affect the perception and reliability in rating voice quality. The present study set out to investigate the effects of listeners' cultural and language backgrounds on the perception of voice qualities. Forty speech pathology students from Australia and Hong Kong were asked to rate the breathy and rough qualities of synthesized voice signals in Cantonese and English. Results showed that the English stimulus sets as a whole were rated less severely than the Cantonese stimuli by both groups of listeners. In addition, the male Cantonese and English breathy stimuli were rated differently by the Australian and Hong Kong listeners. These results provided some evidence to support the claim that cultural and language backgrounds of the listeners would affect the perception for some voice quality types. Thus, the cultural and language backgrounds of judges should be taken into consideration in clinical voice evaluation. 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Injection Laryngoplasty Using Micronized Acellular Dermis for Vocal Fold Paralysis: Long-term Voice Outcomes.

PubMed

Hernandez, Stephen C; Sibley, Haley; Fink, Daniel S; Kunduk, Melda; Schexnaildre, Mell; Kakade, Anagha; McWhorter, Andrew J

2016-05-01

Micronized acellular dermis has been used for nearly 15 years to correct glottic insufficiency. With previous demonstration of safety and efficacy, this study aims to evaluate intermediate and long-term voice outcomes in those who underwent injection laryngoplasty for unilateral vocal fold paralysis. Technique and timing of injection were also reviewed to assess their impact on outcomes. Case series with chart review. Tertiary care center. Patients undergoing injection laryngoplasty from May 2007 to September 2012 were reviewed for possible inclusion. Pre- and postoperative Voice Handicap Index (VHI) scores, as well as senior speech-language pathologists' blinded assessment of voice, were collected for analysis. The final sample included patients who underwent injection laryngoplasty for unilateral vocal fold paralysis, 33 of whom had VHI results and 37 of whom had voice recordings. Additional data were obtained, including technique and timing of injection. Analysis was performed on those patients above with VHI and perceptual voice grades before and at least 6 months following injection. Mean VHI improved by 28.7 points at 6 to 12 months and 22.8 points at >12 months (P = .001). Mean perceptual voice grades improved by 17.6 points at 6 to 12 months and 16.3 points at >12 months (P < .001). No statistically significant difference was found with technique or time to injection. Micronized acellular dermis is a safe injectable that improved both patient-completed voice ratings and blinded reviewer voice gradings at intermediate and long-term follow-up. Further investigation may be warranted regarding technique and timing of injection. © American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery Foundation 2016.

Effects of Intensive Voice Treatment (the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment [LSVT]) on Vowel Articulation in Dysarthric Individuals with Idiopathic Parkinson Disease: Acoustic and Perceptual Findings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sapir, Shimon; Spielman, Jennifer L.; Ramig, Lorraine O.; Story, Brad H.; Fox, Cynthia

2007-01-01

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of intensive voice treatment targeting vocal loudness (the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment [LSVT]) on vowel articulation in dysarthric individuals with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). Method: A group of individuals with PD receiving LSVT (n = 14) was compared to a group of individuals with PD not receiving LSVT…

Is the perception of dysphonia severity language-dependent? A comparison of French and Italian voice assessments.

PubMed

Ghio, Alain; Cantarella, Giovanna; Weisz, Frédérique; Robert, Danièle; Woisard, Virginie; Fussi, Franco; Giovanni, Antoine; Baracca, Giovanna

2015-04-01

In this cross-language study, six Italian and six French voice experts evaluated perceptually the speech of 27 Italian and 40 French patients with dysphonia to determine if there were differences based on native language. French and Italian voice specialists agreed substantially in their evaluations of the overall grade of dysphonia and moderately concerning roughness and breathiness. No statistically significant effects were found related to the language of the speakers with the exception of breathiness, a finding that was interpreted as being due to different voice pathologies in the patient groups. It was concluded that the perception of the overall grade of dysphonia and breathiness is not language-dependent, whereas the significant difference in the perception of roughness may be related to a perception/adaption process.

Effect of adenoid hypertrophy on the voice and laryngeal mucosa in children.

PubMed

Gomaa, Mohammed A; Mohammed, Haitham M; Abdalla, Adel A; Nasr, Dalia M

2013-12-01

The adenoids, or pharyngeal tonsils, are lymphatic tissue localized at the mucous layer of the roof and posterior wall of nasopharynx. Dysphonia defined as perceptual audible change of a patient's habitual voice as self judged or judged by his or her listeners. The diagnosis of dysphonia relies on clinical judgment based on phoniatric symptoms, auditory perceptual assessment of voice (APA) and full laryngeal examination. Our study was conducted to evaluate the effect of adenoid hypertrophy on voice and laryngeal mucosa. The study sample composed of sixty children, forty of them had adenoid hypertrophy (patient's group) and twenty healthy children (control group). Patient's group composed of 17 boys (42.5%) and 23 girls (57.5%), while control group consists of 8 males (40%) and 12 females (60%). All patients and control group subjected to history taking, clinical examination, lateral soft tissue X-ray on the nasopharynx, APA based on the modified GRBAS scale and full laryngeal examination. The data are collected and analyzed statistically by using software SPSS. Our results showed that there is a significant association between adenoid hypertrophy and, degree of dysphonia, leaky voice, pitch of voice and laryngeal lesion. Adenoid hypertrophy did not associate with loudness of voice, as well as character (irregular, breathy and strained). Laryngeal lesions were detected in thirteen children from patient group (32.5%): nodules (n = 6), thickening (n = 5), congestion (n = 2), while one child only out of 20 children of the control group had congestion (5.0%). Our results showed the importance of the assessment of voice and laryngeal examination in patients with adenoid hypertrophy, also treating the minimal mucosal lesions that results from adenoid hypertrophy should be taken in consideration. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Constraints on the Transfer of Perceptual Learning in Accented Speech

PubMed Central

Eisner, Frank; Melinger, Alissa; Weber, Andrea

2013-01-01

The perception of speech sounds can be re-tuned through a mechanism of lexically driven perceptual learning after exposure to instances of atypical speech production. This study asked whether this re-tuning is sensitive to the position of the atypical sound within the word. We investigated perceptual learning using English voiced stop consonants, which are commonly devoiced in word-final position by Dutch learners of English. After exposure to a Dutch learner’s productions of devoiced stops in word-final position (but not in any other positions), British English (BE) listeners showed evidence of perceptual learning in a subsequent cross-modal priming task, where auditory primes with devoiced final stops (e.g., “seed”, pronounced [si:th]), facilitated recognition of visual targets with voiced final stops (e.g., SEED). In Experiment 1, this learning effect generalized to test pairs where the critical contrast was in word-initial position, e.g., auditory primes such as “town” facilitated recognition of visual targets like DOWN. Control listeners, who had not heard any stops by the speaker during exposure, showed no learning effects. The generalization to word-initial position did not occur when participants had also heard correctly voiced, word-initial stops during exposure (Experiment 2), and when the speaker was a native BE speaker who mimicked the word-final devoicing (Experiment 3). The readiness of the perceptual system to generalize a previously learned adjustment to other positions within the word thus appears to be modulated by distributional properties of the speech input, as well as by the perceived sociophonetic characteristics of the speaker. The results suggest that the transfer of pre-lexical perceptual adjustments that occur through lexically driven learning can be affected by a combination of acoustic, phonological, and sociophonetic factors. PMID:23554598

Subjective and objective voice evaluation in Sjögren's syndrome.

PubMed

Saltürk, Ziya; Özdemir, Erdi; Kumral, Tolgar Lütfi; Karabacakoğlu, Zeynep; Kumral, Esra; Yildiz, Hatice Elvin; Mersinlioğlu, Gökhan; Atar, Yavuz; Berkiten, Güler; Yildirim, Güven; Uyar, Yavuz

2017-04-01

Objective The aim of this study is to assess the subjective and objective aspects of voice in Sjögren's syndrome. Methods The study enrolled 10 women with Sjögren's syndrome and 12 healthy women. Maximum phonation time, fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, and noise-to-harmonics ratio were determined during acoustic voice analysis. The Stroboscopy Evaluation Rating Form was used for the laryngostroboscopic evaluation. A subjective evaluation was performed using the Turkish version of Voice Handicap Index-10. Results The mean age of the Sjögren's syndrome and control groups was 46 ± 13.89 and 41.27 ± 6.99 years, respectively, and did not differ (P = 0.131). In the laryngostroboscopic evaluation, the smoothness and straightness of vocal folds, regularity, and glottal closure differed significantly. In the acoustic and aerodynamic analyses, none of the parameters differed statistically, while the Sjögren's syndrome group had significantly higher Voice Handicap Index-10 scores than the controls. Conclusion Sjögren's syndrome affects the voice and voice quality.

Vocal Acoustic and Auditory-Perceptual Characteristics During Fluctuations in Estradiol Levels During the Menstrual Cycle: A Longitudinal Study.

PubMed

Arruda, Polyanna; Diniz da Rosa, Marine Raquel; Almeida, Larissa Nadjara Alves; de Araujo Pernambuco, Leandro; Almeida, Anna Alice

2018-03-07

Estradiol production varies cyclically, changes in levels are hypothesized to affect the voice. The main objective of this study was to investigate vocal acoustic and auditory-perceptual characteristics during fluctuations in the levels of the hormone estradiol during the menstrual cycle. A total of 44 volunteers aged between 18 and 45 were selected. Of these, 27 women with regular menstrual cycles comprised the test group (TG) and 17 combined oral contraceptive users comprised the control group (CG). The study was performed in two phases. In phase 1, anamnesis was performed. Subsequently, the TG underwent blood sample collection for measurement of estradiol levels and voice recording for later acoustic and auditory-perceptual analysis. The CG underwent only voice recording. Phase 2 involved the same measurements as phase 1 for each group. Variables were evaluated using descriptive and inferential analysis to compare groups and phases and to determine relationships between variables. Voice changes were found during the menstrual cycle, and such changes were determined to be related to variations in estradiol levels. Impaired voice quality was observed to be associated with decreased levels of estradiol. The CG did not demonstrate significant vocal changes during phases 1 and 2. The TG showed significant increases in vocal parameters of roughness, tension, and instability during phase 2 (the period of low estradiol levels) when compared with the CG. Low estradiol levels were also found to be negatively correlated with the parameters of tension, instability, and jitter and positively correlated with fundamental voice frequency. Copyright © 2018 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Tracking voice change after thyroidectomy: application of spectral/cepstral analyses.

PubMed

Awan, Shaheen N; Helou, Leah B; Stojadinovic, Alexander; Solomon, Nancy Pearl

2011-04-01

This study evaluates the utility of perioperative spectral and cepstral acoustic analyses to monitor voice change after thyroidectomy. Perceptual and acoustic analyses were conducted on speech samples (sustained vowel /α/ and CAPE-V sentences) provided by 70 participants (36 women and 34 men) at four study time points: prior to thyroid surgery and 2 weeks, 3 months and 6 months after thyroidectomy. Repeated measures analyses of variance focused on the relative amplitude of the dominant harmonic in the voice signal (cepstral peak prominence, CPP), the ratio of low-to-high spectral energy, and their respective standard deviations (SD). Data were also examined for relationships between acoustic measures and perceptual ratings of overall severity of voice quality. Results showed that perceived overall severity and the acoustic measures of the CPP and its SD (CPPsd) computed from sentence productions were significantly reduced at 2-week post-thyroidectomy for 20 patients (29% of the sample) who had self-reported post-operative voice change. For this same group of patients, the CPP and CPPsd computed from sentence productions improved significantly from 2-weeks post-thyroidectomy to 6-months post-surgery. CPP and CPPsd also correlated well with perceived overall severity (r = -0.68 and -0.79, respectively). Measures of CPP from sustained vowel productions were not as effective as those from sentence productions in reflecting voice deterioration in the post-thyroidectomy patients at the 2-week post-surgery time period, were weaker correlates with perceived overall severity, and were not as effective in discriminating negative voice outcome (NegVO) from normal voice outcome (NormVO) patients as compared to the results from the sentence-level stimuli. Results indicate that spectral/cepstral analysis methods can be used with continuous speech samples to provide important objective data to document the effects of dysphonia in a post-thyroidectomy patient sample. When used in

Auditory-Perceptual and Acoustic Methods in Measuring Dysphonia Severity of Korean Speech.

PubMed

Maryn, Youri; Kim, Hyung-Tae; Kim, Jaeock

2016-09-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the criterion-related concurrent validity of two standardized auditory-perceptual rating protocols and the Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI) for measuring dysphonia severity in Korean speech. Sixty native Korean subjects with various voice disorders were asked to sustain the vowel [a:] and to read aloud the Korean text "Walk." A 3-second midvowel portion of the sustained vowel and two sentences (with 25 syllables) were edited, concatenated, and analyzed according to methods described elsewhere. From 56 participants, both continuous speech and sustained vowel recordings had sufficiently high signal-to-noise ratios (35.5 dB and 37 dB on average, respectively) and were therefore subjected to further dysphonia severity analysis with (1) "G" or Grade from the GRBAS protocol, (2) "OS" or Overall Severity from the Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice protocol, and (3) AVQI. First, high correlations were found between G and OS (rS = 0.955 for sustained vowels; rS = 0.965 for continuous speech). Second, the AVQI showed a strong correlation with G (rS = 0.911) as well as OS (rP = 0.924). These findings are in agreement with similar studies dealing with continuous speech in other languages. The present study highlights the criterion-related concurrent validity of these methods in Korean speech. Furthermore, it supports the cross-linguistic robustness of the AVQI as a valid and objective marker of overall dysphonia severity. Copyright © 2016 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cue-specific effects of categorization training on the relative weighting of acoustic cues to consonant voicing in English

PubMed Central

Francis, Alexander L.; Kaganovich, Natalya; Driscoll-Huber, Courtney

2008-01-01

In English, voiced and voiceless syllable-initial stop consonants differ in both fundamental frequency at the onset of voicing (onset F0) and voice onset time (VOT). Although both correlates, alone, can cue the voicing contrast, listeners weight VOT more heavily when both are available. Such differential weighting may arise from differences in the perceptual distance between voicing categories along the VOT versus onset F0 dimensions, or it may arise from a bias to pay more attention to VOT than to onset F0. The present experiment examines listeners’ use of these two cues when classifying stimuli in which perceptual distance was artificially equated along the two dimensions. Listeners were also trained to categorize stimuli based on one cue at the expense of another. Equating perceptual distance eliminated the expected bias toward VOT before training, but successfully learning to base decisions more on VOT and less on onset F0 was easier than vice versa. Perceptual distance along both dimensions increased for both groups after training, but only VOT-trained listeners showed a decrease in Garner interference. Results lend qualified support to an attentional model of phonetic learning in which learning involves strategic redeployment of selective attention across integral acoustic cues. PMID:18681610

Objective voice and speech analysis of persons with chronic hoarseness by prosodic analysis of speech samples.

PubMed

Haderlein, Tino; Döllinger, Michael; Matoušek, Václav; Nöth, Elmar

2016-10-01

Automatic voice assessment is often performed using sustained vowels. In contrast, speech analysis of read-out texts can be applied to voice and speech assessment. Automatic speech recognition and prosodic analysis were used to find regression formulae between automatic and perceptual assessment of four voice and four speech criteria. The regression was trained with 21 men and 62 women (average age 49.2 years) and tested with another set of 24 men and 49 women (48.3 years), all suffering from chronic hoarseness. They read the text 'Der Nordwind und die Sonne' ('The North Wind and the Sun'). Five voice and speech therapists evaluated the data on 5-point Likert scales. Ten prosodic and recognition accuracy measures (features) were identified which describe all the examined criteria. Inter-rater correlation within the expert group was between r = 0.63 for the criterion 'match of breath and sense units' and r = 0.87 for the overall voice quality. Human-machine correlation was between r = 0.40 for the match of breath and sense units and r = 0.82 for intelligibility. The perceptual ratings of different criteria were highly correlated with each other. Likewise, the feature sets modeling the criteria were very similar. The automatic method is suitable for assessing chronic hoarseness in general and for subgroups of functional and organic dysphonia. In its current version, it is almost as reliable as a randomly picked rater from a group of voice and speech therapists.

Voice outcomes following the gray minithyrotomy.

PubMed

Mallur, Pavan S; Gartner-Schmidt, Jacqueline; Rosen, Clark A

2012-07-01

Most practitioners have limited treatment options for vocal fold scar and sulcus vocalis. The Gray minithyrotomy (GMT) is a surgical procedure for the treatment of these conditions, although limited objective data exist regarding voice outcomes. This study compares the quantified subjective and visual perceptual outcomes following GMT for the treatment of vocal fold scar and sulcus vocalis. We performed a retrospective review of patients who underwent GMT in a single institution. Patient-reported satisfaction, Voice Handicap Index-10 scores, results of video perceptual analysis, and complications were recorded. Sixteen patients underwent GMT for phonotraumatic or postoperative scar (11), radiation-induced scar (3), or sulcus vocalis (2). Seven underwent bilateral operations. Follow-up data were available for 12 patients. Eight patients had 2 or more failed surgical interventions before GMT. Seven of the 13 procedures resulted in a self-reported improvement. Although the mean preoperative Voice Handicap Index-10 score (30.6) across all patients did not decrease after the operation, 6 of the 13 GMT procedures resulted in improvement (mean decrease, 7.5). Complications, encountered in 5 patients, included ecchymosis, neck abscess, tongue numbness, wound dehiscence, and aspiration pneumonia. The GMT is a viable treatment for severe vocal fold scar and sulcus vocalis. Our results show improvement in half of a cohort that was marked by previous failures at improving voice. These results point to the recalcitrant nature of voice difficulties in treating vocal fold scar and sulcus, and may properly guide clinicians and patients in their expectations following this infrequently used technique.

A Longitudinal Study of Voice before and after Phonosurgery for Removal of a Polyp

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stajner-Katusic, Smiljka; Horga, Damir; Zrinski, Karolina Vrban

2008-01-01

The aim of the present investigation was to evaluate the acoustic parameters, perceptual estimation, and self-estimation of voice before, 1 month after, and 6 years after surgical removal of a vocal fold polyp. Subjects were five male patients who came to the Phoniatric Clinic because of breathiness. For all patients, a polyp of one vocal fold was…

The perceptual features of vocal fatigue as self-reported by a group of actors and singers.

PubMed

Kitch, J A; Oates, J

1994-09-01

Performers (10 actors/10 singers) rated via a self-report questionnaire the severity of their voice-related changes when vocally fatigued. Similar frequency patterns and perceptual features of vocal fatigue were found across subjects. Actors rated "power" aspects (e.g., voice projection) and singers rated vocal dynamic aspects (e.g., pitch range) of their voices as most affected when vocally fatigued. Vocal fatigue was evidenced by changes in kinesthetic/proprioceptive sensations and vocal dynamics. The causes and context of vocal fatigue were vocal misuse, being "run down," high performance demands, and using high pitch/volume levels. Further research is needed to delineate the perceptual features of "normal" levels of vocal fatigue and its possible causes.

Quality of Life and Voice Changes After a Single Injection in Patients With ADSD Over Time.

PubMed

Faham, Maryam; Torabinezhad, Farhad; Murry, Thomas; Dabirmoghaddam, Payman; Abolghasemi, Jamileh; Kamali, Mohammad; Asgari, Meysam

2018-06-05

Adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD) is one of the most disabling voice disorders with no permanent cure. Patients with ADSD suffer from poor voice quality and repeated interruption of phonation that leads to limitations in daily communication. Botox (BT) injection, considered the gold standard treatment for ADSD, reduces the amount of voice breaks and improves voice quality for a limited period. In this study, patients with ADSD were followed after a single BT injection to track the changes in QOL and perceptual voice quality over a 6-month period. This is a prospective and longitudinal study. Fifteen patients with ADSD were evaluated preinjection and 1, 3, and 6 months postinjection. They completed the Voice Activity and Participation Profile-Persian Version (VAPPP) and read a passage at each recording period. Perceptual assessment was done by three expert speech-language pathologists with knowledge of ADSD using the grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, strain (GRBAS) scale. The data were analyzed using Friedman, Wilcoxon, and McNemar tests. The significance level was set at P < 0.05. The VAPPP total score and each of the domain scores reached their peak scores at 3 months postinjection. At 6 months postinjection, the VAPPP scores increased significantly in comparison with the 3-month scores and but were lower than preinjection scores. GRBAS results also indicated that patients' voices at 1 and 3 months postinjection were significantly less severe in terms of strain and roughness (P = 0.01; P < 0.001, respectively). BT injection resulted in improvement of subjects' QOL. The improvement was greatest at 3 months postinjection but remained above the preinjection values at 6 months after injection. The voice quality also improved but was not judged as normal. Copyright © 2018 The Voice Foundation. All rights reserved.

Changes after voice therapy in objective and subjective voice measurements of pediatric patients with vocal nodules.

PubMed

Tezcaner, Ciler Zahide; Karatayli Ozgursoy, Selmin; Ozgursoy, Selmin Karatayli; Sati, Isil; Dursun, Gursel

2009-12-01

The aim of this study was to analyze the efficiency of the voice therapy in children with vocal nodules by using the acoustic analysis and subjective assessment. Thirty-nine patients with vocal fold nodules, aged between 7 and 14, were included in the study. Each subject had voice therapy led by an experienced voice therapist once a week. All diagnostic and follow-up workouts were performed before the voice therapy and after the third or the sixth month. Transoral and/or transnasal videostroboscopic examination and acoustic analysis were achieved using multi-dimensional voice program (MDVP) and subjective analysis with GRBAS scale. As for the perceptual assessment, the difference was significant for four parameters out of five. A significant improvement was found in the acoustic analysis parameters of jitter, shimmer, and noise-to-harmonic ratio. The voice therapy which was planned according to patients' needs, age, compliance and response to therapy had positive effects on pediatric patients with vocal nodules. Acoustic analysis and GRBAS may be used successfully in the follow-up of pediatric vocal nodule treatment.

Aspects of the speaking voice of elderly women with choral singing experience.

PubMed

Aquino, Fernanda Salvatico de; Silva, Marta Assumpção Andrada E; Teles, Lídia Cristina da Silva; Ferreira, Léslie Piccolotto

2016-01-01

Despite several studies related to singing and aging voice found in the literature, there is still the need for investigation seeking to understand the effects of this practice in the speaking voice of the elderly. To compare the characteristics of the speaking voice of elderlies with experience in choral singing with those of elderlies without this experience. Participants were 75 elderly women: 50 with experience in choral singing - group of singers (SG) and 25 without experience - group of nonsingers (NSG). A questionnaire was applied to characterize the elderly and collect data with respect to lifestyle and voice. Speech samples (sustained vowels, repetition of sentences, and running speech excerpts) were collected in a quiet room in sitting position. The voices were analyzed by three expert speech-language pathologists according to the protocol Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (CAPE-V). Data were submitted to descriptive and statistical analysis. The voices of elderly nonsingers (NSG) showed significant increase in scores related to the overall degree of deviance and presence of roughness and strain. Analysis of the aspects of the speaking voice of subjects in the SG, compared with that of subjects in the NSG, showed better overall degree of deviance due to lower roughness and strain.

Effects of voice-sparing cricotracheal resection on phonation in women.

PubMed

Tanner, Kristine; Dromey, Christopher; Berardi, Mark L; Mattei, Lisa M; Pierce, Jenny L; Wisco, Jonathan J; Hunter, Eric J; Smith, Marshall E

2017-09-01

Individuals with idiopathic subglottic stenosis (SGS) are at risk for voice disorders prior to and following surgical management. This study examined the nature and severity of voice disorders in patients with SGS before and after a revised cricotracheal resection (CTR) procedure designed to minimize adverse effects on voice function. Eleven women with idiopathic SGS provided presurgical and postsurgical audio recordings. Voice Handicap Index (VHI) scores were also collected. Cepstral, signal-to-noise, periodicity, and fundamental frequency (F 0 ) analyses were undertaken for connected speech and sustained vowel samples. Listeners made auditory-perceptual ratings of overall quality and monotonicity. Paired samples statistical analyses revealed that mean F 0 decreased from 215 Hz (standard deviation [SD] = 40 Hz) to 201 Hz (SD = 65 Hz) following surgery. In general, VHI scores decreased after surgery. Voice disorder severity based on the Cepstral Spectral Index of Dysphonia (KayPentax, Montvale, NJ) for sustained vowels decreased (improved) from 41 (SD = 41) to 25 (SD = 21) points; no change was observed for connected speech. Semitone SD (2.2 semitones) did not change from pre- to posttreatment. Auditory-perceptual ratings demonstrated similar results. These preliminary results indicate that this revised CTR procedure is promising in minimizing adverse voice effects while offering a longer-term surgical outcome for SGS. Further research is needed to determine causal factors for pretreatment voice disorders, as well as to optimize treatments in this population. 4. Laryngoscope, 127:2085-2092, 2017. © 2016 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

The effects of preventive vocal hygiene education on the vocal hygiene habits and perceptual vocal characteristics of training singers.

PubMed

Broaddus-Lawrence, P L; Treole, K; McCabe, R B; Allen, R L; Toppin, L

2000-03-01

The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of vocal hygiene education on the vocal hygiene behaviors and perceptual vocal characteristics of untrained singers. Eleven adult untrained singers served as subjects. They attended four 1-hour class sessions on vocal hygiene, including anatomy and physiology of the phonatory mechanism, vocally abusive behaviors, voice disorders commonly seen in singers, and measures to prevent voice disorders. Pre- and postinstruction surveys were used to record subjects' vocal abuses and their perceptions of their speaking and singing voice. They also rated their perceived value of vocal hygiene education. Results revealed minimal changes in vocal hygiene behaviors and perceptual voice characteristics. The subjects did report a high degree of benefit and learning, however.

[Social consequence of a dysphonic voice, design and validation of a questionnaire and first results].

PubMed

Revis, J; Robieux, C; Ghio, A; Giovanni, A

2013-01-01

In our society, based on communication, dysphonia becomes a handicap that could be responsible of work discrimination. Actually, several commercial services are provided by phone only, and voice quality is mandatory for the employees. This work aim was to determine the social picture relayed by dysphonia. Our hypothesis was that dysphonia sounds pejorative compared to normal voice. 40 voice samples (30 dysphonic and 10 normal) were presented randomly to a perceptual jury of 20 naïve listener. The task was for each of them to fill a questionnaire, designed specifically to describe the speaker's look and personality. 20 items were evaluated, divided into 4 categories: health, temperament, appearance, and way of life. The results showed significant differences between normal subjects and dysphonic patients. For instance, the pathological voices were depicted as more tired, introverted, sloppy than normal voices, and less trustable. No significant differences were found according to the severity of voice disorders. This work is presently continued. It allowed to validate our questionnaire and has offers great perspectives on patient's management and voice therapy.

Exploring the anatomical encoding of voice with a mathematical model of the vocal system.

PubMed

Assaneo, M Florencia; Sitt, Jacobo; Varoquaux, Gael; Sigman, Mariano; Cohen, Laurent; Trevisan, Marcos A

2016-11-01

The faculty of language depends on the interplay between the production and perception of speech sounds. A relevant open question is whether the dimensions that organize voice perception in the brain are acoustical or depend on properties of the vocal system that produced it. One of the main empirical difficulties in answering this question is to generate sounds that vary along a continuum according to the anatomical properties the vocal apparatus that produced them. Here we use a mathematical model that offers the unique possibility of synthesizing vocal sounds by controlling a small set of anatomically based parameters. In a first stage the quality of the synthetic voice was evaluated. Using specific time traces for sub-glottal pressure and tension of the vocal folds, the synthetic voices generated perceptual responses, which are indistinguishable from those of real speech. The synthesizer was then used to investigate how the auditory cortex responds to the perception of voice depending on the anatomy of the vocal apparatus. Our fMRI results show that sounds are perceived as human vocalizations when produced by a vocal system that follows a simple relationship between the size of the vocal folds and the vocal tract. We found that these anatomical parameters encode the perceptual vocal identity (male, female, child) and show that the brain areas that respond to human speech also encode vocal identity. On the basis of these results, we propose that this low-dimensional model of the vocal system is capable of generating realistic voices and represents a novel tool to explore the voice perception with a precise control of the anatomical variables that generate speech. Furthermore, the model provides an explanation of how auditory cortices encode voices in terms of the anatomical parameters of the vocal system. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Use of loud phonation as a voice therapy technique for children with vocal nodules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kobayashi, Noriko; Hirose, Hajime; Nishiyama, Koichiro

2003-10-01

For the treatment of vocal nodules, educational programs for vocal hygiene and voice training for acquisition of correct phonation are essential. In the case of children, special considerations are necessary as some of their vocal behaviors and reaction to voice disorders are different from those of adults. In this study, a voice therapy program for child vocal nodules were developed and good results were obtained for six children. They were four boys and two girls (Age: 4-11 yr) and bilateral nodules were found for all of them. In addition to a conventional vocal hygiene program for children, correct production of loud voice (so-called gBeltingh) was the major focus of the voice therapy as the visual inspection of the larynges and perceptual evaluations of the voice revealed inappropriate loud voice production with laryngeal constriction in all children. After 5-24 voice therapy sessions, disappearance of the nodules was found in five children and the reduction of the nodule sizes was found in one child. Improvement of the GRBAS scores, longer maximum phonation time, and extension of vocal ranges were found after the completion of the therapy programs.

Vocal parameters and voice-related quality of life in adult women with and without ovarian function.

PubMed

Ferraz, Pablo Rodrigo Rocha; Bertoldo, Simão Veras; Costa, Luanne Gabrielle Morais; Serra, Emmeliny Cristini Nogueira; Silva, Eduardo Magalhães; Brito, Luciane Maria Oliveira; Chein, Maria Bethânia da Costa

2013-05-01

To identify the perceptual and acoustic parameters of voice in adult women with and without ovarian function and its impact on quality of life related to voice. Cross-sectional and analytical study with 106 women divided into, two groups: G1, with ovarian function (n=43) and G2, without physiological ovarian function (n=63). The women were instructed to sustain the vowel "a" and the sounds of /s/ and /z/ in habitual pitch and loudness. They were also asked to classify their voices and answer the voice-related quality of life (V-RQOL) questionnaire. The perceptual analysis of the vocal samples was performed by three speech-language pathologists using the GRBASI (G: grade; R: roughness; B: breathness; A: asthenia; S: strain; I: instability) scale. The acoustic analysis was carried out with the software VoxMetria 2.7h (CTS Informatica). The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. In the perceptual analysis, both groups showed a mild deviation for the parameters roughness, strain, and instability, but only G2 showed a mild impact for the overall degree of dysphonia. The mean of fundamental frequency was significantly lower for the G2, with a difference of 17.41Hz between the two groups. There was no impact on V-RQOL in any of the V-RQOL domains for this group. With the menopause, there is a change in women's voices, impacting on some voice parameters. However, there is no direct impact on their quality of life related to voice. Copyright © 2013 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Analysis of Clinicians' Perceptual Cough Evaluation.

PubMed

Laciuga, Helena; Brandimore, Alexandra E; Troche, Michelle S; Hegland, Karen W

2016-08-01

This study examined the relationships between subjective descriptors and objective airflow measures of cough. We hypothesized that coughs with specific airflow characteristics would share common subjective perceptual descriptions. Thirty clinicians (speech-language pathologists, otolaryngologists, and neurologists) perceptually evaluated ten cough audio samples with specific airflow characteristics determined by peak expiratory flow rate, cough expired volume, cough duration, and number of coughs in the cough epoch. Participants rated coughs by strength, duration, quality, quantity, and overall potential effectiveness for airway protection. Perception of cough strength and effectiveness was determined by the combination of presence of pre-expulsive compression phase, short peak expiratory airflow rate rise time, high peak expiratory flow rates, and high cough volume acceleration. Perception of cough abnormality was defined predominantly by descriptors of breathiness and strain. Breathiness was characteristic for coughs with either absent compression phases and relatively high expiratory airflow rates or coughs with significantly low expired volumes and reduced peak flow rates. In contrast, excessive strain was associated with prolonged compression phases and low expiratory airflow rates or the absence of compression phase with high peak expiratory rates. The study participants reached greatest agreement in distinguishing between single and multiple coughs. Their assessment of cough strength and effectiveness was less consistent. Finally, the least agreement was shown in determining the quality categories. Modifications of cough airflow can influence perceptual cough evaluation outcomes. However, the inconsistency of cough ratings among our participants suggests that a uniform cough rating system is required.

Creating a Space for Student Voice in an Educational Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bourke, Roseanna; MacDonald, Jo

2018-01-01

Evaluation research focusing on educational initiatives that impact on the learning and lives of young people must be challenged to incorporate 'student voice'. In a context of conventional evaluation models of government-led initiatives, student voice is a compelling addition, and challenges the nature of traditional forms of evaluation. It…

Role of serial order in the impact of talker variability on short-term memory: testing a perceptual organization-based account.

PubMed

Hughes, Robert W; Marsh, John E; Jones, Dylan M

2011-11-01

In two experiments, we examined the impact of the degree of match between sequential auditory perceptual organization processes and the demands of a short-term memory task (memory for order vs. item information). When a spoken sequence of digits was presented so as to promote its perceptual partitioning into two distinct streams by conveying it in alternating female (F) and male (M) voices (FMFMFMFM)--thereby disturbing the perception of true temporal order--recall of item order was greatly impaired (as compared to recall of item identity). Moreover, an order error type consistent with the formation of voice-based streams was committed more quickly in the alternating-voice condition (Exp. 1). In contrast, when the perceptual organization of the sequence mapped well onto an optimal two-group serial rehearsal strategy--by presenting the two voices in discrete clusters (FFFFMMMM)--order, but not item, recall was enhanced (Exp. 2). The results are consistent with the view that the degree of compatibility between perceptual and deliberate sequencing processes is a key determinant of serial short-term memory performance. Alternative accounts of talker variability effects in short-term memory, based on the concept of a dedicated phonological short-term store and a capacity-limited focus of attention, are also reviewed.

Long-term voice handicap index after type II thyroplasty using titanium bridges for adductor spasmodic dysphonia.

PubMed

Sanuki, Tetsuji; Yumoto, Eiji; Kodama, Narihiro; Minoda, Ryosei; Kumai, Yoshihiko

2014-06-01

To determine the long-term functional outcomes of type II thyroplasty using titanium bridges for adductor spasmodic dysphonia (AdSD) by perceptual analysis using the Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10) and by acoustic analysis. Fifteen patients with AdSD underwent type II thyroplasty using titanium brides between August 2006 and February 2011. VHI-10 scores, a patient-based survey that quantifies a patient's perception of his or her vocal handicap, were determined before and at least 2 years after surgery. Concurrent with the VHI-10 evaluation, acoustic parameters were assessed, including jitter, shimmer, harmonic-to-noise ratio (HNR), standard deviation of F0 (SDF0), and degree of voice breaks (DVB). The average follow-up interval was 30.1 months. No patient had strangulation of the voice, and all were satisfied with the voice postoperatively. In the perceptual analysis, the mean VHI-10 score improved significantly, from 26.7 to 4.1 two years after surgery. All patients had significantly improved each score of three different aspects of VHI-10, representing improved functional, physical, and emotional well-being. All acoustic parameters improved significantly 2 years after surgery. The treatment of AdSD with type II thyroplasty significantly improved the voice-related quality of life and acoustic parameters 2 years after surgery. The results of the study suggest that type II thyroplasty using titanium bridges provides long-term relief of vocal symptoms in patients with AdSD. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reliability and validity of the Chinese pediatric voice handicap index.

PubMed

Liu, Kena; Liu, Shaofeng; Zhou, Zhou; Ren, Qinyi; Zhong, Jie; Luo, Renzhong; Qin, Huabiao; Zhang, Siyi; Ge, Pingjiang

2018-02-01

To evaluate the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of pediatric voice handicap index (pVHI). The original English version-pVHI was translated into Chinese. Parents of 52 children with voice dysphonia and 43 children with no history or symptoms of voice problems were asked to fill the Chinese pVHI questionnaires twice with an interval of 2 weeks. GRB (Grade, Roughness, Breathiness) scale was used for perceptual assessment by two otolaryngologists and one speech pathologist for each child's voice. The internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the test-retest reliability. The Kendall's coefficient of concordance W was used to assess the consistency of GRB scores of 3 voice specialists. The nonparametric Mann-Whitney test was used to assess the differences between the dysphonia group and controls. The correlation between pVHI and GRB scores were assessed using Pearson's correlation coefficient. The internal consistency of total score and three subscales scores of Chinese pVHI were 0.788-0.944. The test-retest reliability was 0.631-0.887(P < .001). The pVHI scores of control group significantly were lower than the pathological group (P = .000). The GRB scores of 3 voice specialists have an excellent consistency (W = 0.694-0.807, P = .000). The pVHI scores positively correlated with GRB assessment (P < .01). The Chinese version of pVHI had a good reliability and validity. It can be applicable and useful supplementary tool for evaluating parents' perception of their children's dysphonia. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Auditory perceptual simulation: Simulating speech rates or accents?

PubMed

Zhou, Peiyun; Christianson, Kiel

2016-07-01

When readers engage in Auditory Perceptual Simulation (APS) during silent reading, they mentally simulate characteristics of voices attributed to a particular speaker or a character depicted in the text. Previous research found that auditory perceptual simulation of a faster native English speaker during silent reading led to shorter reading times that auditory perceptual simulation of a slower non-native English speaker. Yet, it was uncertain whether this difference was triggered by the different speech rates of the speakers, or by the difficulty of simulating an unfamiliar accent. The current study investigates this question by comparing faster Indian-English speech and slower American-English speech in the auditory perceptual simulation paradigm. Analyses of reading times of individual words and the full sentence reveal that the auditory perceptual simulation effect again modulated reading rate, and auditory perceptual simulation of the faster Indian-English speech led to faster reading rates compared to auditory perceptual simulation of the slower American-English speech. The comparison between this experiment and the data from Zhou and Christianson (2016) demonstrate further that the "speakers'" speech rates, rather than the difficulty of simulating a non-native accent, is the primary mechanism underlying auditory perceptual simulation effects. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Assessment of voice and speech symptoms in early Parkinson's disease by the Robertson dysarthria profile.

PubMed

Defazio, Giovanni; Guerrieri, Marta; Liuzzi, Daniele; Gigante, Angelo Fabio; di Nicola, Vincenzo

2016-03-01

Changes in voice and speech are thought to involve 75-90% of people with PD, but the impact of PD progression on voice/speech parameters is not well defined. In this study, we assessed voice/speech symptoms in 48 parkinsonian patients staging <3 on the modified Hoehn and Yahr scale and 37 healthy subjects using the Robertson dysarthria profile (a clinical-perceptual method exploring all components potentially involved in speech difficulties), the Voice handicap index (a validated measure of the impact of voice symptoms on quality of life) and the speech evaluation parameter contained in the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale part III (UPDRS-III). Accuracy and metric properties of the Robertson dysarthria profile were also measured. On Robertson dysarthria profile, all parkinsonian patients yielded lower scores than healthy control subjects. Differently, the Voice Handicap Index and the speech evaluation parameter contained in the UPDRS-III could detect speech/voice disturbances in 10 and 75% of PD patients, respectively. Validation procedure in Parkinson's disease patients showed that the Robertson dysarthria profile has acceptable reliability, satisfactory internal consistency and scaling assumptions, lack of floor and ceiling effects, and partial correlations with UPDRS-III and Voice Handicap Index. We concluded that speech/voice disturbances are widely identified by the Robertson dysarthria profile in early parkinsonian patients, even when the disturbances do not carry a significant level of disability. Robertson dysarthria profile may be a valuable tool to detect speech/voice disturbances in Parkinson's disease.

Short-Term Effect of Two Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract Training Programs on the Vocal Quality of Future Occupational Voice Users: "Resonant Voice Training Using Nasal Consonants" Versus "Straw Phonation".

PubMed

Meerschman, Iris; Van Lierde, Kristiane; Peeters, Karen; Meersman, Eline; Claeys, Sofie; D'haeseleer, Evelien

2017-09-18

The purpose of this study was to determine the short-term effect of 2 semi-occluded vocal tract training programs, "resonant voice training using nasal consonants" versus "straw phonation," on the vocal quality of vocally healthy future occupational voice users. A multigroup pretest-posttest randomized control group design was used. Thirty healthy speech-language pathology students with a mean age of 19 years (range: 17-22 years) were randomly assigned into a resonant voice training group (practicing resonant exercises across 6 weeks, n = 10), a straw phonation group (practicing straw phonation across 6 weeks, n = 10), or a control group (receiving no voice training, n = 10). A voice assessment protocol consisting of both subjective (questionnaire, participant's self-report, auditory-perceptual evaluation) and objective (maximum performance task, aerodynamic assessment, voice range profile, acoustic analysis, acoustic voice quality index, dysphonia severity index) measurements and determinations was used to evaluate the participants' voice pre- and posttraining. Groups were compared over time using linear mixed models and generalized linear mixed models. Within-group effects of time were determined using post hoc pairwise comparisons. No significant time × group interactions were found for any of the outcome measures, indicating no differences in evolution over time among the 3 groups. Within-group effects of time showed a significant improvement in dysphonia severity index in the resonant voice training group, and a significant improvement in the intensity range in the straw phonation group. Results suggest that the semi-occluded vocal tract training programs using resonant voice training and straw phonation may have a positive impact on the vocal quality and vocal capacities of future occupational voice users. The resonant voice training caused an improved dysphonia severity index, and the straw phonation training caused an expansion of the intensity range in

[Acoustic and aerodynamic characteristics of the oesophageal voice].

PubMed

Vázquez de la Iglesia, F; Fernández González, S

2005-12-01

The aim of the study is to determine the physiology and pathophisiology of esophageal voice according to objective aerodynamic and acoustic parameters (quantitative and qualitative parameters). Our subjects were comprised of 33 laryngectomized patients (all male) that underwent aerodynamic, acoustic and perceptual protocol. There is a statistical association between acoustic and aerodynamic qualitative parameters (phonation flow chart type, sound spectrum, perceptual analysis) among quantitative parameters (neoglotic pressure, phonation flow, phonation time, fundamental frequency, maximum intensity sound level, speech rate). Nevertheles, not always such observations bring practical resources to clinical practice. We consider that the facts studied may enable us to add, pragmatically, new resources to the more effective vocal rehabilitation to these patients. The physiology of esophageal voice is well understood by the method we have applied, also seeking for rehabilitation, improving oral communication skills in the laryngectomee population.

Human perceptual deficits as factors in computer interface test and evaluation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bowser, S.E.

1992-06-01

Issues related to testing and evaluating human computer interfaces are usually based on the machine rather than on the human portion of the computer interface. Perceptual characteristics of the expected user are rarely investigated, and interface designers ignore known population perceptual limitations. For these reasons, environmental impacts on the equipment will more likely be defined than will user perceptual characteristics. The investigation of user population characteristics is most often directed toward intellectual abilities and anthropometry. This problem is compounded by the fact that some deficits capabilities tend to be found in higher-than-overall population distribution in some user groups. The testmore » and evaluation community can address the issue from two primary aspects. First, assessing user characteristics should be extended to include tests of perceptual capability. Secondly, interface designs should use multimode information coding.« less

Acoustic correlates of Japanese expressions associated with voice quality of male adults

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kido, Hiroshi; Kasuya, Hideki

2004-05-01

Japanese expressions associated with the voice quality of male adults were extracted by a series of questionnaire surveys and statistical multivariate analysis. One hundred and thirty-seven Japanese expressions were collected through the first questionnaire and careful investigations of well-established Japanese dictionaries and articles. From the second questionnaire about familiarity with each of the expressions and synonymity that were addressed to 249 subjects, 25 expressions were extracted. The third questionnaire was about an evaluation of their own voice quality. By applying a statistical clustering method and a correlation analysis to the results of the questionnaires, eight bipolar expressions and one unipolar expression were obtained. They constituted high-pitched/low-pitched, masculine/feminine, hoarse/clear, calm/excited, powerful/weak, youthful/elderly, thick/thin, tense/lax, and nasal, respectively. Acoustic correlates of each of the eight bipolar expressions were extracted by means of perceptual evaluation experiments that were made with sentence utterances of 36 males and by a statistical decision tree method. They included an average of the fundamental frequency (F0) of the utterance, speaking rate, spectral tilt, formant frequency parameter, standard deviation of F0 values, and glottal noise, when SPL of each of the stimuli was maintained identical in the perceptual experiments.

Investigating the Effects of Glottal Stop Productions on Voice in Children With Cleft Palate Using Multidimensional Voice Assessment Methods.

PubMed

Aydınlı, Fatma Esen; Özcebe, Esra; Kulak Kayıkçı, Maviş E; Yılmaz, Taner; Özgür, Fatma F

2016-11-01

The aim was to investigate the effects of glottal stop productions (GS) on voice in children with cleft palate using multidimensional voice assessment methods. This is a prospective case-control study. Children with repaired cleft palate (n = 34) who did not have any vocal fold lesions were separated into two groups based on the results of the articulation test. The glottal stop group (GSG) consisted of 17 children who had GS. The control group (CG) consisted of an equal number of age- and gender-matched children who did not have GS. The voice evaluation protocol included acoustic analysis, Pediatric Voice Handicap Index (pVHI), and perceptual analysis (Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain method). The velopharyngeal statuses of the groups were compared using the nasopharyngoscopy and the nasometer. The total pVHI score and the subscales of the pVHI were found to be significantly higher in the GSG. The F0, jitter, and shimmer were found to be numerically higher in the GSG with the difference being statistically significant in jitter (P < 0.05). Audioperceptual analysis revealed a difference in overall voice quality and roughness between the groups. Greater incidence of significant velopharyngeal insufficiency and higher nasalance scores were found in the GSG (P < 0.05). These results may indicate that the vocal quality characteristics of children with GS differ from children who do not have this type of production. It is suggested that children with cleft palate who have GS should receive a comprehensive speech and language pathology intervention including voice therapy techniques. Copyright © 2016 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Change of signs, symptoms and voice quality evaluations throughout a 3- to 6-month empirical treatment for laryngopharyngeal reflux disease.

PubMed

Lechien, J R; Finck, C; Khalife, M; Huet, K; Delvaux, V; Picalugga, M; Harmegnies, B; Saussez, S

2018-05-16

To assess the usefulness of voice quality measurements as a treatment outcome in patients with laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR)-related symptoms. Prospective uncontrolled multi-centre study. A total of 80 clinically diagnosed LPR patients with a reflux finding score (RFS)>7 and a reflux symptom index (RSI)>13 were treated with pantoprazole and diet recommendations during 3 or 6 months, according to their evolution. RSI; RFS; blinded Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain and Instability (GRBASI) and aerodynamic and acoustic measurements were evaluated at baseline, 3 months (n = 80), and 6 months (n = 41) post-treatment. We conducted a correlation analysis between the adherence to the diet, and the evolution of both signs and symptoms and between videolaryngostroboscopic signs and acoustic measurements. Reflux symptom index, RFS, perceptual voice quality evaluations (dysphonia, roughness, strain and instability), and aerodynamic and acoustic measurements (ie, percent jitter and percent shimmer) were significantly improved at 3 months post-treatment but not at 6 months. Percent jitter was the most useful outcome for evaluating the clinical evolution of patients throughout the treatment course. A significant relationship between globus sensation and posterior commissure hypertrophy was documented; both seemed to significantly improve from 3 to 6 months. The correlation analysis revealed correlations between adherence to diet recommendations and the improvement of symptoms and between posterior commissure granulation severity and acoustic measurement impairments. Voice quality improved in a manner similar to both signs and symptoms throughout a 6-month empirical treatment with better improvement the 3 first months. Voice quality assessments can be used as indicators of treatment effectiveness in patients with LPR-related symptoms. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Application of Psychometric Theory to the Measurement of Voice Quality Using Rating Scales

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shrivastav, Rahul; Sapienza, Christine M.; Nandur, Vuday

2005-01-01

Rating scales are commonly used to study voice quality. However, recent research has demonstrated that perceptual measures of voice quality obtained using rating scales suffer from poor interjudge agreement and reliability, especially in the midrange of the scale. These findings, along with those obtained using multidimensional scaling (MDS), have…

The Effect of Anchors and Training on the Reliability of Voice Quality Ratings for Different Types of Speech Stimuli.

PubMed

Brinca, Lilia; Batista, Ana Paula; Tavares, Ana Inês; Pinto, Patrícia N; Araújo, Lara

2015-11-01

The main objective of the present study was to investigate if the type of voice stimuli-sustained vowel, oral reading, and connected speech-results in good intrarater and interrater agreement/reliability. A short-term panel study was performed. Voice samples from 30 native European Portuguese speakers were used in the present study. The speech materials used were (1) the sustained vowel /a/, (2) oral reading of the European Portuguese version of "The Story of Arthur the Rat," and (3) connected speech. After an extensive training with textual and auditory anchors, the judges were asked to rate the severity of dysphonic voice stimuli using the phonation dimensions G, R, and B from the GRBAS scale. The voice samples were judged 6 months and 1 year after the training. Intrarater agreement and reliability were generally very good for all the phonation dimensions and voice stimuli. The highest interrater reliability was obtained using the oral reading stimulus, particularly for phonation dimensions grade (G) and breathiness (B). Roughness (R) was the voice quality that was the most difficult to evaluate, leading to interrater unreliability in all voice quality ratings. Extensive training using textual and auditory anchors and the use of anchors during the voice evaluations appear to be good methods for auditory-perceptual evaluation of dysphonic voices. The best results of interrater reliability were obtained when the oral reading stimulus was used. Breathiness appears to be a voice quality that is easier to evaluate than roughness. Copyright © 2015 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Student Voice in Textbook Evaluation: Comparing Open and Restricted Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woodward, Scott; Lloyd, Adam; Kimmons, Royce

2017-01-01

Advocates for student voice in higher education believe students should have the right and power to engage in much of the decision-making traditionally dominated by instructors or administrators. This qualitative study examines the role of student voice in the evaluation of textbook quality. Evaluators included two graduate students enrolled in a…

Voice Recognition in Face-Blind Patients

PubMed Central

Liu, Ran R.; Pancaroglu, Raika; Hills, Charlotte S.; Duchaine, Brad; Barton, Jason J. S.

2016-01-01

Right or bilateral anterior temporal damage can impair face recognition, but whether this is an associative variant of prosopagnosia or part of a multimodal disorder of person recognition is an unsettled question, with implications for cognitive and neuroanatomic models of person recognition. We assessed voice perception and short-term recognition of recently heard voices in 10 subjects with impaired face recognition acquired after cerebral lesions. All 4 subjects with apperceptive prosopagnosia due to lesions limited to fusiform cortex had intact voice discrimination and recognition. One subject with bilateral fusiform and anterior temporal lesions had a combined apperceptive prosopagnosia and apperceptive phonagnosia, the first such described case. Deficits indicating a multimodal syndrome of person recognition were found only in 2 subjects with bilateral anterior temporal lesions. All 3 subjects with right anterior temporal lesions had normal voice perception and recognition, 2 of whom performed normally on perceptual discrimination of faces. This confirms that such lesions can cause a modality-specific associative prosopagnosia. PMID:25349193

Validation of the Acoustic Voice Quality Index in the Japanese Language.

PubMed

Hosokawa, Kiyohito; Barsties, Ben; Iwahashi, Toshihiko; Iwahashi, Mio; Kato, Chieri; Iwaki, Shinobu; Sasai, Hisanori; Miyauchi, Akira; Matsushiro, Naoki; Inohara, Hidenori; Ogawa, Makoto; Maryn, Youri

2017-03-01

The Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI) is a multivariate construct for quantification of overall voice quality based on the analysis of continuous speech and sustained vowel. The stability and validity of the AVQI is well established in several language families. However, the Japanese language has distinct characteristics with respect to several parameters of articulatory and phonatory physiology. The aim of the study was to confirm the criterion-related concurrent validity of AVQI, as well as its responsiveness to change and diagnostic accuracy for voice assessment in the Japanese-speaking population. This is a retrospective study. A total of 336 voice recordings, which included 69 pairs of voice recordings (before and after therapeutic interventions), were eligible for the study. The auditory-perceptual judgment of overall voice quality was evaluated by five experienced raters. The concurrent validity, responsiveness to change, and diagnostic accuracy of the AVQI were estimated. The concurrent validity and responsiveness to change based on the overall voice quality was indicated by high correlation coefficients 0.828 and 0.767, respectively. Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed an excellent diagnostic accuracy for discrimination between dysphonic and normophonic voices (area under the curve: 0.905). The best threshold level for the AVQI of 3.15 corresponded with a sensitivity of 72.5% and specificity of 95.2%, with the positive and negative likelihood ratios of 15.1 and 0.29, respectively. We demonstrated the validity of the AVQI as a tool for assessment of overall voice quality and that of voice therapy outcomes in the Japanese-speaking population. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Acoustic and Perceptual Analyses of Adductor Spasmodic Dysphonia in Mandarin-speaking Chinese.

PubMed

Chen, Zhipeng; Li, Jingyuan; Ren, Qingyi; Ge, Pingjiang

2018-02-12

The objective of this study was to examine the perceptual structure and acoustic characteristics of speech of patients with adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD) in Mandarin. Case-Control Study MATERIALS AND METHODS: For the estimation of dysphonia level, perceptual and acoustic analysis were used for patients with ADSD (N = 20) and the control group (N = 20) that are Mandarin-Chinese speakers. For both subgroups, a sustained vowel and connected speech samples were obtained. The difference of perceptual and acoustic parameters between the two subgroups was assessed and analyzed. For acoustic assessment, the percentage of phonatory breaks (PBs) of connected reading and the percentage of aperiodic segments and frequency shifts (FS) of vowel and reading in patients with ADSD were significantly worse than controls, the mean harmonics-to-noise ratio and the fundamental frequency standard deviation of vowel as well. For perceptual evaluation, the rating of speech and vowel in patients with ADSD are significantly higher than controls. The percentage of aberrant acoustic events (PB, frequency shift, and aperiodic segment) and the fundamental frequency standard deviation and mean harmonics-to-noise ratio were significantly correlated with the perceptual rating in the vowel and reading productions. The perceptual and acoustic parameters of connected vowel and reading in patients with ADSD are worse than those in normal controls, and could validly and reliably estimate dysphonia of ADSD in Mandarin-speaking Chinese. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Does religious belief enable positive interpretation of auditory hallucinations?: a comparison of religious voice hearers with and without psychosis.

PubMed

Cottam, S; Paul, S N; Doughty, O J; Carpenter, L; Al-Mousawi, A; Karvounis, S; Done, D J

2011-09-01

Introduction. Hearing voices occurs in people without psychosis. Why hearing voices is such a key pathological feature of psychosis whilst remaining a manageable experience in nonpsychotic people is yet to be understood. We hypothesised that religious voice hearers would interpret voices in accordance with their beliefs and therefore experience less distress. Methods. Three voice hearing groups, which comprised: 20 mentally healthy Christians, 15 Christian patients with psychosis, and 14 nonreligious patients with psychosis. All completed (1) questionnaires with rating scales measuring the perceptual and emotional aspects of hallucinated voices, and (2) a semistructured interview to explore whether religious belief is used to make sense of the voice hearing experience. Results. The three groups had perceptually similar experiences when hearing the voices. Mentally healthy Christians appeared to assimilate the experience with their religious beliefs (schematic processing) resulting in positive interpretations. Christian patients tended not to assimilate the experience with their religious beliefs, frequently reporting nonreligious interpretations that were predominantly negative. Nearly all participants experienced voices as powerful, but mentally healthy Christians reported the power of voices positively. Conclusion. Religious belief appeared to have a profound, beneficial influence on the mentally healthy Christians' interpretation of hearing voices, but had little or no influence in the case of Christian patients.

Audiovisual speech facilitates voice learning.

PubMed

Sheffert, Sonya M; Olson, Elizabeth

2004-02-01

In this research, we investigated the effects of voice and face information on the perceptual learning of talkers and on long-term memory for spoken words. In the first phase, listeners were trained over several days to identify voices from words presented auditorily or audiovisually. The training data showed that visual information about speakers enhanced voice learning, revealing cross-modal connections in talker processing akin to those observed in speech processing. In the second phase, the listeners completed an auditory or audiovisual word recognition memory test in which equal numbers of words were spoken by familiar and unfamiliar talkers. The data showed that words presented by familiar talkers were more likely to be retrieved from episodic memory, regardless of modality. Together, these findings provide new information about the representational code underlying familiar talker recognition and the role of stimulus familiarity in episodic word recognition.

A new voice rating tool for clinical practice.

PubMed

Gould, James; Waugh, Jessica; Carding, Paul; Drinnan, Michael

2012-07-01

Perceptual rating of voice quality is a key component in the comprehensive assessment of voice, but there are practical difficulties in making reliable measurements. We have developed the Newcastle Audio Ranking (NeAR) test, a new referential system for the rating of voice parameters. In this article, we present our first results using NeAR. We asked five experts and 11 naive raters to assess 15 male and 15 female voices using the NeAR test. We assessed: validity with respect to the GRBAS scale; interrater reliability; sensitivity to subtle voice differences; and the performance of expert versus naïve raters. There was a uniformly excellent agreement with GRBAS (r=0.87) and interrater agreement (intraclass correlation coefficient=0.86). Considering each GRBAS grade of voice separately, there was still good interrater agreement in NeAR, implying it has good sensitivity to subtle changes. All these results were equally true for expert and naive raters. The NeAR test is a promising new tool in the assessment of voice disorders. Copyright © 2012 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of message, source, and context on evaluations of employee voice behavior.

PubMed

Whiting, Steven W; Maynes, Timothy D; Podsakoff, Nathan P; Podsakoff, Philip M

2012-01-01

The article contained a production-related error. In Table 5, the four values in the rows for Study 1 Prosocial motives and Study 1 Constructive voice should have been shifted one column to the right, to the Direct and Total Performance evaluations columns. All versions of this article have been corrected.] Although employee voice behavior is expected to have important organizational benefits, research indicates that employees voicing their recommendations for organizational change may be evaluated either positively or negatively by observers. A review of the literature suggests that the perceived efficacy of voice behaviors may be a function of characteristics associated with the (a) source, (b) message, and (c) context of the voice event. In this study, we manipulated variables from each of these categories based on a model designed to predict when voice will positively or negatively impact raters' evaluations of an employee's performance. To test our model, we conducted 3 laboratory studies in which we manipulated 2 source factors (voicer expertise and trustworthiness), 2 message factors (recommending a solution and positively vs. negatively framing the message), and 2 context factors (timing of the voice event and organizational norms for speaking up vs. keeping quiet). We also examined the mediating effects of liking, prosocial motives, and perceptions that the voice behavior was constructive on the relationships between the source, message, and context factors and performance evaluations. Generally speaking, we found that at least one of the variables from each category had an effect on performance evaluations for the voicer and that most of these effects were indirect, operating through one or more of the mediators. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.

Correlation of VHI-10 to voice laboratory measurements across five common voice disorders.

PubMed

Gillespie, Amanda I; Gooding, William; Rosen, Clark; Gartner-Schmidt, Jackie

2014-07-01

To correlate change in Voice Handicap Index (VHI)-10 scores with corresponding voice laboratory measures across five voice disorders. Retrospective study. One hundred fifty patients aged >18 years with primary diagnosis of vocal fold lesions, primary muscle tension dysphonia-1, atrophy, unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP), and scar. For each group, participants with the largest change in VHI-10 between two periods (TA and TB) were selected. The dates of the VHI-10 values were linked to corresponding acoustic/aerodynamic and audio-perceptual measures. Change in voice laboratory values were analyzed for correlation with each other and with VHI-10. VHI-10 scores were greater for patients with UVFP than other disorders. The only disorder-specific correlation between voice laboratory measure and VHI-10 was average phonatory airflow in speech for patients with UVFP. Average airflow in repeated phonemes was strongly correlated with average airflow in speech (r=0.75). Acoustic measures did not significantly change between time points. The lack of correlations between the VHI-10 change scores and voice laboratory measures may be due to differing constructs of each measure; namely, handicap versus physiological function. Presuming corroboration between these measures may be faulty. Average airflow in speech may be the most ecologically valid measure for patients with UVFP. Although aerodynamic measures changed between the time points, acoustic measures did not. Correlations to VHI-10 and change between time points may be found with other acoustic measures. Copyright © 2014 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Vocal Tract Discomfort Scale (VTDS) and Voice Symptom Scale (VoiSS) in the Evaluation of Patients With Voice Disorders.

PubMed

Lopes, Leonardo Wanderley; de Oliveira Florencio, Vanessa; Silva, Priscila Oliveira Costa; da Nóbrega E Ugulino, Ana Celiane; Almeida, Anna Alice

2018-01-04

We aimed to correlate the Vocal Tract Discomfort Scale (VTDS) with the Voice Symptom Scale (VoiSS) for evaluation of patients with dysphonia. In addition, we aimed to compare vocal tract discomfort symptoms in patients with and without self-reported voice problem. This is a descriptive, cross-sectional, and retrospective study. We analyzed 143 women and 62 men with voice disorders, as confirmed by endoscopic larynx examination. All patients completed the VTDS and VoiSS at vocal evaluation. Descriptive statistics and the Spearman correlation test were applied to all variables. The degree of covariance of variables was noted. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the average number of discomfort symptoms among patients with and without self-reported voice problems. A weak to moderate positive correlation was observed between the average number, frequency, and intensity of comfort symptom and the total score, physical domain score, and limitation domain score of the VoiSS. The vocal tract discomfort symptoms and the emotional domain score of the VoiSS were weakly correlated. Patients with self-reported voice problems had a higher number, frequency, and intensity of vocal tract discomfort symptoms. There is correlation between the VTDS and VoiSS scales, with greater references to vocal tract discomfort symptom in patients with self-reported voice problems. Therefore, the discomfort symptoms seem to influence the perception of the impact of a voice problem. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Modulation of voice related to tremor and vibrato

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lester, Rosemary Anne

Modulation of voice is a result of physiologic oscillation within one or more components of the vocal system including the breathing apparatus (i.e., pressure supply), the larynx (i.e. sound source), and the vocal tract (i.e., sound filter). These oscillations may be caused by pathological tremor associated with neurological disorders like essential tremor or by volitional production of vibrato in singers. Because the acoustical characteristics of voice modulation specific to each component of the vocal system and the effect of these characteristics on perception are not well-understood, it is difficult to assess individuals with vocal tremor and to determine the most effective interventions for reducing the perceptual severity of the disorder. The purpose of the present studies was to determine how the acoustical characteristics associated with laryngeal-based vocal tremor affect the perception of the magnitude of voice modulation, and to determine if adjustments could be made to the voice source and vocal tract filter to alter the acoustic output and reduce the perception of modulation. This research was carried out using both a computational model of speech production and trained singers producing vibrato to simulate laryngeal-based vocal tremor with different voice source characteristics (i.e., vocal fold length and degree of vocal fold adduction) and different vocal tract filter characteristics (i.e., vowel shapes). It was expected that, by making adjustments to the voice source and vocal tract filter that reduce the amplitude of the higher harmonics, the perception of magnitude of voice modulation would be reduced. The results of this study revealed that listeners' perception of the magnitude of modulation of voice was affected by the degree of vocal fold adduction and the vocal tract shape with the computational model, but only by the vocal quality (corresponding to the degree of vocal fold adduction) with the female singer. Based on regression analyses

Clinical Features of Psychogenic Voice Disorder and the Efficiency of Voice Therapy and Psychological Evaluation.

PubMed

Tezcaner, Zahide Çiler; Gökmen, Muhammed Fatih; Yıldırım, Sibel; Dursun, Gürsel

2017-11-06

The aim of this study was to define the clinical features of psychogenic voice disorder (PVD) and explore the treatment efficiency of voice therapy and psychological evaluation. Fifty-eight patients who received treatment following the PVD diagnosis and had no organic or other functional voice disorders were assessed retrospectively based on laryngoscopic examinations and subjective and objective assessments. Epidemiological characteristics, accompanying organic and psychological disorders, preferred methods of treatment, and previous treatment outcomes were examined for each patient. A comparison was made based on voice disorders and responses to treatment between patients who received psychotherapy and patients who did not. Participants in this study comprised 58 patients, 10 male and 48 female. Voice therapy was applied in all patients, 54 (93.1%) of whom had improvement in their voice. Although all patients were advised to undergo psychological assessment, only 60.3% (35/58) of them underwent psychological assessment. No statistically significant difference was found between patients who did receive psychological support concerning their treatment responses and patients who did not. Relapse occurred in 14.7% (5/34) of the patients who applied for psychological assessment and in 50% (10/20) of those who did not. There was a statistically significant difference in relapse rates, which was higher among patients who did not receive psychological support (P < 0.005). Voice therapy is an efficient treatment method for PVD. However, in the long-term follow-up, relapse of the disease is observed to be higher among patients who failed to follow up on the recommendation for psychological assessment. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Wet voice as a sign of penetration/aspiration in Parkinson's disease: does testing material matter?

PubMed

Sampaio, Marília; Argolo, Natalie; Melo, Ailton; Nóbrega, Ana Caline

2014-10-01

Wet voice is a perceptual vocal quality that is commonly used as an indicator of penetration and/or aspiration in clinical swallowing assessments and bedside screening tests. Our aim was to describe the clinimetric characteristics of this clinical sign using various fluid materials and one solid food in the Parkinson's disease (PD) population. Consecutive PD individuals were submitted for simultaneous fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) and voice recording. Speech therapists rated the presence or absence of wetness and other voice abnormalities. Two binary endpoints of FEES were selected for comparison with an index test: low penetration (LP) and low penetration and/or aspiration (LP/ASP). The accuracy of wet voice changed according to the testing material in PD patients. Overall, the specificity of this indicator was better than its sensitivity, and the wafer cookie and yogurt drink yielded the best indices. Our data show that wet voice is clearly indicative of LP or LP/ASP in PD patients in case of positive test. However, in the case of a negative result, the wet voice test should be repeated or combined with other clinical tests to include or exclude the risk of LP or LP/ASP.

Comparison of Pitch Strength With Perceptual and Other Acoustic Metric Outcome Measures Following Medialization Laryngoplasty.

PubMed

Rubin, Adam D; Jackson-Menaldi, Cristina; Kopf, Lisa M; Marks, Katherine; Skeffington, Jean; Skowronski, Mark D; Shrivastav, Rahul; Hunter, Eric J

2018-05-14

The diagnoses of voice disorders, as well as treatment outcomes, are often tracked using visual (eg, stroboscopic images), auditory (eg, perceptual ratings), objective (eg, from acoustic or aerodynamic signals), and patient report (eg, Voice Handicap Index and Voice-Related Quality of Life) measures. However, many of these measures are known to have low to moderate sensitivity and specificity for detecting changes in vocal characteristics, including vocal quality. The objective of this study was to compare changes in estimated pitch strength (PS) with other conventionally used acoustic measures based on the cepstral peak prominence (smoothed cepstral peak prominence, cepstral spectral index of dysphonia, and acoustic voice quality index), and clinical judgments of voice quality (GRBAS [grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, strain] scale) following laryngeal framework surgery. This study involved post hoc analysis of recordings from 22 patients pretreatment and post treatment (thyroplasty and behavioral therapy). Sustained vowels and connected speech were analyzed using objective measures (PS, smoothed cepstral peak prominence, cepstral spectral index of dysphonia, and acoustic voice quality index), and these results were compared with mean auditory-perceptual ratings by expert clinicians using the GRBAS scale. All four acoustic measures changed significantly in the direction that usually indicates improved voice quality following treatment (P < 0.005). Grade and breathiness correlated the strongest with the acoustic measures (|r| ~0.7) with strain being the least correlated. Acoustic analysis on running speech highly correlates with judged ratings. PS is a robust, easily obtained acoustic measure of voice quality that could be useful in the clinical environment to follow treatment of voice disorders. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Mobile Digital Recording: Adequacy of the iRig and iOS Device for Acoustic and Perceptual Analysis of Normal Voice.

PubMed

Oliveira, Gisele; Fava, Gaetano; Baglione, Melody; Pimpinella, Michael

2017-03-01

To determine whether the iRig and iOS device recording system is comparable with a standard computer recording system for digital voice recording. Thirty-seven vocally healthy adults, between ages 20 and 62, with a mean age of 33.9 years, 13 males and 24 females, were recruited. Recordings were simultaneously digitalized in an iPad and iPhone using a unidirectional condenser microphone for smartphones/tablets (iRig Mic, IK Multimedia) and in a computer laptop (Dell-Inspiron) using a unidirectional condenser microphone (Samson-CL5) connected to a preamplifier with phantom power. Both microphones were lined up at an equal fixed distance from the subject's mouth. Speech tasks consisted of a sustained vowel "ah" at comfortable pitch/loudness, counting from 1 to 10, and a glissando "ah" from a low to a high note. The samples captured on the iOS devices were transferred via SoundCloud in WAV format, and analyzed using the Praat software. The acoustic parameters measured were mean, min, and max F0, SD F0, jitter local, jitter rap, jitter ppq5, jitter ddp, shimmer local, shimmer local-dB, shimmer apq3, shimmer apq5, shimmer apq11, shimmer dda, NHR, and HNR. There were no statistically significant differences for any parameter and speech task analyzed for both iOS devices as compared with the gold standard computer/preamp system (all P values > 0.050). In addition, there were no statistical differences in the perceptual identification of the recordings among devices (P < 0.001). In the present study, the iRig and iOS device may provide reliable digital recording of normal voices. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Two Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract Voice Therapy Protocols

PubMed Central

Hunter, Eric J.; Kirkham, Kimberly; Cox, Karin; Titze, Ingo R.

2015-01-01

Purpose Although there is a long history of use of semi-occluded vocal tract gestures in voice therapy, including phonation through thin tubes or straws, the efficacy of phonation through tubes has not been established. This study compares results from a therapy program on the basis of phonation through a flow-resistant tube (FRT) with Vocal Function Exercises (VFE), an established set of exercises that utilize oral semi-occlusions. Method Twenty subjects (16 women, 4 men) with dysphonia and/or vocal fatigue were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatment conditions: (a) immediate FRT therapy, (b) immediate VFE therapy, (c) delayed FRT therapy, or (d) delayed VFE therapy. Subjects receiving delayed therapy served as a no-treatment control group. Results Voice Handicap Index (Jacobson et al., 1997) scores showed significant improvement for both treatment groups relative to the no-treatment group. Comparison of the effect sizes suggests FRT therapy is noninferior to VFE in terms of reduction in Voice Handicap Index scores. Significant reductions in Roughness on the Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (Kempster, Gerratt, Verdolini Abbott, Barkmeier-Kraemer, & Hillman, 2009) were found for the FRT subjects, with no other significant voice quality findings. Conclusions VFE and FRT therapy may improve voice quality of life in some individuals with dysphonia. FRT therapy was noninferior to VFE in improving voice quality of life in this study. PMID:25675335

Prevalence of Voice Disorders in Iranian Primary School Students.

PubMed

Mohammadzadeh, Ali; Sandoughdar, Nazila

2017-03-01

The voice is the sound produced by vibration of our vocal cords and has an important role in verbal communication. A child's voice disorder may significantly impair his or her ability to be heard and understood. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of voice disorders in primary school students. In this descriptive-analytical study, a total of 501 fourth through fifth grade primary school students (boys = 51.6%, girls = 48.4%) with the age range of 10-12 years were selected from nine public school systems in Tehran that were assessed in October 2013 through March 2014. Presence of a voice disorder characterized by hoarseness was identified by a dual approach including investigator screening and parent identification. We used the grade of overall dysphonia, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, and strain scale for perceptual evaluation of voice. All children were assessed with video laryngoscopy examination by an otorhinolaryngologist. The recordings were made during spontaneous speech, counting numbers, sustained utterance of the (/a/) vowel, reading a standard passage in Farsi, and the ratio of /s/ and /z/. Statistical analysis was done via chi-square test and t test. Results indicated that the prevalence of voice disorders in primary school students is 53.2%. The results indicated significant differences between gender and subjects with lesions (P = 0.00000), gender and vocal disorders (P = 0.04), and s/z ratio and type of lesion (P = 0.0002). Phonotrauma seems to play an important role in child dysphonia, with nodules as main diagnosis. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Comparison of Voice Activity and Participation Profiles Among Etiological Groups.

PubMed

Lee, Seung Jin; Choi, Hong-Shik; Kim, HyangHee

2018-05-11

The purpose of this study was to determine whether patients with functional voice disorders show voice activity and participation profiles different from those of the organic and neurogenic groups. The Korean Version of the Voice Activity and Participation Profile (K-VAPP) was administered to 200 participants (150 patients with functional, organic, and neurogenic voice disorders, 50 for each etiological group, 50 controls without vocal complaint). The K-VAPP subscale scores of the etiological groups were compared, controlling for age, professional use of voice, and severity of voice disorder measured by overall severity of the Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (CAPE-V). Results of a one-way analysis of variance indicated significant differences in the overall severity across groups (neurogenic > functional = organic > control). Among four groups, the organic group showed higher mean Z-scores of the K-VAPP than the control group, and the functional group showed higher mean Z-scores of the K-VAPP than the organic group. Compared with the neurogenic group, the functional group showed lower mean Z-scores for total score, Activity Limitation Score, SUB3, and SUB5. A comparison among three etiological groups showed that the functional group did not show higher scores than the organic group. On the contrary, the functional group showed a lower total score, Participation Restriction Score, and score for subsection 3 (effect on daily communication) than the neurogenic group. Psychometric assessment of voice disorders using the K-VAPP could provide clinicians with baseline information that is applicable to various voice disorders. Further studies pertaining to the follow-up of voice disorders with various etiologies are needed to extend its clinical usefulness. Copyright © 2018 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Characteristics and professional use of voice in street children in Aracaju, Brazil.

PubMed

Sales, Neuza Josina; Gurgel, Ricardo Queiroz; Gonçalves, Maria Inês Rebelo; Cunha, Edílson; Barreto, Valeria Maria Prado; Todt Neto, João Carlos; D'Avila, Jeferson Sampaio

2010-07-01

The objective of the study was to evaluate voice characteristics of children engaged in street selling, which involves an essentially professional use of voice in this population. A controlled cross-sectional study was carried out. A randomly chosen sample of 200 school children with a history of street selling assisted by public social services and 400 school children without this experience was selected. Seven- to 10-year-old children of both sexes were studied. Both groups were interviewed and given vocal assessment (auditory-perceptual assessment and spectrographic acoustic measures) and otorhinolaryngological evaluation (physical and videonasolaryngoscopic examination). Children with abnormal results in both groups were compared using chi(2) (Chi-squared test). The significance level was established at 5% (P<0.05). Voice problems were detected more frequently in working children (106-53%) than in regular school children (90-22.5%). The control group achieved better school performance as more children in this group attend school regularly than street children, although age-for-grade deficit was similar. The control group had more access to medical visits (80-40%) and treatment with a doctor (34-17%). Language assessment has shown that the control group had more dysphonia (73-37%) and myofunctional orofacial disorders (20-10%). Street children had more normal voice but had more nasal disorders and greater glottal closure than the school control group. Voice disorders were present in both groups, but less frequently in street children. Although subject to inadequate living conditions, street children had better voice quality than the control group. An explanation could be that by adapting their voice professionally for selling goods in the streets, they developed adequate resilience to their difficult living conditions. Copyright (c) 2010 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Treatment outcomes for professional voice users.

PubMed

Wingate, Judith M; Brown, William S; Shrivastav, Rahul; Davenport, Paul; Sapienza, Christine M

2007-07-01

Professional voice users comprise 25% to 35% of the U.S. working population. Their voice problems may interfere with job performance and impact costs for both employers and employees. The purpose of this study was to examine treatment outcomes of two specific rehabilitation programs for a group of professional voice users. Eighteen professional voice users participated in this study; half had complaints of throat pain or vocal fatigue (Dysphonia Group), and half were found to have benign vocal fold lesions (Lesion Group). One group received 5 weeks of expiratory muscle strength training followed by six sessions of traditional voice therapy. Treatment order was reversed for the second group. The study was designed as a repeated measures study with independent variables of treatment order, laryngeal diagnosis (lesion vs non-lesion), gender, and time. Dependent variables included maximum expiratory pressure (MEP), Voice Handicap Index (VHI) score, Vocal Rating Scale (VRS) score, Voice Effort Scale score, phonetogram measures, subglottal pressures, and acoustic and perceptual measures. Results showed significant improvements in MEP, VHI scores, and VRS scores, subglottal pressure for loud intensity, phonetogram area, and dynamic range. No significant difference was found between laryngeal diagnosis groups. A significant difference was not observed for treatment order. It was concluded that the combined treatment was responsible for the improvements observed. The results indicate that a combined modality treatment may be successful in the remediation of vocal problems for professional voice users.

Speaker-Sex Discrimination for Voiced and Whispered Vowels at Short Durations.

PubMed

Smith, David R R

2016-01-01

Whispered vowels, produced with no vocal fold vibration, lack the periodic temporal fine structure which in voiced vowels underlies the perceptual attribute of pitch (a salient auditory cue to speaker sex). Voiced vowels possess no temporal fine structure at very short durations (below two glottal cycles). The prediction was that speaker-sex discrimination performance for whispered and voiced vowels would be similar for very short durations but, as stimulus duration increases, voiced vowel performance would improve relative to whispered vowel performance as pitch information becomes available. This pattern of results was shown for women's but not for men's voices. A whispered vowel needs to have a duration three times longer than a voiced vowel before listeners can reliably tell whether it's spoken by a man or woman (∼30 ms vs. ∼10 ms). Listeners were half as sensitive to information about speaker-sex when it is carried by whispered compared with voiced vowels.

Speaker-Sex Discrimination for Voiced and Whispered Vowels at Short Durations

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Whispered vowels, produced with no vocal fold vibration, lack the periodic temporal fine structure which in voiced vowels underlies the perceptual attribute of pitch (a salient auditory cue to speaker sex). Voiced vowels possess no temporal fine structure at very short durations (below two glottal cycles). The prediction was that speaker-sex discrimination performance for whispered and voiced vowels would be similar for very short durations but, as stimulus duration increases, voiced vowel performance would improve relative to whispered vowel performance as pitch information becomes available. This pattern of results was shown for women’s but not for men’s voices. A whispered vowel needs to have a duration three times longer than a voiced vowel before listeners can reliably tell whether it’s spoken by a man or woman (∼30 ms vs. ∼10 ms). Listeners were half as sensitive to information about speaker-sex when it is carried by whispered compared with voiced vowels. PMID:27757218

Phonological experience modulates voice discrimination: Evidence from functional brain networks analysis.

PubMed

Hu, Xueping; Wang, Xiangpeng; Gu, Yan; Luo, Pei; Yin, Shouhang; Wang, Lijun; Fu, Chao; Qiao, Lei; Du, Yi; Chen, Antao

2017-10-01

Numerous behavioral studies have found a modulation effect of phonological experience on voice discrimination. However, the neural substrates underpinning this phenomenon are poorly understood. Here we manipulated language familiarity to test the hypothesis that phonological experience affects voice discrimination via mediating the engagement of multiple perceptual and cognitive resources. The results showed that during voice discrimination, the activation of several prefrontal regions was modulated by language familiarity. More importantly, the same effect was observed concerning the functional connectivity from the fronto-parietal network to the voice-identity network (VIN), and from the default mode network to the VIN. Our findings indicate that phonological experience could bias the recruitment of cognitive control and information retrieval/comparison processes during voice discrimination. Therefore, the study unravels the neural substrates subserving the modulation effect of phonological experience on voice discrimination, and provides new insights into studying voice discrimination from the perspective of network interactions. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Objective and subjective assessment of tracheoesophageal prosthesis voice outcome.

PubMed

D'Alatri, Lucia; Bussu, Francesco; Scarano, Emanuele; Paludetti, Gaetano; Marchese, Maria Raffaella

2012-09-01

To investigate the relationships between objective measures and the results of subjective assessment of voice quality and speech intelligibility in patients submitted to total laryngectomy and tracheoesophageal (TE) puncture. Retrospective. Twenty patients implanted with voice prosthesis were studied. After surgery, the entire sample performed speech rehabilitation. The assessment protocol included maximum phonation time (MPT), number of syllables per deep breath, acoustic analysis of the sustained vowel /a/ and of a bisyllabic word, perceptual evaluation (pleasantness and intelligibility%), and self-assessment. The correlation between pleasantness and intelligibility% was statistically significant. Both the latter were significantly correlated with the acoustic signal type, the number of formant peaks, and the F2-F1 difference. The intelligibility% and number of formant peaks were significantly correlated with the MPT and number of syllables per deep breath. Moreover, significant correlations were found between the number of formant peaks and both intelligibility% and pleasantness. The higher the number of syllables per deep breath and the longer the MPT, significantly higher was the number of formant peaks and the intelligibility%. The study failed to show significant correlation between patient's self-assessment of voice quality and both pleasantness and communication effectiveness. The multidimensional assessment seems to be a reliable tool to evaluate the TE functional outcome. Particularly, the results showed that both pleasantness and intelligibility of TE speech are correlated to the availability of expired air and the function of the vocal tract. Copyright © 2012 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Bottom-up influences of voice continuity in focusing selective auditory attention

PubMed Central

Bressler, Scott; Masud, Salwa; Bharadwaj, Hari; Shinn-Cunningham, Barbara

2015-01-01

Selective auditory attention causes a relative enhancement of the neural representation of important information and suppression of the neural representation of distracting sound, which enables a listener to analyze and interpret information of interest. Some studies suggest that in both vision and in audition, the “unit” on which attention operates is an object: an estimate of the information coming from a particular external source out in the world. In this view, which object ends up in the attentional foreground depends on the interplay of top-down, volitional attention and stimulus-driven, involuntary attention. Here, we test the idea that auditory attention is object based by exploring whether continuity of a non-spatial feature (talker identity, a feature that helps acoustic elements bind into one perceptual object) also influences selective attention performance. In Experiment 1, we show that perceptual continuity of target talker voice helps listeners report a sequence of spoken target digits embedded in competing reversed digits spoken by different talkers. In Experiment 2, we provide evidence that this benefit of voice continuity is obligatory and automatic, as if voice continuity biases listeners by making it easier to focus on a subsequent target digit when it is perceptually linked to what was already in the attentional foreground. Our results support the idea that feature continuity enhances streaming automatically, thereby influencing the dynamic processes that allow listeners to successfully attend to objects through time in the cacophony that assails our ears in many everyday settings. PMID:24633644

Bottom-up influences of voice continuity in focusing selective auditory attention.

PubMed

Bressler, Scott; Masud, Salwa; Bharadwaj, Hari; Shinn-Cunningham, Barbara

2014-01-01

Selective auditory attention causes a relative enhancement of the neural representation of important information and suppression of the neural representation of distracting sound, which enables a listener to analyze and interpret information of interest. Some studies suggest that in both vision and in audition, the "unit" on which attention operates is an object: an estimate of the information coming from a particular external source out in the world. In this view, which object ends up in the attentional foreground depends on the interplay of top-down, volitional attention and stimulus-driven, involuntary attention. Here, we test the idea that auditory attention is object based by exploring whether continuity of a non-spatial feature (talker identity, a feature that helps acoustic elements bind into one perceptual object) also influences selective attention performance. In Experiment 1, we show that perceptual continuity of target talker voice helps listeners report a sequence of spoken target digits embedded in competing reversed digits spoken by different talkers. In Experiment 2, we provide evidence that this benefit of voice continuity is obligatory and automatic, as if voice continuity biases listeners by making it easier to focus on a subsequent target digit when it is perceptually linked to what was already in the attentional foreground. Our results support the idea that feature continuity enhances streaming automatically, thereby influencing the dynamic processes that allow listeners to successfully attend to objects through time in the cacophony that assails our ears in many everyday settings.

Management of vocal fold scar with autologous fat implantation: perceptual results.

PubMed

Neuenschwander, M C; Sataloff, R T; Abaza, M M; Hawkshaw, M J; Reiter, D; Spiegel, J R

2001-06-01

Vocal fold scar disrupts the mucosal wave and interferes with glottic closure. Treatment involves a multidisciplinary approach that includes voice therapy, medical management, and sometimes surgery. We reviewed the records of the first eight patients who underwent autologous fat implantation for vocal fold scar. Information on the etiology of scar, physical findings, and prior interventions were collected. Videotapes of videostroboscopic findings and perceptual voice ratings [Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain (GRBAS)] were randomized and analyzed independently by four blinded observers. Etiology of scar included mass excision (7), vocal fold stripping (3), congenital sulcus (2), and hemorrhage (1). Prior surgical procedures performed included thyroplasty (1), autologous fat injection (9), excision of scar (2), and lysis of adhesions (2). Strobovideolaryngoscopy: Statistically significant improvement was found in glottic closure, mucosal wave, and stiffness (P = 0.05). Perceptual ratings (GRBAS): Statistically significant improvement was found in all five parameters, including overall Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, and Strain (P = 0.05). Patients appear to have improved vocal fold function and quality of voice after autologous fat implantation in the vocal fold. Autologous fat implantation is an important adjunctive procedure in the management of vocal fold scar, and a useful addition to the armamentarium of the experienced phonomicrosurgeon.

The Impact of Dysphonic Voices on Healthy Listeners: Listener Reaction Times, Speech Intelligibility, and Listener Comprehension.

PubMed

Evitts, Paul M; Starmer, Heather; Teets, Kristine; Montgomery, Christen; Calhoun, Lauren; Schulze, Allison; MacKenzie, Jenna; Adams, Lauren

2016-11-01

There is currently minimal information on the impact of dysphonia secondary to phonotrauma on listeners. Considering the high incidence of voice disorders with professional voice users, it is important to understand the impact of a dysphonic voice on their audiences. Ninety-one healthy listeners (39 men, 52 women; mean age = 23.62 years) were presented with speech stimuli from 5 healthy speakers and 5 speakers diagnosed with dysphonia secondary to phonotrauma. Dependent variables included processing speed (reaction time [RT] ratio), speech intelligibility, and listener comprehension. Voice quality ratings were also obtained for all speakers by 3 expert listeners. Statistical results showed significant differences between RT ratio and number of speech intelligibility errors between healthy and dysphonic voices. There was not a significant difference in listener comprehension errors. Multiple regression analyses showed that voice quality ratings from the Consensus Assessment Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (Kempster, Gerratt, Verdolini Abbott, Barkmeier-Kraemer, & Hillman, 2009) were able to predict RT ratio and speech intelligibility but not listener comprehension. Results of the study suggest that although listeners require more time to process and have more intelligibility errors when presented with speech stimuli from speakers with dysphonia secondary to phonotrauma, listener comprehension may not be affected.

Perceptual and acoustic study of professionally trained versus untrained voices.

PubMed

Brown, W S; Rothman, H B; Sapienza, C M

2000-09-01

Acoustic and perceptual analyses were completed to determine the effect of vocal training on professional singers when speaking and singing. Twenty professional singers and 20 nonsingers, acting as the control, were recorded while sustaining a vowel, reading a modified Rainbow Passage, and singing "America the Beautiful." Acoustic measures included fundamental frequency, duration, percent jitter, percent shimmer, noise-to-harmonic ratio, and determination of the presence or absence of both vibrato and the singer's formant. Results indicated that, whereas certain acoustic parameters differentiated singers from nonsingers within sex, no consistently significant trends were found across males and females for either speaking or singing. The most consistent differences were the presence or absence of the singer's vibrato and formant in the singers versus the nonsingers, respectively. Perceptual analysis indicated that singers could be correctly identified with greater frequency than by chance alone from their singing, but not their speaking utterances.

Validation of the Cepstral Spectral Index of Dysphonia (CSID) as a Screening Tool for Voice Disorders: Development of Clinical Cutoff Scores.

PubMed

Awan, Shaheen N; Roy, Nelson; Zhang, Dong; Cohen, Seth M

2016-03-01

The purposes of this study were to (1) evaluate the performance of the Cepstral Spectral Index of Dysphonia (CSID--a multivariate estimate of dysphonia severity) as a potential screening tool for voice disorder identification and (2) identify potential clinical cutoff scores to classify voice-disordered cases versus controls. Subjects were 332 men and women (116 men, 216 women) comprised of subjects who presented to a physician with a voice-related complaint and a group of non-voice-related control subjects. Voice-disordered cases versus controls were initially defined via three reference standards: (1) auditory-perceptual judgment (dysphonia +/-); (2) Voice Handicap Index (VHI) score (VHI +/-); and (3) laryngoscopic description (laryngoscopic +/-). Speech samples were analyzed using the Analysis of Dysphonia in Speech and Voice program. Cepstral and spectral measures were combined into a CSID multivariate formula which estimated dysphonia severity for Rainbow Passage samples (i.e., the CSIDR). The ability of the CSIDR to accurately classify cases versus controls in relation to each reference standard was evaluated via a combination of logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses. The ability of the CSIDR to discriminate between cases and controls was represented by the "area under the ROC curve" (AUC). ROC classification of dysphonia-positive cases versus controls resulted in a strong AUC = 0.85. A CSIDR cutoff of ≈24 achieved the best balance between sensitivity and specificity, whereas a more liberal cutoff score of ≈19 resulted in higher sensitivity while maintaining respectable specificity which may be preferred for screening purposes. Weaker but adequate AUCs = 0.75 and 0.73 were observed for the classification of VHI-positive and laryngoscopic-positive cases versus controls, respectively. Logistic regression analyses indicated that subject age may be a significant covariate in the discrimination of dysphonia-positive and VHI

Perceptual Detection of Subtle Dysphonic Traits in Individuals with Cervical Spinal Cord Injury Using an Audience Response Systems Approach.

PubMed

Johansson, Kerstin; Strömbergsson, Sofia; Robieux, Camille; McAllister, Anita

2017-01-01

Reduced respiratory function following lower cervical spinal cord injuries (CSCIs) may indirectly result in vocal dysfunction. Although self-reports indicate voice change and limitations following CSCI, earlier efforts using global perceptual ratings to distinguish speakers with CSCI from noninjured speakers have not been very successful. We investigate the use of an audience response system-based approach to distinguish speakers with CSCI from noninjured speakers, and explore whether specific vocal traits can be identified as characteristic for speakers with CSCI. Fourteen speech-language pathologists participated in a web-based perceptual task, where their overt reactions to vocal dysfunction were registered during the continuous playback of recordings of 36 speakers (18 with CSCI, and 18 matched controls). Dysphonic events were identified through manual perceptual analysis, to allow the exploration of connections between dysphonic events and listener reactions. More dysphonic events, and more listener reactions, were registered for speakers with CSCI than for noninjured speakers. Strain (particularly in phrase-final position) and creak (particularly in nonphrase-final position) distinguish speakers with CSCI from noninjured speakers. For the identification of intermittent and subtle signs of vocal dysfunction, an approach where the temporal distribution of symptoms is registered offers a viable means to distinguish speakers affected by voice dysfunction from non-affected speakers. In speakers with CSCI, clinicians should listen for presence of final strain and nonfinal creak, and pay attention to self-reported voice function and voice problems, to identify individuals in need for clinical assessment and intervention. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Using Voice Boards: Pedagogical Design, Technological Implementation, Evaluation and Reflections

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yaneske, Elisabeth; Oates, Briony

2011-01-01

We present a case study to evaluate the use of a Wimba Voice Board to support asynchronous audio discussion. We discuss the learning strategy and pedagogic rationale when a Voice Board was implemented within an MA module for language learners, enabling students to create learning objects and facilitating peer-to-peer learning. Previously students…

Using Voice Boards: Pedagogical Design, Technological Implementation, Evaluation and Reflections

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yaneske, Elisabeth; Oates, Briony

2010-01-01

We present a case study to evaluate the use of a Wimba Voice Board to support asynchronous audio discussion. We discuss the learning strategy and pedagogic rationale when a Voice Board was implemented within an MA module for language learners, enabling students to create learning objects and facilitating peer-to-peer learning. Previously students…

Evaluating Motor and Perceptual-Motor Development: Evaluating the Psychomotor Functioning of Infants and Young Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooper, Walter E.

The author considers the importance of evaluating preschoolers' perceptual motor development, the usefulness of various evaluation techniques, and the specific psychomotor abilities that require evaluation. He quotes researchers to underline the difficulty of choosing appropriate evaluative techniques and to stress the importance of taking…

Effects of syllable-initial voicing and speaking rate on the temporal characteristics of monosyllabic words.

PubMed

Allen, J S; Miller, J L

1999-10-01

Two speech production experiments tested the validity of the traditional method of creating voice-onset-time (VOT) continua for perceptual studies in which the systematic increase in VOT across the continuum is accompanied by a concomitant decrease in the duration of the following vowel. In experiment 1, segmental durations were measured for matched monosyllabic words beginning with either a voiced stop (e.g., big, duck, gap) or a voiceless stop (e.g., pig, tuck, cap). Results from four talkers showed that the change from voiced to voiceless stop produced not only an increase in VOT, but also a decrease in vowel duration. However, the decrease in vowel duration was consistently less than the increase in VOT. In experiment 2, results from four new talkers replicated these findings at two rates of speech, as well as highlighted the contrasting temporal effects on vowel duration of an increase in VOT due to a change in syllable-initial voicing versus a change in speaking rate. It was concluded that the traditional method of creating VOT continua for perceptual experiments, although not perfect, approximates natural speech by capturing the basic trade-off between VOT and vowel duration in syllable-initial voiced versus voiceless stop consonants.

Voice quality change in future professional voice users after 9 months of voice training.

PubMed

Timmermans, Bernadette; De Bodt, Marc; Wuyts, Floris; Van de Heyning, Paul

2004-01-01

Sixty-eight students of a school for audiovisual communication participated in this study. A part of them, 49 students, received voice training for 9 months (the trained group); 19 subjects received no specific voice training (the untrained group). A multidimensional test battery containing the GRBAS scale, videolaryngostroboscopy, Maximum Phonation Time (MPT), jitter, lowest intensity (IL), highest frequency (FoH), Dysphonia Severity Index (DSI) and Voice Handicap Index (VHI) was applied before and after training to evaluate training outcome. The voice training is made up of technical workshops in small groups (five to eight subjects) and vocal coaching in the ateliers. In the technical workshops, basic skills are trained (posture, breathing technique, articulation and diction), and in the ateliers, the speech and language pathologist assists the subjects in the practice of their voice work. This study revealed a significant amelioration over time for the objective measurements [Dysphonia Severity Index: from 2.3 to 4.5 ( P<0.001)] and the self-evaluation [Voice Handicap Index, from 23 to 18.4 ( P=0.016)] for the trained group only. This outcome favors the systematic introduction of voice training during the schooling of professional voice users.

Effects of chemoradiotherapy on voice and swallowing

PubMed Central

Lazarus, Cathy L.

2009-01-01

Purpose of review Chemotherapy has been found to result in comparable survival rates to surgery for head and neck cancer. However, toxicity can often be worse after chemoradiotherapy, with impairment in voice, swallowing, nutrition, and quality of life. Investigators are attempting to modify radiotherapy treatment regimens to spare organs that have an impact on swallowing. This review will highlight voice and swallowing impairment seen after chemoradiotherapy, as well as treatment for voice and swallowing disorders in this population. Results of newer radiotherapy regimens will also be highlighted. Recent findings Specific oropharyngeal swallowing motility disorders after chemoradiotherapy have been identified. Damage to specific structures has been correlated with specific pharyngeal phase swallow impairment. Swallowing function and quality of life have been examined over time, with improvement seen in both. Preventive/prophylactic swallow exercise programs have been encouraging. Chemoradiotherapy effects on voice have been identified in terms of acoustic, aerodynamic, and patient and clinician-rated perception of function. Improvement in voice has also been observed over time after chemoradiotherapy. Voice therapy has been found to have a positive impact on voice and perceptual measures in this population. Summary Current studies show some improvement in swallow function after swallow and voice therapy in patients treated with chemoradiotherapy. Further, there is a suggestion of improved swallow function with sparing of organs with specific radiotherapy protocols. Future research needs to focus on specific voice and swallow treatment regimens in the head and neck cancer patient treated with chemoradiotherapy, specifically, timing, frequency, duration, and specific treatment types. PMID:19337126

External Validation of the Acoustic Voice Quality Index Version 03.01 With Extended Representativity.

PubMed

Barsties, Ben; Maryn, Youri

2016-07-01

The Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI) is an objective method to quantify the severity of overall voice quality in concatenated continuous speech and sustained phonation segments. Recently, AVQI was successfully modified to be more representative and ecologically valid because the internal consistency of AVQI was balanced out through equal proportion of the 2 speech types. The present investigation aims to explore its external validation in a large data set. An expert panel of 12 speech-language therapists rated the voice quality of 1058 concatenated voice samples varying from normophonia to severe dysphonia. The Spearman rank-order correlation coefficients (r) were used to measure concurrent validity. The AVQI's diagnostic accuracy was evaluated with several estimates of its receiver operating characteristics (ROC). Finally, 8 of the 12 experts were chosen because of reliability criteria. A strong correlation was identified between AVQI and auditoryperceptual rating (r = 0.815, P = .000). It indicated that 66.4% of the auditory-perceptual rating's variation was explained by AVQI. Additionally, the ROC results showed again the best diagnostic outcome at a threshold of AVQI = 2.43. This study highlights external validation and diagnostic precision of the AVQI version 03.01 as a robust and ecologically valid measurement to objectify voice quality. © The Author(s) 2016.

Perceptual and Acoustic Reliability Estimates for the Speech Disorders Classification System (SDCS)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shriberg, Lawrence D.; Fourakis, Marios; Hall, Sheryl D.; Karlsson, Heather B.; Lohmeier, Heather L.; McSweeny, Jane L.; Potter, Nancy L.; Scheer-Cohen, Alison R.; Strand, Edythe A.; Tilkens, Christie M.; Wilson, David L.

2010-01-01

A companion paper describes three extensions to a classification system for paediatric speech sound disorders termed the Speech Disorders Classification System (SDCS). The SDCS uses perceptual and acoustic data reduction methods to obtain information on a speaker's speech, prosody, and voice. The present paper provides reliability estimates for…

Laryngeal manual therapy palpatory evaluation scale: A preliminary study to examine its usefulness in diagnosis of occupational dysphonia.

PubMed

Woźnicka, Ewelina; Niebudek-Bogusz, Ewa; Morawska, Joanna; Wiktorowicz, Justyna; Śliwińska-Kowalska, Mariola

2017-03-24

The aim of this study has been to assess the larynx and soft tissue around the vocal tract in a group of people with healthy voice, and in a group of patients with occupational dysphonia using the new laryngeal manual therapy palpatory evaluation scale (LMTPE). The examinations were performed in a study (dysphonic) group of professional voice users who had developed voice disorders (N = 51) and in the control group of normophonic subjects (N = 50). All the participants underwent perceptual voice assessment and examination by means of the LMTPE scale. Additionally, phoniatric examination including VHI (Voice Handicap Index) questionnaire, GRBAS (the Grade of hoarseness, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenic, Strained) perceptual evaluation, maximum phonation time (MPT) measurement and videostroboscopy was performed in the study group. The comparison of the LMTPE total score showed that the results of the study group were significantly poorer than those of controls (p < 0.001). In the study group, correlations were found between the LMTPE results and the VHI scores (p < 0.05), perceptual evaluation by the GRBAS (p < 0.05) and the objective parameter MPT (p < 0.05). The study has proven that the LMTPE scale is characterized by the high score of Cronbach's α ratio estimating the reliability of the test. The results have confirmed that the LMTPE scale seems to be a valuable tool, useful in diagnostics of occupational dysphonia, particularly of hyperfunction origin. Med Pr 2017;68(2):179-188. This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.

Perceptual rate normalization in naturally produced bilabial stops

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagao, Kyoko; de Jong, Kenneth

2003-10-01

The perception of voicing categories is affected by the speaking rate, so that listeners' category boundaries on a VOT continuum shift to a lower value when the syllable duration decreases (Miller and Volaitis, 1989; Volaitis and Miller, 1992). Previous rate normalization effects have been found using computer-generated stimuli. This study examines the effect of speech rate on voicing categorization in naturally produced speech. Four native speakers of American English repeated syllables (/bi/ and /pi/) at increasing rates in time with a metronome. Three-syllable stimuli were spliced from the repetitive speech. These stimuli contained natural decreases in VOT with faster speech rates. Besides, this rate effect on VOT was larger for /p/ than /b/, so that VOT values for /b/ and /p/ overlapped at the fastest rates. Eighteen native listeners of American English were presented with 168 stimuli and asked to identify the consonant. Perceptual category boundaries occur at VOT values 15 ms shorter than the values reported for synthesized stimuli. This difference may be due to the extraordinarily wide range of VOT values in previous studies. The values found in the current study closely match the actual division point for /b/ and /p/. The underlying mechanism of perceptual normalization will be discussed.

Acoustic and phonatory characterization of the Fado voice.

PubMed

Mendes, Ana P; Rodrigues, Aira F; Guerreiro, David Michael

2013-09-01

Fado is a Portuguese musical genre, instrumentally accompanied by a Portuguese and an acoustic guitar. Fado singers' voice is perceptually characterized by a low pitch, hoarse, and strained voice. The present research study sketches the acoustic and phonatory profile of the Fado singers' voice. Fifteen Fado singers produced spoken and sung phonatory tasks. For the spoken voice measures, the maximum phonation time and s/z ratio of Fado singers were near the inefficient physiological threshold. Fundamental frequency was higher than that found in nonsingers and lower than that found in Western Classical singers. Jitter and shimmer mean values were higher compared with nonsingers. Harmonic-to-noise ratio (HNR) was similar to the mean values for nonsingers. For the sung voice, jitter was higher compared with Country, Musical Theater, Soul, Jazz, and Western Classical singers and lower than Pop singers. Shimmer mean values were lower than Country, Musical Theater, Pop, Soul, and Jazz singers and higher than Western Classical singers. HNR was similar for Western Classical singers. Maximum phonational frequency range of Fado singers indicated that male and female subjects had a lower range compared with Western Classical singers. Additionally, Fado singers produced vibrato, but singer's formant was rarely produced. These sung voice characteristics could be related with life habits, less/lack of singing training, or could be just a Fado voice characteristic. Copyright © 2013 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Shielding voices: The modulation of binding processes between voice features and response features by task representations.

PubMed

Bogon, Johanna; Eisenbarth, Hedwig; Landgraf, Steffen; Dreisbach, Gesine

2017-09-01

Vocal events offer not only semantic-linguistic content but also information about the identity and the emotional-motivational state of the speaker. Furthermore, most vocal events have implications for our actions and therefore include action-related features. But the relevance and irrelevance of vocal features varies from task to task. The present study investigates binding processes for perceptual and action-related features of spoken words and their modulation by the task representation of the listener. Participants reacted with two response keys to eight different words spoken by a male or a female voice (Experiment 1) or spoken by an angry or neutral male voice (Experiment 2). There were two instruction conditions: half of participants learned eight stimulus-response mappings by rote (SR), and half of participants applied a binary task rule (TR). In both experiments, SR instructed participants showed clear evidence for binding processes between voice and response features indicated by an interaction between the irrelevant voice feature and the response. By contrast, as indicated by a three-way interaction with instruction, no such binding was found in the TR instructed group. These results are suggestive of binding and shielding as two adaptive mechanisms that ensure successful communication and action in a dynamic social environment.

Acoustic and Perceptual Effects of Left–Right Laryngeal Asymmetries Based on Computational Modeling

PubMed Central

Samlan, Robin A.; Story, Brad H.; Lotto, Andrew J.; Bunton, Kate

2015-01-01

Purpose Computational modeling was used to examine the consequences of 5 different laryngeal asymmetries on acoustic and perceptual measures of vocal function. Method A kinematic vocal fold model was used to impose 5 laryngeal asymmetries: adduction, edge bulging, nodal point ratio, amplitude of vibration, and starting phase. Thirty /a/ and /I/ vowels were generated for each asymmetry and analyzed acoustically using cepstral peak prominence (CPP), harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR), and 3 measures of spectral slope (H1*-H2*, B0-B1, and B0-B2). Twenty listeners rated voice quality for a subset of the productions. Results Increasingly asymmetric adduction, bulging, and nodal point ratio explained significant variance in perceptual rating (R2 = .05, p < .001). The same factors resulted in generally decreasing CPP, HNR, and B0-B2 and in increasing B0-B1. Of the acoustic measures, only CPP explained significant variance in perceived quality (R2 = .14, p < .001). Increasingly asymmetric amplitude of vibration or starting phase minimally altered vocal function or voice quality. Conclusion Asymmetries of adduction, bulging, and nodal point ratio drove acoustic measures and perception in the current study, whereas asymmetric amplitude of vibration and starting phase demonstrated minimal influence on the acoustic signal or voice quality. PMID:24845730

VoiceThread: A Useful Program Evaluation Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mott, Rebecca

2018-01-01

With today's technology, Extension professionals have a variety of tools available for program evaluation. This article describes an innovative platform called VoiceThread that has been used in many classrooms but also is useful for conducting virtual focus group research. I explain how this tool can be used to collect qualitative participant…

The Computerized Perceptual Motor Skills Assessment: A new visual perceptual motor skills evaluation tool for children in early elementary grades.

PubMed

Howe, Tsu-Hsin; Chen, Hao-Ling; Lee, Candy Chieh; Chen, Ying-Dar; Wang, Tien-Ni

2017-10-01

Visual perceptual motor skills have been proposed as underlying courses of handwriting difficulties. However, there is no evaluation tool currently available to assess these skills comprehensively and to serve as a sensitive measure. The purpose of this study was to validate the Computerized Perceptual Motor Skills Assessment (CPMSA), a newly developed evaluation tool for children in early elementary grades. Its test-retest reliability, concurrent validity, discriminant validity, and responsiveness were examined in 43 typically developing children and 26 children with handwriting difficulty. The CPMSA demonstrated excellent reliability across all subtests with intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs)≥0.80. Significant moderate correlations between the domains of the CPMSA and corresponding gold standards including Beery VMI, the TVPS-3, and the eye-hand coordination subtest of the DTVP-2 demonstrated good concurrent validity. In addition, the CPMSA showed evidence of discriminant validity in samples of children with and without handwriting difficulty. This article provides evidence in support of the CPMSA. The CPMSA is a reliable, valid, and promising measure of visual perceptual motor skills for children in early elementary grades. Directions for future study and improvements to the assessment are discussed. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Explaining the high voice superiority effect in polyphonic music: evidence from cortical evoked potentials and peripheral auditory models.

PubMed

Trainor, Laurel J; Marie, Céline; Bruce, Ian C; Bidelman, Gavin M

2014-02-01

Natural auditory environments contain multiple simultaneously-sounding objects and the auditory system must parse the incoming complex sound wave they collectively create into parts that represent each of these individual objects. Music often similarly requires processing of more than one voice or stream at the same time, and behavioral studies demonstrate that human listeners show a systematic perceptual bias in processing the highest voice in multi-voiced music. Here, we review studies utilizing event-related brain potentials (ERPs), which support the notions that (1) separate memory traces are formed for two simultaneous voices (even without conscious awareness) in auditory cortex and (2) adults show more robust encoding (i.e., larger ERP responses) to deviant pitches in the higher than in the lower voice, indicating better encoding of the former. Furthermore, infants also show this high-voice superiority effect, suggesting that the perceptual dominance observed across studies might result from neurophysiological characteristics of the peripheral auditory system. Although musically untrained adults show smaller responses in general than musically trained adults, both groups similarly show a more robust cortical representation of the higher than of the lower voice. Finally, years of experience playing a bass-range instrument reduces but does not reverse the high voice superiority effect, indicating that although it can be modified, it is not highly neuroplastic. Results of new modeling experiments examined the possibility that characteristics of middle-ear filtering and cochlear dynamics (e.g., suppression) reflected in auditory nerve firing patterns might account for the higher-voice superiority effect. Simulations show that both place and temporal AN coding schemes well-predict a high-voice superiority across a wide range of interval spacings and registers. Collectively, we infer an innate, peripheral origin for the higher-voice superiority observed in human

The effect of singing training on voice quality for people with quadriplegia.

PubMed

Tamplin, Jeanette; Baker, Felicity A; Buttifant, Mary; Berlowitz, David J

2014-01-01

Despite anecdotal reports of voice impairment in quadriplegia, the exact nature of these impairments is not well described in the literature. This article details objective and subjective voice assessments for people with quadriplegia at baseline and after a respiratory-targeted singing intervention. Randomized controlled trial. Twenty-four participants with quadriplegia were randomly assigned to a 12-week program of either a singing intervention or active music therapy control. Recordings of singing and speech were made at baseline, 6 weeks, 12 weeks, and 6 months postintervention. These deidentified recordings were used to measure sound pressure levels and assess voice quality using the Multidimensional Voice Profile and the Perceptual Voice Profile. Baseline voice quality data indicated deviation from normality in the areas of breathiness, strain, and roughness. A greater percentage of intervention participants moved toward more normal voice quality in terms of jitter, shimmer, and noise-to-harmonic ratio; however, the improvements failed to achieve statistical significance. Subjective and objective assessments of voice quality indicate that quadriplegia may have a detrimental effect on voice quality; in particular, causing a perception of roughness and breathiness in the voice. The results of this study suggest that singing training may have a role in ameliorating these voice impairments. Copyright © 2014 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Comparative effectiveness of propranolol and botulinum for the treatment of essential voice tremor.

PubMed

Justicz, Natalie; Hapner, Edie R; Josephs, Joshua S; Boone, Benjamin C; Jinnah, Hyder A; Johns, Michael M

2016-01-01

To assess the comparative effectiveness of botulinum toxin and propranolol in patients with essential vocal tremor (EVT). Individual prospective cohort study. Study patients were recruited at the Emory Voice Center from patients seeking treatment for EVT. Exclusion criteria included current β-blocker treatment, spasmodic dysphonia, or other disease that prevented the use of propranolol therapy. A 10-week washout period from prior botulinum toxin treatment occurred before enrollment. Patients were assessed via the Voice-Related Quality-Of-Life (VRQOL) questionnaire, Quality of life in Essential Tremor questionnaire, and blinded perceptual voice assessment. These assessments were made at baseline voice 2 weeks after propranolol therapy and 4 weeks after botulinum toxin injection. Eighteen patients were enrolled. After 2 to 4 weeks of propranolol therapy (with a maximum dosage of 60 mg to 90 mg per day), patients report an average ΔVRQOL of 9.31. Six patients report significant VRQOL improvement >10, with the rest reporting changes between -7.5 and 7.5. Fifteen patients were followed for at least 4 weeks after botulinum toxin injection, reporting an average improvement in scaled VRQOL of 22.00. Blinded perceptual voice assessment demonstrates an improvement in overall severity of tremor with botulinum toxin. In some patients with EVT, propranolol led to significant vocal improvement with no major side effects. Although botulinum toxin remains the gold-standard therapy for patients with EVT, propranolol represents a possible alternative or adjuvant therapy for certain patients. © 2015 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

Comparative Effectiveness of Propranolol and Botulinum for the Treatment of Essential Voice Tremor

PubMed Central

Justicz, Natalie; Hapner, Edie R.; Josephs, Joshua S.; Boone, Benjamin C.; Jinnah, Hyder A.; Johns, Michael M.

2016-01-01

Objectives/Hypothesis To assess the comparative effectiveness of botulinum toxin and propranolol in patients with essential vocal tremor (EVT). Study Design Individual prospective cohort study. Methods Study patients were recruited at the Emory Voice Center from patients seeking treatment for EVT. Exclusion criteria included current β-blocker treatment, spasmodic dysphonia, or other disease that prevented the use of propranolol therapy. A 10-week washout period from prior botulinum toxin treatment occurred before enrollment. Patients were assessed via the Voice-Related Quality-Of-Life (VRQOL) questionnaire, Quality of life in Essential Tremor questionnaire, and blinded perceptual voice assessment. These assessments were made at baseline voice 2 weeks after propranolol therapy and 4 weeks after botulinum toxin injection. Results Eighteen patients were enrolled. After 2 to 4 weeks of propranolol therapy (with a maximum dosage of 60 mg to 90 mg per day), patients report an average ΔVRQOL of 9.31. Six patients report significant VRQOL improvement >10, with the rest reporting changes between −7.5 and 7.5. Fifteen patients were followed for at least 4 weeks after botulinum toxin injection, reporting an average improvement in scaled VRQOL of 22.00. Blinded perceptual voice assessment demonstrates an improvement in overall severity of tremor with botulinum toxin. Conclusions In some patients with EVT, propranolol led to significant vocal improvement with no major side effects. Although botulinum toxin remains the gold-standard therapy for patients with EVT, propranolol represents a possible alternative or adjuvant therapy for certain patients. PMID:26198384

Perceptual aspects of singing.

PubMed

Sundberg, J

1994-06-01

The relations between acoustic and perceived characteristics of vowel sounds are demonstrated with respect to timbre, loudness, pitch, and expressive time patterns. The conditions for perceiving an ensemble of sine tones as one tone or several tones are reviewed. There are two aspects of timbre of voice sounds: vowel quality and voice quality. Although vowel quality depends mainly on the frequencies of the lowest two formants. In particular, the center frequency of the so-called singer's formant seems perceptually relevant. Vocal loudness, generally assumed to correspond closely to the sound pressure level, depends rather on the amplitude balance between the lower and the higher spectrum partials. The perceived pitch corresponds to the fundamental frequency, or for vibrato tones, the mean of this frequency. In rapid passages, such as coloratura singing, special patterns are used. Pitch and duration differences are categorically perceived in music. This means that small variations in tuning or duration do not affect the musical interval and the note value perceived. Categorical perception is used extensively in music performance for the purpose of musical expression because without violating the score, the singer may sharpen or flatten and lengthen or shorten the tones, thereby creating musical expression.

Development and Validation of the Children's Voice Handicap Index-10 for Parents.

PubMed

Ricci-Maccarini, Andrea; De Maio, Vincenzo; Murry, Thomas; Schindler, Antonio

2016-01-01

The Children's Voice Handicap Index-10 (CVHI-10) was introduced as a tool for self-assessment of children's dysphonia. However, in the management of children with voice disorders, both parents' and children's perspectives play an important role. Because a self-tool including both a children's and a parents' version does not exist yet, the aim of the study was to develop and validate an assessment tool which parallels the CVHI-10 for parents to assess the level of voice handicap in their child's voice. Observational, prospective, cross-sectional study. To develop a CVHI-10 for parents, called "CVHI-10-P", the CVHI-10 items were adapted to reflect parents' responses about their child. Fifty-five children aged 7-12 years completed the CVHI-10, whereas their parents completed the CVHI-10-P. Each child's voice was also perceptually assessed by an otolaryngologist using the Grade Breathness Roughness (GRB) scale. Fifty-one of the 55 children underwent voice therapy (VT) and were assessed afterward using the GRB, CVHI-10, and CVHI-10-P. CVHI-10-P internal consistency was satisfactory (Cronbach alpha = .78). Correlation between CVHI-10-P and CVHI-10 was moderate (r = 0.37). CVHI-10-P total scores were lower than CVHI-10 scores in most of the cases. Single-item mean scores were always lower in CVHI-10-P compared with CVHI-10, with the exception of the only one item of the CVHI-10-P that directly involves the parent's experience (item 10). Data gained from one tool are not directly related to the other, suggesting that these two tools appraise the child's voice handicap from different perspectives. The overall perceptual assessment scores of the 51 children after VT significantly improved. There was a statistically significant reduction of the total scores and for each item in CVHI-10 and CVHI-10-P after VT. These data support the adoption of the CVHI-10-P as an assessment tool and an outcome measure for management of children's voice disorders. CVHI-10-P is a valid tool to

Adductor spasmodic dysphonia: Relationships between acoustic indices and perceptual judgments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cannito, Michael P.; Sapienza, Christine M.; Woodson, Gayle; Murry, Thomas

2003-04-01

This study investigated relationships between acoustical indices of spasmodic dysphonia and perceptual scaling judgments of voice attributes made by expert listeners. Audio-recordings of The Rainbow Passage were obtained from thirty one speakers with spasmodic dysphonia before and after a BOTOX injection of the vocal folds. Six temporal acoustic measures were obtained across 15 words excerpted from each reading sample, including both frequency of occurrence and percent time for (1) aperiodic phonation, (2) phonation breaks, and (3) fundamental frequency shifts. Visual analog scaling judgments were also obtained from six voice experts using an interactive computer interface to quantify four voice attributes (i.e., overall quality, roughness, brokenness, breathiness) in a carefully psychoacoustically controlled environment, using the same reading passages as stimuli. Number and percent aperiodicity and phonation breaks correlated significanly with perceived overall voice quality, roughness, and brokenness before and after the BOTOX injection. Breathiness was correlated with aperidocity only prior to injection, while roughness also correlated with frequency shifts following injection. Factor analysis reduced perceived attributes to two principal components: glottal squeezing and breathiness. The acoustic measures demonstrated a strong regression relationship with perceived glottal squeezing, but no regression relationship with breathiness was observed. Implications for an analysis of pathologic voices will be discussed.

Perception of initial obstruent voicing is influenced by gestural organization

PubMed Central

Best, Catherine T.; Hallé, Pierre A.

2009-01-01

Cross-language differences in phonetic settings for phonological contrasts of stop voicing have posed a challenge for attempts to relate specific phonological features to specific phonetic details. We probe the phonetic-phonological relationship for voicing contrasts more broadly, analyzing in particular their relevance to nonnative speech perception, from two theoretical perspectives: feature geometry and articulatory phonology. Because these perspectives differ in assumptions about temporal/phasing relationships among features/gestures within syllable onsets, we undertook a cross-language investigation on perception of obstruent (stop, fricative) voicing contrasts in three nonnative onsets that use a common set of features/gestures but with differing time-coupling. Listeners of English and French, which differ in their phonetic settings for word-initial stop voicing distinctions, were tested on perception of three onset types, all nonnative to both English and French, that differ in how initial obstruent voicing is coordinated with a lateral feature/gesture and additional obstruent features/gestures. The targets, listed from least complex to most complex onsets, were: a lateral fricative voicing distinction (Zulu /ɬ/-ɮ/), a laterally-released affricate voicing distinction (Tlingit /tɬ/-/dɮ/), and a coronal stop voicing distinction in stop+/l/ clusters (Hebrew /tl/-/dl/). English and French listeners' performance reflected the differences in their native languages' stop voicing distinctions, compatible with prior perceptual studies on singleton consonant onsets. However, both groups' abilities to perceive voicing as a separable parameter also varied systematically with the structure of the target onsets, supporting the notion that the gestural organization of syllable onsets systematically affects perception of initial voicing distinctions. PMID:20228878

Relationship between Activity Noise, Voice Parameters, and Voice Symptoms among Female Teachers.

PubMed

Pirilä, Sirpa; Pirilä, Paula; Ansamaa, Terhi; Yliherva, Anneli; Sonning, Samuel; Rantala, Leena

2017-01-01

Our interest was in how teachers' voices behave during the delivery of lessons in core subjects (e.g., mathematics, science, etc.). We sought to evaluate the relationship between voice sound pressure level (SPL), vocal fundamental frequency (F0), voice symptoms, activity noise, and differences therein during the first and the last lessons in core subjects of the day. The participants were 24 female elementary school teachers. Voice symptoms were evaluated by questionnaire. The data were recorded on 2 portable voice accumulators (VoxLog) from the first and last lessons of the day. The versions of accumulators differed by frequency weighting; therefore, the analysis and the results of noise and voice SPL were treated separately: unweighted (group 1) and A-weighted (group 2). Difference in voice SPL followed difference in activity noise. F0 increased between the first and last lessons. Correlations were found between differences in the noise and the voice symptoms of tiredness and dryness. Irritating mucus was associated with high F0 during the first lesson. An apparent increase in voice loading due to the activity noise was observed during lessons in core subjects. Collaboration between specialists in voice and acoustics and teachers and pupils is needed to reduce this voice loading. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Perceptual Aspects of Motor Performance.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gallahue, David L.

Perceptual-motor functioning is a cyclic process involving: (1) organizing incoming sensory stimuli with past or stored perceptual information; (2) making motor (internal) decisions based on the combination of sensory (present) and perceptual (past) information; (3) executing the actual movement (observable act) itself; and (4) evaluating the act…

Famous faces and voices: Differential profiles in early right and left semantic dementia and in Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Luzzi, Simona; Baldinelli, Sara; Ranaldi, Valentina; Fabi, Katia; Cafazzo, Viviana; Fringuelli, Fabio; Silvestrini, Mauro; Provinciali, Leandro; Reverberi, Carlo; Gainotti, Guido

2017-01-08

Famous face and voice recognition is reported to be impaired both in semantic dementia (SD) and in Alzheimer's Disease (AD), although more severely in the former. In AD a coexistence of perceptual impairment in face and voice processing has also been reported and this could contribute to the altered performance in complex semantic tasks. On the other hand, in SD both face and voice recognition disorders could be related to the prevalence of atrophy in the right temporal lobe (RTL). The aim of the present study was twofold: (1) to investigate famous faces and voices recognition in SD and AD to verify if the two diseases show a differential pattern of impairment, resulting from disruption of different cognitive mechanisms; (2) to check if face and voice recognition disorders prevail in patients with atrophy mainly affecting the RTL. To avoid the potential influence of primary perceptual problems in face and voice recognition, a pool of patients suffering from early SD and AD were administered a detailed set of tests exploring face and voice perception. Thirteen SD (8 with prevalence of right and 5 with prevalence of left temporal atrophy) and 25 CE patients, who did not show visual and auditory perceptual impairment, were finally selected and were administered an experimental battery exploring famous face and voice recognition and naming. Twelve SD patients underwent cerebral PET imaging and were classified in right and left SD according to the onset modality and to the prevalent decrease in FDG uptake in right or left temporal lobe respectively. Correlation of PET imaging and famous face and voice recognition was performed. Results showed a differential performance profile in the two diseases, because AD patients were significantly impaired in the naming tests, but showed preserved recognition, whereas SD patients were profoundly impaired both in naming and in recognition of famous faces and voices. Furthermore, face and voice recognition disorders prevailed in SD

What makes a voice masculine: physiological and acoustical correlates of women's ratings of men's vocal masculinity.

PubMed

Cartei, Valentina; Bond, Rod; Reby, David

2014-09-01

Men's voices contain acoustic cues to body size and hormonal status, which have been found to affect women's ratings of speaker size, masculinity and attractiveness. However, the extent to which these voice parameters mediate the relationship between speakers' fitness-related features and listener's judgments of their masculinity has not yet been investigated. We audio-recorded 37 adult heterosexual males performing a range of speech tasks and asked 20 adult heterosexual female listeners to rate speakers' masculinity on the basis of their voices only. We then used a two-level (speaker within listener) path analysis to examine the relationships between the physiological (testosterone, height), acoustic (fundamental frequency or F0, and resonances or ΔF) and perceptual dimensions (listeners' ratings) of speakers' masculinity. Overall, results revealed that male speakers who were taller and had higher salivary testosterone levels also had lower F0 and ΔF, and were in turn rated as more masculine. The relationship between testosterone and perceived masculinity was essentially mediated by F0, while that of height and perceived masculinity was partially mediated by both F0 and ΔF. These observations confirm that women listeners attend to sexually dimorphic voice cues to assess the masculinity of unseen male speakers. In turn, variation in these voice features correlate with speakers' variation in stature and hormonal status, highlighting the interdependence of these physiological, acoustic and perceptual dimensions. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Comparing Voice-Therapy and Vocal-Hygiene Treatments in Dysphonia Using a Limited Multidimensional Evaluation Protocol

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodriguez-Parra, Maria J.; Adrian, Jose A.; Casado, Juan C.

2011-01-01

Purpose: This study evaluates the effectiveness of two different programs of voice-treatment on a heterogeneous group of dysphonic speakers and the stability of therapeutic progress for longterm follow-up post-treatment period, using a limited multidimensional protocol of evaluation. Method: Forty-two participants with voice disorders were…

An initial study of voice characteristics of children using two different sound coding strategies in comparison to normal hearing children.

PubMed

Coelho, Ana Cristina; Brasolotto, Alcione Ghedini; Bevilacqua, Maria Cecília

2015-06-01

To compare some perceptual and acoustic characteristics of the voices of children who use the advanced combination encoder (ACE) or fine structure processing (FSP) speech coding strategies, and to investigate whether these characteristics differ from children with normal hearing. Acoustic analysis of the sustained vowel /a/ was performed using the multi-dimensional voice program (MDVP). Analyses of sequential and spontaneous speech were performed using the real time pitch. Perceptual analyses of these samples were performed using visual-analogic scales of pre-selected parameters. Seventy-six children from three years to five years and 11 months of age participated. Twenty-eight were users of ACE, 23 were users of FSP, and 25 were children with normal hearing. Although both groups with CI presented with some deviated vocal features, the users of ACE presented with voice quality more like children with normal hearing than the users of FSP. Sound processing of ACE appeared to provide better conditions for auditory monitoring of the voice, and consequently, for better control of the voice production. However, these findings need to be further investigated due to the lack of comparative studies published to understand exactly which attributes of sound processing are responsible for differences in performance.

Cross-cultural equivalence and evaluation of psychometric properties of voice handicap index into Persian.

PubMed

Moradi, Negin; Pourshahbaz, Abbas; Soltani, Majid; Javadipour, Shiva; Hashemi, Hedieh; Soltaninejad, Nasibeh

2013-03-01

Quality of life is one of the important aspects in the assessment of health and treatment data output. The purpose of this study was to adapt and determine reliability and validity of Voice Handicap Index (VHI) in Persian. The subjects were 80 patients with voice disorders and 80 volunteers without any voice disorders as a control group. All subjects filled in the Persian version of VHI. The test was repeated 2 weeks later. The reliability and validity were studied. All items had significant discrimination coefficient. The internal consistency and reliability of test and retest in VHI total score and three subtests were achieved. It seems that the Persian version of VHI is a valid and reliable questionnaire, which voice therapists may use for completing their evaluation for patients with voice disorders, and it gives more information about the nature of voice disorder to specialists. Copyright © 2013 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Emotionally conditioning the target-speech voice enhances recognition of the target speech under "cocktail-party" listening conditions.

PubMed

Lu, Lingxi; Bao, Xiaohan; Chen, Jing; Qu, Tianshu; Wu, Xihong; Li, Liang

2018-05-01

Under a noisy "cocktail-party" listening condition with multiple people talking, listeners can use various perceptual/cognitive unmasking cues to improve recognition of the target speech against informational speech-on-speech masking. One potential unmasking cue is the emotion expressed in a speech voice, by means of certain acoustical features. However, it was unclear whether emotionally conditioning a target-speech voice that has none of the typical acoustical features of emotions (i.e., an emotionally neutral voice) can be used by listeners for enhancing target-speech recognition under speech-on-speech masking conditions. In this study we examined the recognition of target speech against a two-talker speech masker both before and after the emotionally neutral target voice was paired with a loud female screaming sound that has a marked negative emotional valence. The results showed that recognition of the target speech (especially the first keyword in a target sentence) was significantly improved by emotionally conditioning the target speaker's voice. Moreover, the emotional unmasking effect was independent of the unmasking effect of the perceived spatial separation between the target speech and the masker. Also, (skin conductance) electrodermal responses became stronger after emotional learning when the target speech and masker were perceptually co-located, suggesting an increase of listening efforts when the target speech was informationally masked. These results indicate that emotionally conditioning the target speaker's voice does not change the acoustical parameters of the target-speech stimuli, but the emotionally conditioned vocal features can be used as cues for unmasking target speech.

Voices to reckon with: perceptions of voice identity in clinical and non-clinical voice hearers

PubMed Central

Badcock, Johanna C.; Chhabra, Saruchi

2013-01-01

The current review focuses on the perception of voice identity in clinical and non-clinical voice hearers. Identity perception in auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) is grounded in the mechanisms of human (i.e., real, external) voice perception, and shapes the emotional (distress) and behavioral (help-seeking) response to the experience. Yet, the phenomenological assessment of voice identity is often limited, for example to the gender of the voice, and has failed to take advantage of recent models and evidence on human voice perception. In this paper we aim to synthesize the literature on identity in real and hallucinated voices and begin by providing a comprehensive overview of the features used to judge voice identity in healthy individuals and in people with schizophrenia. The findings suggest some subtle, but possibly systematic biases across different levels of voice identity in clinical hallucinators that are associated with higher levels of distress. Next we provide a critical evaluation of voice processing abilities in clinical and non-clinical voice hearers, including recent data collected in our laboratory. Our studies used diverse methods, assessing recognition and binding of words and voices in memory as well as multidimensional scaling of voice dissimilarity judgments. The findings overall point to significant difficulties recognizing familiar speakers and discriminating between unfamiliar speakers in people with schizophrenia, both with and without AVH. In contrast, these voice processing abilities appear to be generally intact in non-clinical hallucinators. The review highlights some important avenues for future research and treatment of AVH associated with a need for care, and suggests some novel insights into other symptoms of psychosis. PMID:23565088

Fundamental frequency and voice perturbation measures in smokers and non-smokers: An acoustic and perceptual study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Freeman, Allison

This research examined the fundamental frequency and perturbation (jitter % and shimmer %) measures in young adult (20-30 year-old) and middle-aged adult (40-55 year-old) smokers and non-smokers; there were 36 smokers and 36 non-smokers. Acoustic analysis was carried out utilizing one task: production of sustained /a/. These voice samples were analyzed utilizing Multi-Dimensional Voice Program (MDVP) software, which provided values for fundamental frequency, jitter %, and shimmer %.These values were analyzed for trends regarding smoking status, age, and gender. Statistical significance was found regarding the fundamental frequency, jitter %, and shimmer % for smokers as compared to non-smokers; smokers were found to have significantly lower fundamental frequency values, and significantly higher jitter % and shimmer % values. Statistical significance was not found regarding fundamental frequency, jitter %, and shimmer % for age group comparisons. With regard to gender, statistical significance was found regarding fundamental frequency; females were found to have statistically higher fundamental frequencies as compared to males. However, the relationships between gender and jitter % and shimmer % lacked statistical significance. These results indicate that smoking negatively affects voice quality. This study also examined the ability of untrained listeners to identify smokers and non-smokers based on their voices. Results of this voice perception task suggest that listeners are not accurately able to identify smokers and non-smokers, as statistical significance was not reached. However, despite a lack of significance, trends in data suggest that listeners are able to utilize voice quality to identify smokers and non-smokers.

Evaluating a voice recognition system: finding the right product for your department.

PubMed

Freeh, M; Dewey, M; Brigham, L

2001-06-01

The Department of Radiology at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center has been in the process of transitioning from the traditional film-based department to a digital imaging department for the past 2 years. The department is now transitioning from the traditional method of dictating reports (dictation by radiologist to transcription to review and signing by radiologist) to a voice recognition system. The transition to digital operations will not be complete until we have the ability to directly interface the dictation process with the image review process. Voice recognition technology has advanced to the level where it can and should be an integral part of the new way of working in radiology and is an integral part of an efficient digital imaging department. The transition to voice recognition requires the task of identifying the product and the company that will best meet a department's needs. This report introduces the methods we used to evaluate the vendors and the products available as we made our purchasing decision. We discuss our evaluation method and provide a checklist that can be used by other departments to assist with their evaluation process. The criteria used in the evaluation process fall into the following major categories: user operations, technical infrastructure, medical dictionary, system interfaces, service support, cost, and company strength. Conclusions drawn from our evaluation process will be detailed, with the intention being to shorten the process for others as they embark on a similar venture. As more and more organizations investigate the many products and services that are now being offered to enhance the operations of a radiology department, it becomes increasingly important that solid methods are used to most effectively evaluate the new products. This report should help others complete the task of evaluating a voice recognition system and may be adaptable to other products as well.

Voice disorders in the workplace: productivity in spasmodic dysphonia and the impact of botulinum toxin.

PubMed

Meyer, Tanya K; Hu, Amanda; Hillel, Allen D

2013-11-01

The impact of the disordered voice on standard work productivity measures and employment trends is difficult to quantify; this is in large part due to the heterogeneity of the disease processes. Spasmodic dysphonia (SD), a chronic voice disorder, may be a useful model to study this impact. Self-reported work measures (worked missed, work impairment, overall work productivity, and activity impairment) were studied among patients receiving botulinum toxin (BTX) treatments for SD. It was hypothesized that there would be a substantial difference in work-related measures between the best and worst voicing periods. In addition, job types, employment shifts, and vocal requirements during the course of vocal disability from SD were investigated for each individual, and the impact of SD on these patterns was studied. A total of 145 patients with SD, either adductor or abductor, who were established in routine therapeutic BTX injections agreed to participate in a self-administered questionnaire study. Seventy-two participants were currently working and provided highly detailed information on work-related measures. Their answers characterized the effect of SD on their employment status, productivity at work, activity impairment outside of work, employment retention or change, and whether the individual perceived that BTX therapy affected these measures. Patients were asked to complete the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment (WPAI) instrument to determine these measures for their best and worst voicing weeks over the duration since their previous BTX injection. Voice-specific quality of life instruments (Voice Handicap Index-10) and perceptual assessments (Consensus Auditory Perceptual Evaluation of Voice) were elicited to provide correlations of work measures with patient-perceived voice handicap and clinician-perceived voice quality. Cross-sectional analysis using self-administered questionnaire. A total of 108 patients reported ever working during their diagnosis and

Speech waveform perturbation analysis: a perceptual-acoustical comparison of seven measures.

PubMed

Askenfelt, A G; Hammarberg, B

1986-03-01

The performance of seven acoustic measures of cycle-to-cycle variations (perturbations) in the speech waveform was compared. All measures were calculated automatically and applied on running speech. Three of the measures refer to the frequency of occurrence and severity of waveform perturbations in special selected parts of the speech, identified by means of the rate of change in the fundamental frequency. Three other measures refer to statistical properties of the distribution of the relative frequency differences between adjacent pitch periods. One perturbation measure refers to the percentage of consecutive pitch period differences with alternating signs. The acoustic measures were tested on tape recorded speech samples from 41 voice patients, before and after successful therapy. Scattergrams of acoustic waveform perturbation data versus an average of perceived deviant voice qualities, as rated by voice clinicians, are presented. The perturbation measures were compared with regard to the acoustic-perceptual correlation and their ability to discriminate between normal and pathological voice status. The standard deviation of the distribution of the relative frequency differences was suggested as the most useful acoustic measure of waveform perturbations for clinical applications.

Long-term average spectrum in screening of voice quality in speech: untrained male university students.

PubMed

Leino, Timo

2009-11-01

Voice quality has mainly been studied in trained speakers, singers, and dysphonic patients. Few studies have concerned ordinary untrained university students' voices. In light of earlier studies of professional voice users, it was hypothesized that good, poor, and intermediate voices would be distinguishable on the basis of long-term average spectrum characteristics. In the present study, voice quality of 50 Finnish vocally untrained male university students was studied perceptually and using long-term average spectrum analysis of text reading samples of one minute duration. Equivalent sound level (Leq) of text reading was also measured. According to the results, the good and ordinary voices differed from the poor ones in their relatively higher sound level in the frequency range of 1-3 kHz and a prominent peak at 3-4 kHz. Good voices, however, did not differ from the ordinary voices in terms of the characteristics of the long-term average spectrum (LTAS). The strength of the peak at 3-4 kHz and the voice-quality scores correlated weakly but significantly. Voice quality and alpha ratio (level difference above and below 1 kHz) correlated likewise. Leq was significantly higher in the students with good and ordinary voices than in those with poor voices. The connections between Leq, voice quality, and the formation of the peak at 3-4 kHz warrant further studies.

The effectiveness of a voice treatment approach for teachers with self-reported voice problems.

PubMed

Gillivan-Murphy, Patricia; Drinnan, Michael J; O'Dwyer, Tadhg P; Ridha, Hayder; Carding, Paul

2006-09-01

Teachers are considered the professional group most at risk of developing voice-problems, but limited treatment effectiveness evidence exists. We studied prospectively the effectiveness of a 6-week combined treatment approach using vocal function exercises (VFEs) and vocal hygiene (VH) education with 20 teachers with self-reported voice problems. Twenty subjects were randomly assigned to a no-treatment control (n = 11) and a treatment group (n = 9). Fibreoptic endoscopic evaluation was carried out on all subjects before randomization. Two self-report voice outcome measures were used: the Voice-Related Quality of Life (VRQOL) and the Voice Symptom Severity Scale (VoiSS). A Voice Care Knowledge Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), developed specifically for the study, was also used to evaluate change in selected voice knowledge areas. A Student unpaired t test revealed a statistically significant (P < 0.05) improvement in the treatment group as measured by the VoiSS. There was not a significant improvement in the treatment group as measured by the V-RQOL. The difference in voice care knowledge areas was also significant for the treatment group (P < 0.05). This study suggests that a voice treatment approach of VFEs and VH education improved self-reported voice symptoms and voice care knowledge in a group of teachers.

Evaluating iPhone recordings for acoustic voice assessment.

PubMed

Lin, Emily; Hornibrook, Jeremy; Ormond, Tika

2012-01-01

This study examined the viability of using iPhone recordings for acoustic measurements of voice quality. Acoustic measures were compared between voice signals simultaneously recorded from 11 normal speakers (6 females and 5 males) through an iPhone (model A1303, Apple, USA) and a comparison recording system. Comparisons were also conducted between the pre- and post-operative voices recorded from 10 voice patients (4 females and 6 males) through the iPhone. Participants aged between 27 and 79 years. Measures from iPhone and comparison signals were found to be highly correlated. Findings of the effects of vowel type on the selected measures were consistent between the two recording systems and congruent with previous findings. Analysis of the patient data revealed that a selection of acoustic measures, such as vowel space area and voice perturbation measures, consistently demonstrated a positive change following phonosurgery. The present findings indicated that the iPhone device tested was useful for tracking voice changes for clinical management. Preliminary findings regarding factors such as gender and type of pathology suggest that intra-subject, instead of norm-referenced, comparisons of acoustic measures would be more useful in monitoring the progression of a voice disorder or tracking the treatment effect. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Effects of a three-week vocal exercise program using the Finnish Kuukka exercises on the speaking voice of Norwegian broadcast journalism students.

PubMed

Bele, Irene; Laukkanen, Anne-Maria; Sipilä, Laura

2010-12-01

Nine broadcast journalism students attended 10 hours in Kuukka vocal exercises, which aims at producing a ringing vocal quality. Nine control subjects received no training. A text was read at habitual loudness before and after the course. Five speech specialists evaluated the text samples for perceptual voice quality and analyzed mean fundamental frequency (F0), equivalent sound level (Leq), and long-term average spectrum (LTAS). For the Training Group, voice quality improved and correlated negatively with firmness and timbre (less firm and darker qualities being considered more desirable), and F0 increased slightly. Leq increased significantly in both groups. The results show positive and perceivable differences after the course. However, the aimed ring was not reached, may be due to too short time.

A Comparison of Educator Dispositions to Student Responses on the Kentucky Student Voice Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitis, Julie D.

2017-01-01

The primary purpose of this study was to determine if a correlation exists between teacher dispositions, grounded in Perceptual Psychology, and student results on the Kentucky Student Voice Survey (KSVS), a 25-question survey adapted from Cambridge Education's Tripod survey. A correlation was found between teacher dispositions and KSVS question…

Changes After Voice Therapy in Acoustic Voice Analysis of Chinese Patients With Voice Disorders.

PubMed

Lu, Dan; Chen, Fei; Yang, Hui; Yu, Rong; Zhou, Qi; Zhang, Xinyuan; Ren, Jia; Zheng, Yitao; Zhang, Xiaoyan; Zou, Jian; Wang, Haiyang; Liu, Jun

2018-05-01

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of voice therapy on patients with voice disorders by comparing the acoustic parameter changes before and after treatment. This is a retrospective study. Forty-five female patients with early-stage vocal nodules or polyps, postoperative patients, and patients with chronic laryngitis were divided into three subgroups. Videostroboscopic, acoustic analysis (fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, mean harmonics-to-noise ratio), and maximum phonation time (MPT) were measured before and after treatment. Fifty healthy female volunteers were the control group. After treatment, 24.4% of nodules or polyps had decreased in size, 11.1% of patients with chronic laryngitis and postoperative patients had reduced edema, and the mucosal wave of vocal folds had different degrees of recovery in postoperative patients. All acoustic analysis values and MPT in the patient group were statistically worse than in the control group, except for fundamental frequency before treatment (P > 0.05). After treatment, the acoustic analysis and MPT values were improved. However, the jitter, mean harmonics-to-noise ratio, and MPT values in the patient group were still worse after voice therapy than in the control group (P < 0.05). Most of acoustic analysis values can be useful as a complementary tool in diagnosis and assessment of voice disorders; however, it is not recommended to use a single parameter to assess voice quality. Voice therapy can improve voice quality in patients with voice disorders, but a period longer than 8 weeks is recommended for these patients. Copyright © 2018 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Voice and endocrinology

PubMed Central

Hari Kumar, K. V. S.; Garg, Anurag; Ajai Chandra, N. S.; Singh, S. P.; Datta, Rakesh

2016-01-01

Voice is one of the advanced features of natural evolution that differentiates human beings from other primates. The human voice is capable of conveying the thoughts into spoken words along with a subtle emotion to the tone. This extraordinary character of the voice in expressing multiple emotions is the gift of God to the human beings and helps in effective interpersonal communication. Voice generation involves close interaction between cerebral signals and the peripheral apparatus consisting of the larynx, vocal cords, and trachea. The human voice is susceptible to the hormonal changes throughout life right from the puberty until senescence. Thyroid, gonadal and growth hormones have tremendous impact on the structure and function of the vocal apparatus. The alteration of voice is observed even in physiological states such as puberty and menstruation. Astute clinical observers make out the changes in the voice and refer the patients for endocrine evaluation. In this review, we shall discuss the hormonal influence on the voice apparatus in normal and endocrine disorders. PMID:27730065

Voice Use Among Music Theory Teachers: A Voice Dosimetry and Self-Assessment Study.

PubMed

Schiller, Isabel S; Morsomme, Dominique; Remacle, Angélique

2017-07-25

This study aimed (1) to investigate music theory teachers' professional and extra-professional vocal loading and background noise exposure, (2) to determine the correlation between vocal loading and background noise, and (3) to determine the correlation between vocal loading and self-evaluation data. Using voice dosimetry, 13 music theory teachers were monitored for one workweek. The parameters analyzed were voice sound pressure level (SPL), fundamental frequency (F0), phonation time, vocal loading index (VLI), and noise SPL. Spearman correlation was used to correlate vocal loading parameters (voice SPL, F0, and phonation time) and noise SPL. Each day, the subjects self-assessed their voice using visual analog scales. VLI and self-evaluation data were correlated using Spearman correlation. Vocal loading parameters and noise SPL were significantly higher in the professional than in the extra-professional environment. Voice SPL, phonation time, and female subjects' F0 correlated positively with noise SPL. VLI correlated with self-assessed voice quality, vocal fatigue, and amount of singing and speaking voice produced. Teaching music theory is a profession with high vocal demands. More background noise is associated with increased vocal loading and may indirectly increase the risk for voice disorders. Correlations between VLI and self-assessments suggest that these teachers are well aware of their vocal demands and feel their effect on voice quality and vocal fatigue. Visual analog scales seem to represent a useful tool for subjective vocal loading assessment and associated symptoms in these professional voice users. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Acoustic analysis of voice in children with cleft palate and velopharyngeal insufficiency.

PubMed

Villafuerte-Gonzalez, Rocio; Valadez-Jimenez, Victor M; Hernandez-Lopez, Xochiquetzal; Ysunza, Pablo Antonio

2015-07-01

Acoustic analysis of voice can provide instrumental data concerning vocal abnormalities. These findings can be used for monitoring clinical course in cases of voice disorders. Cleft palate severely affects the structure of the vocal tract. Hence, voice quality can also be also affected. To study whether the main acoustic parameters of voice, including fundamental frequency, shimmer and jitter are significantly different in patients with a repaired cleft palate, as compared with normal children without speech, language and voice disorders. Fourteen patients with repaired unilateral cleft lip and palate and persistent or residual velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI) were studied. A control group was assembled with healthy volunteer subjects matched by age and gender. Hypernasality and nasal emission were perceptually assessed in patients with VPI. Size of the gap as assessed by videonasopharyngoscopy was classified in patients with VPI. Acoustic analysis of voice including Fundamental frequency (F0), shimmer and jitter were compared between patients with VPI and control subjects. F0 was significantly higher in male patients as compared with male controls. Shimmer was significantly higher in patients with VPI regardless of gender. Moreover, patients with moderate VPI showed a significantly higher shimmer perturbation, regardless of gender. Although future research regarding voice disorders in patients with VPI is needed, at the present time it seems reasonable to include strategies for voice therapy in the speech and language pathology intervention plan for patients with VPI. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis-Pre-clinical trials of controlling the voice onset and offset.

PubMed

Ahmadi, Farzaneh; Noorian, Farzad; Novakovic, Daniel; van Schaik, André

2018-01-01

Despite emergent progress in many fields of bionics, a functional Bionic Voice prosthesis for laryngectomy patients (larynx amputees) has not yet been achieved, leading to a lifetime of vocal disability for these patients. This study introduces a novel framework of Pneumatic Bionic Voice Prostheses as an electronic adaptation of the Pneumatic Artificial Larynx (PAL) device. The PAL is a non-invasive mechanical voice source, driven exclusively by respiration with an exceptionally high voice quality, comparable to the existing gold standard of Tracheoesophageal (TE) voice prosthesis. Following PAL design closely as the reference, Pneumatic Bionic Voice Prostheses seem to have a strong potential to substitute the existing gold standard by generating a similar voice quality while remaining non-invasive and non-surgical. This paper designs the first Pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis and evaluates its onset and offset control against the PAL device through pre-clinical trials on one laryngectomy patient. The evaluation on a database of more than five hours of continuous/isolated speech recordings shows a close match between the onset/offset control of the Pneumatic Bionic Voice and the PAL with an accuracy of 98.45 ±0.54%. When implemented in real-time, the Pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis controller has an average onset/offset delay of 10 milliseconds compared to the PAL. Hence it addresses a major disadvantage of previous electronic voice prostheses, including myoelectric Bionic Voice, in meeting the short time-frames of controlling the onset/offset of the voice in continuous speech.

Relations of singing talent with voice onset time of trained and untrained female singers.

PubMed

McCrea, Christopher R; Watts, Christopher

2007-08-01

This study examined phonatory-articulatory timing during sung productions by trained and untrained female singers with and without singing talent. 31 untrained female singers were divided into two groups (talented or untalented) based on the perceptual judgments of singing talent by two experienced vocal instructors. In addition to the untrained singers, 24 trained female singers were recorded singing America the Beautiful, and voice onset time was measured for selected words containing /p, b, g, k/. Univariate analyses of variance indicated that phonatory-articulatory timing, as measured with voice onset time, was different among the three groups for /g/, with the untrained-untalented singers displaying longer voice onset time than the trained singers. No other significant differences were observed across the other phonemes. Despite a significant difference observed, relatively small effect sizes and statistical power make it difficult to draw any conclusions regarding the usefulness of voice onset time as an indicator of singing talent.

Self-perception, complaints and vocal quality among undergraduate students enrolled in a Pedagogy course.

PubMed

Fabron, Eliana Maria Gradim; Regaçone, Simone Fiuza; Marino, Viviane Cristina de Castro; Mastria, Marina Ludovico; Motonaga, Suely Mayumi; Sebastião, Luciana Tavares

2015-01-01

To compare the vocal self-perception and vocal complaints reported by two groups of students of the pedagogy course (freshmen and graduates); to relate the vocal self-perception to the vocal complaints for these groups; and to compare the voice quality of the students from these groups through perceptual auditory assessment and acoustic analysis. Initially, 89 students from the pedagogy course answered a questionnaire about self-perceived voice quality and vocal complaints. In a second phase, auditory-perceptual evaluation and acoustic analyses of 48 participants were made through voice recordings of sustained vowel emission and poem reading. The most reported vocal complaints were fatigue while using the voice, sore throat, effort to speak, irritation or burning in the throat, hoarseness, tightness in the neck, and variations of voice throughout the day. There was a higher occurrence of complaints from graduates than from freshmen, with significant differences for four of the nine complaints. It was also possible to observe the relationship between vocal self-perception and complaints reported by these students. No significant differences were observed in the results of auditory-perceptual evaluation; however, some graduates had their voices evaluated with higher severity of deviation of normalcy. During acoustic analysis no difference was observed between groups. The increase in vocal demand by the graduates may have caused the greatest number and diversity of vocal complaints, and several of them are related to the self-assessment of voice quality. The auditory-perceptual evaluation and acoustic analysis showed no deviations in their voice.

A pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis—Pre-clinical trials of controlling the voice onset and offset

PubMed Central

Noorian, Farzad; Novakovic, Daniel; van Schaik, André

2018-01-01

Despite emergent progress in many fields of bionics, a functional Bionic Voice prosthesis for laryngectomy patients (larynx amputees) has not yet been achieved, leading to a lifetime of vocal disability for these patients. This study introduces a novel framework of Pneumatic Bionic Voice Prostheses as an electronic adaptation of the Pneumatic Artificial Larynx (PAL) device. The PAL is a non-invasive mechanical voice source, driven exclusively by respiration with an exceptionally high voice quality, comparable to the existing gold standard of Tracheoesophageal (TE) voice prosthesis. Following PAL design closely as the reference, Pneumatic Bionic Voice Prostheses seem to have a strong potential to substitute the existing gold standard by generating a similar voice quality while remaining non-invasive and non-surgical. This paper designs the first Pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis and evaluates its onset and offset control against the PAL device through pre-clinical trials on one laryngectomy patient. The evaluation on a database of more than five hours of continuous/isolated speech recordings shows a close match between the onset/offset control of the Pneumatic Bionic Voice and the PAL with an accuracy of 98.45 ±0.54%. When implemented in real-time, the Pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis controller has an average onset/offset delay of 10 milliseconds compared to the PAL. Hence it addresses a major disadvantage of previous electronic voice prostheses, including myoelectric Bionic Voice, in meeting the short time-frames of controlling the onset/offset of the voice in continuous speech. PMID:29466455

[Perceptual sharpness metric for visible and infrared color fusion images].

PubMed

Gao, Shao-Shu; Jin, Wei-Qi; Wang, Xia; Wang, Ling-Xue; Luo, Yuan

2012-12-01

For visible and infrared color fusion images, objective sharpness assessment model is proposed to measure the clarity of detail and edge definition of the fusion image. Firstly, the contrast sensitivity functions (CSF) of the human visual system is used to reduce insensitive frequency components under certain viewing conditions. Secondly, perceptual contrast model, which takes human luminance masking effect into account, is proposed based on local band-limited contrast model. Finally, the perceptual contrast is calculated in the region of interest (contains image details and edges) in the fusion image to evaluate image perceptual sharpness. Experimental results show that the proposed perceptual sharpness metrics provides better predictions, which are more closely matched to human perceptual evaluations, than five existing sharpness (blur) metrics for color images. The proposed perceptual sharpness metrics can evaluate the perceptual sharpness for color fusion images effectively.

Comparing Measures of Voice Quality From Sustained Phonation and Continuous Speech.

PubMed

Gerratt, Bruce R; Kreiman, Jody; Garellek, Marc

2016-10-01

The question of what type of utterance-a sustained vowel or continuous speech-is best for voice quality analysis has been extensively studied but with equivocal results. This study examines whether previously reported differences derive from the articulatory and prosodic factors occurring in continuous speech versus sustained phonation. Speakers with voice disorders sustained vowels and read sentences. Vowel samples were excerpted from the steadiest portion of each vowel in the sentences. In addition to sustained and excerpted vowels, a 3rd set of stimuli was created by shortening sustained vowel productions to match the duration of vowels excerpted from continuous speech. Acoustic measures were made on the stimuli, and listeners judged the severity of vocal quality deviation. Sustained vowels and those extracted from continuous speech contain essentially the same acoustic and perceptual information about vocal quality deviation. Perceived and/or measured differences between continuous speech and sustained vowels derive largely from voice source variability across segmental and prosodic contexts and not from variations in vocal fold vibration in the quasisteady portion of the vowels. Approaches to voice quality assessment by using continuous speech samples average across utterances and may not adequately quantify the variability they are intended to assess.

Studying real-world perceptual expertise

PubMed Central

Shen, Jianhong; Mack, Michael L.; Palmeri, Thomas J.

2014-01-01

Significant insights into visual cognition have come from studying real-world perceptual expertise. Many have previously reviewed empirical findings and theoretical developments from this work. Here we instead provide a brief perspective on approaches, considerations, and challenges to studying real-world perceptual expertise. We discuss factors like choosing to use real-world versus artificial object domains of expertise, selecting a target domain of real-world perceptual expertise, recruiting experts, evaluating their level of expertise, and experimentally testing experts in the lab and online. Throughout our perspective, we highlight expert birding (also called birdwatching) as an example, as it has been used as a target domain for over two decades in the perceptual expertise literature. PMID:25147533

Evaluation of a voice recognition system for the MOTAS pseudo pilot station function

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Houck, J. A.

1982-01-01

The Langley Research Center has undertaken a technology development activity to provide a capability, the mission oriented terminal area simulation (MOTAS), wherein terminal area and aircraft systems studies can be performed. An experiment was conducted to evaluate state-of-the-art voice recognition technology and specifically, the Threshold 600 voice recognition system to serve as an aircraft control input device for the MOTAS pseudo pilot station function. The results of the experiment using ten subjects showed a recognition error of 3.67 percent for a 48-word vocabulary tested against a programmed vocabulary of 103 words. After the ten subjects retrained the Threshold 600 system for the words which were misrecognized or rejected, the recognition error decreased to 1.96 percent. The rejection rates for both cases were less than 0.70 percent. Based on the results of the experiment, voice recognition technology and specifically the Threshold 600 voice recognition system were chosen to fulfill this MOTAS function.

ViA: a perceptual visualization assistant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Healey, Chris G.; St. Amant, Robert; Elhaddad, Mahmoud S.

2000-05-01

This paper describes an automated visualized assistant called ViA. ViA is designed to help users construct perceptually optical visualizations to represent, explore, and analyze large, complex, multidimensional datasets. We have approached this problem by studying what is known about the control of human visual attention. By harnessing the low-level human visual system, we can support our dual goals of rapid and accurate visualization. Perceptual guidelines that we have built using psychophysical experiments form the basis for ViA. ViA uses modified mixed-initiative planning algorithms from artificial intelligence to search of perceptually optical data attribute to visual feature mappings. Our perceptual guidelines are integrated into evaluation engines that provide evaluation weights for a given data-feature mapping, and hints on how that mapping might be improved. ViA begins by asking users a set of simple questions about their dataset and the analysis tasks they want to perform. Answers to these questions are used in combination with the evaluation engines to identify and intelligently pursue promising data-feature mappings. The result is an automatically-generated set of mappings that are perceptually salient, but that also respect the context of the dataset and users' preferences about how they want to visualize their data.

[Evaluation of music department students who passed the entrance exam with phonetogram (Voice Range Profile)].

PubMed

Gökdoğan, Çağıl; Gökdoğan, Ozan; Şahin, Esra; Yılmaz, Metin

2014-01-01

This study aims to evaluate phonetogram data of the students in the department of music who passed the entrance exam. The phonetogram data of 44 individuals with a good voice quality in the department of music and age-matched individuals who were not trained in the field of music or not involved in music amateurish as the control group were compared. The voice of both groups were recorded using the voice range profile within the scope of Kay Elemetrics CSL (Model 4300 B) programmed. There was a significant difference in the voice range profile parameters including max Fo, Fo range, Fo range (St), min dB SPL, and max dB sound pressure level (p<0.05). Our study results suggest that the voice interval of the department of music is higher than the control group and that plays a major role in their acceptance to the department of music.

Phonomicrosurgery in Vocal Fold Nodules: Quantification of Outcomes in Professional and Non-Professional Voice Users.

PubMed

Caffier, Philipp P; Salmen, Tatjana; Ermakova, Tatiana; Forbes, Eleanor; Ko, Seo-Rin; Song, Wen; Gross, Manfred; Nawka, Tadeus

2017-12-01

There are few data demonstrating the specific extent to which surgical intervention for vocal fold nodules (VFN) improves vocal function in professional (PVU) and non-professional voice users (NVU). The objective of this study was to compare and quantify results after phonomicrosurgery for VFN in these patient groups. In a prospective clinical study, surgery was performed via microlaryngoscopy in 37 female patients with chronic VFN manifestations (38±12 yrs, mean±SD). Pre- and postoperative evaluations of treatment efficacy comprised videolaryngostroboscopy, auditory-perceptual voice assessment, voice range profile (VRP), acoustic-aerodynamic analysis, and voice handicap index (VHI-9i). The dysphonia severity index (DSI) was compared with the vocal extent measure (VEM). PVU (n=24) and NVU (n=13) showed comparable laryngeal findings and levels of suffering (VHI-9i 16±7 vs 17±8), but PVU had a better pretherapeutic vocal range (26.8±7.4 vs 17.7±5.1 semitones, p<0.001) and vocal capacity (VEM 106±18 vs 74±29, p<0.01). Three months postoperatively, all patients had straight vocal fold edges, complete glottal closure, and recovered mucosal wave propagation. The mean VHI-9i score decreased by 8±6 points. DSI increased from 4.0±2.4 to 5.5±2.4, and VEM from 95±27 to 108±23 (p<0.001). Both parameters correlated significantly (rs=0.82). The average vocal range increased by 4.1±5.3 semitones, and the mean speaking pitch lowered by 0.5±1.4 semitones. These results confirm that phonomicrosurgery for VFN is a safe therapy for voice improvement in both PVU and NVU who do not respond to voice therapy alone. Top-level artistic capabilities in PVU were restored, but numeric changes of most vocal parameters were considerably larger in NVU.

Perceptual integration of acoustic cues to laryngeal contrasts in Korean fricatives.

PubMed

Lee, Sarah; Katz, Jonah

2016-02-01

This paper provides evidence that multiple acoustic cues involving the presence of low-frequency energy integrate in the perception of Korean coronal fricatives. This finding helps explain a surprising asymmetry between the production and perception of these fricatives found in previous studies: lower F0 onset in the following vowel leads to a response bias for plain [s] over fortis [s*], despite the fact that there is no evidence for a corresponding acoustic asymmetry in the production of [s] and [s*]. A fixed classification task using the Garner paradigm provides evidence that low F0 in a following vowel and the presence of voicing during frication perceptually integrate. This suggests that Korean listeners in previous experiments were responding to an "intermediate perceptual property" of stimuli, despite the fact that the individual acoustic components of that property are not all present in typical Korean fricative productions. The finding also broadens empirical support for the general idea of perceptual integration to a language, a different manner of consonant, and a situation where covariance of the acoustic cues under investigation is not generally present in a listener's linguistic input.

Thermal welding vs. cold knife tonsillectomy: a comparison of voice and speech.

PubMed

Celebi, Saban; Yelken, Kursat; Celik, Oner; Taskin, Umit; Topak, Murat

2011-01-01

To compare acoustic, aerodynamic and perceptual voice and speech parameters in thermal welding system tonsillectomy and cold knife tonsillectomy patients in order to determine the impact of operation technique on voice and speech. Thirty tonsillectomy patients (22 children, 8 adults) participated in this study. The preferred technique was cold knife tonsillectomy in 15 patients and thermal welding system tonsillectomy in the remaining 15 patients. One week before and 1 month after surgery the following parameters were estimated: average of fundamental frequency, Jitter, Shimmer, harmonic to noise ratio, formant frequency analyses of sustained vowels. Perceptual speech analysis and aerodynamic measurements (maximum phonation time and s/z ratio) were also conducted. There was no significant difference in any of the parameters between cold knife tonsillectomy and thermal welding system tonsillectomy groups (p>0.05). When the groups were contrasted among themselves with regards to preoperative and postoperative rates, fundamental frequency was found to be significantly decreased after tonsillectomy in both of the groups (p<0.001). First formant for the vowel /a/ in the cold knife tonsillectomy group and for the vowel /i/ in the thermal welding system tonsillectomy group, second formant for the vowel /u/ in the thermal welding system tonsillectomy group and third formant for the vowel /u/ in the cold knife tonsillectomy group were found to be significantly decreased (p<0.05). The surgical technique, whether it is cold knife or thermal welding system, does not appear to affect voice and speech in tonsillectomy patients. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Measurement of voice onset time in maxillectomy patients.

PubMed

Hattori, Mariko; Sumita, Yuka I; Taniguchi, Hisashi

2014-01-01

Objective speech evaluation using acoustic measurement is needed for the proper rehabilitation of maxillectomy patients. For digital evaluation of consonants, measurement of voice onset time is one option. However, voice onset time has not been measured in maxillectomy patients as their consonant sound spectra exhibit unique characteristics that make the measurement of voice onset time challenging. In this study, we established criteria for measuring voice onset time in maxillectomy patients for objective speech evaluation. We examined voice onset time for /ka/ and /ta/ in 13 maxillectomy patients by calculating the number of valid measurements of voice onset time out of three trials for each syllable. Wilcoxon's signed rank test showed that voice onset time measurements were more successful for /ka/ and /ta/ when a prosthesis was used (Z = -2.232, P = 0.026 and Z = -2.401, P = 0.016, resp.) than when a prosthesis was not used. These results indicate a prosthesis affected voice onset measurement in these patients. Although more research in this area is needed, measurement of voice onset time has the potential to be used to evaluate consonant production in maxillectomy patients wearing a prosthesis.

Measurement of Voice Onset Time in Maxillectomy Patients

PubMed Central

Hattori, Mariko; Sumita, Yuka I.; Taniguchi, Hisashi

2014-01-01

Objective speech evaluation using acoustic measurement is needed for the proper rehabilitation of maxillectomy patients. For digital evaluation of consonants, measurement of voice onset time is one option. However, voice onset time has not been measured in maxillectomy patients as their consonant sound spectra exhibit unique characteristics that make the measurement of voice onset time challenging. In this study, we established criteria for measuring voice onset time in maxillectomy patients for objective speech evaluation. We examined voice onset time for /ka/ and /ta/ in 13 maxillectomy patients by calculating the number of valid measurements of voice onset time out of three trials for each syllable. Wilcoxon's signed rank test showed that voice onset time measurements were more successful for /ka/ and /ta/ when a prosthesis was used (Z = −2.232, P = 0.026 and Z = −2.401, P = 0.016, resp.) than when a prosthesis was not used. These results indicate a prosthesis affected voice onset measurement in these patients. Although more research in this area is needed, measurement of voice onset time has the potential to be used to evaluate consonant production in maxillectomy patients wearing a prosthesis. PMID:24574934

Voice quality after endoscopic laser surgery and radiotherapy for early glottic cancer: objective measurements emphasizing the Voice Handicap Index

PubMed Central

Caminero Cueva, Maria Jesús; Señaris González, Blanca; Llorente Pendás, José Luis; Gorriz Gil, Carmen; López Llames, Aurora; Alonso Pantiga, Ramón; Suárez Nieto, Carlos

2007-01-01

We analyzed the functional outcome and self-evaluation of the voice of patients with T1 glottic carcinoma treated with endoscopic laser surgery and radiotherapy. We performed an objective voice evaluation, as well as a physical, emotional and functional well being assessment of 19 patients treated with laser surgery and 18 patients treated with radiotherapy. Voice quality is affected both by surgery and radiotherapy. Voice parameters only show differences in the maximum phonation time between both treatments. Results in the Voice Handicap Index show that radiotherapy has less effect on patient voice quality perception. There is a reduced impact on the patient’s perception of voice quality after radiotherapy, despite there being no significant differences in vocal quality between radiotherapy and laser cordectomy. PMID:17999074

Secure voice-based authentication for mobile devices: vaulted voice verification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, R. C.; Scheirer, Walter J.; Boult, Terrance E.

2013-05-01

As the use of biometrics becomes more wide-spread, the privacy concerns that stem from the use of biometrics are becoming more apparent. As the usage of mobile devices grows, so does the desire to implement biometric identification into such devices. A large majority of mobile devices being used are mobile phones. While work is being done to implement different types of biometrics into mobile phones, such as photo based biometrics, voice is a more natural choice. The idea of voice as a biometric identifier has been around a long time. One of the major concerns with using voice as an identifier is the instability of voice. We have developed a protocol that addresses those instabilities and preserves privacy. This paper describes a novel protocol that allows a user to authenticate using voice on a mobile/remote device without compromising their privacy. We first discuss the Vaulted Verification protocol, which has recently been introduced in research literature, and then describe its limitations. We then introduce a novel adaptation and extension of the Vaulted Verification protocol to voice, dubbed Vaulted Voice Verification (V3). Following that we show a performance evaluation and then conclude with a discussion of security and future work.

Effects on vocal range and voice quality of singing voice training: the classically trained female voice.

PubMed

Pabon, Peter; Stallinga, Rob; Södersten, Maria; Ternström, Sten

2014-01-01

A longitudinal study was performed on the acoustical effects of singing voice training under a given study program, using the voice range profile (VRP). Pretraining and posttraining recordings were made of students who participated in a 3-year bachelor singing study program. A questionnaire that included questions on optimal range, register use, classification, vocal health and hygiene, mixing technique, and training goals was used to rate and categorize self-assessed voice changes. Based on the responses, a subgroup of 10 classically trained female voices was selected, which was homogeneous enough for effects of training to be identified. The VRP perimeter contour was analyzed for effects of voice training. Also, a mapping within the VRP of voice quality, as expressed by the crest factor, was used to indicate the register boundaries and to monitor the acoustical consequences of the newly learned vocal technique of "mixed voice." VRPs were averaged across subjects. Findings were compared with the self-assessed vocal changes. Pre/post comparison of the average VRPs showed, in the midrange, (1) a decrease in the VRP area that was associated with the loud chest voice, (2) a reduction of the crest factor values, and (3) a reduction of maximum sound pressure level values. The students' self-evaluations of the voice changes appeared in some cases to contradict the VRP findings. VRPs of individual voices were seen to change over the course of a singing education. These changes were manifest also in the average group. High-resolution computerized recording, complemented with an acoustic register marker, allows a meaningful assessment of some effects of training, on an individual basis and for groups that comprise singers of a specific genre. It is argued that this kind of investigation is possible only within a focused training program, given by a faculty who has agreed on the goals. Copyright © 2014 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Outlining face processing skills of portrait artists: Perceptual experience with faces predicts performance.

PubMed

Devue, Christel; Barsics, Catherine

2016-10-01

Most humans seem to demonstrate astonishingly high levels of skill in face processing if one considers the sophisticated level of fine-tuned discrimination that face recognition requires. However, numerous studies now indicate that the ability to process faces is not as fundamental as once thought and that performance can range from despairingly poor to extraordinarily high across people. Here we studied people who are super specialists of faces, namely portrait artists, to examine how their specific visual experience with faces relates to a range of face processing skills (perceptual discrimination, short- and longer term recognition). Artists show better perceptual discrimination and, to some extent, recognition of newly learned faces than controls. They are also more accurate on other perceptual tasks (i.e., involving non-face stimuli or mental rotation). By contrast, artists do not display an advantage compared to controls on longer term face recognition (i.e., famous faces) nor on person recognition from other sensorial modalities (i.e., voices). Finally, the face inversion effect exists in artists and controls and is not modulated by artistic practice. Advantages in face processing for artists thus seem to closely mirror perceptual and visual short term memory skills involved in portraiture. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Perceptual learning.

PubMed

Seitz, Aaron R

2017-07-10

Perceptual learning refers to how experience can change the way we perceive sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch. Examples abound: music training improves our ability to discern tones; experience with food and wines can refine our pallet (and unfortunately more quickly empty our wallet), and with years of training radiologists learn to save lives by discerning subtle details of images that escape the notice of untrained viewers. We often take perceptual learning for granted, but it has a profound impact on how we perceive the world. In this Primer, I will explain how perceptual learning is transformative in guiding our perceptual processes, how research into perceptual learning provides insight into fundamental mechanisms of learning and brain processes, and how knowledge of perceptual learning can be used to develop more effective training approaches for those requiring expert perceptual skills or those in need of perceptual rehabilitation (such as individuals with poor vision). I will make a case that perceptual learning is ubiquitous, scientifically interesting, and has substantial practical utility to us all. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Auditory traits of "own voice".

PubMed

Kimura, Marino; Yotsumoto, Yuko

2018-01-01

People perceive their recorded voice differently from their actively spoken voice. The uncanny valley theory proposes that as an object approaches humanlike characteristics, there is an increase in the sense of familiarity; however, eventually a point is reached where the object becomes strangely similar and makes us feel uneasy. The feeling of discomfort experienced when people hear their recorded voice may correspond to the floor of the proposed uncanny valley. To overcome the feeling of eeriness of own-voice recordings, previous studies have suggested equalization of the recorded voice with various types of filters, such as step, bandpass, and low-pass, yet the effectiveness of these filters has not been evaluated. To address this, the aim of experiment 1 was to identify what type of voice recording was the most representative of one's own voice. The voice recordings were presented in five different conditions: unadjusted recorded voice, step filtered voice, bandpass filtered voice, low-pass filtered voice, and a voice for which the participants freely adjusted the parameters. We found large individual differences in the most representative own-voice filter. In order to consider roles of sense of agency, experiment 2 investigated if lip-synching would influence the rating of own voice. The result suggested lip-synching did not affect own voice ratings. In experiment 3, based on the assumption that the voices used in previous experiments corresponded to continuous representations of non-own voice to own voice, the existence of an uncanny valley was examined. Familiarity, eeriness, and the sense of own voice were rated. The result did not support the existence of an uncanny valley. Taken together, the experiments led us to the following conclusions: there is no general filter that can represent own voice for everyone, sense of agency has no effect on own voice rating, and the uncanny valley does not exist for own voice, specifically.

[Applicability of voice acoustic analysis with vocal loading testto diagnostics of occupational voice diseases].

PubMed

Niebudek-Bogusz, Ewa; Sliwińska-Kowalska, Mariola

2006-01-01

An assessment of the vocal system, as a part of the medical certification of occupational diseases, should be objective and reliable. Therefore, interest in the method of acoustic voice analysis enabling objective assessment of voice parameters is still growing. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the applicability of acoustic analysis with vocal loading test to the diagnostics of occupational voice disorders. The results of acoustic voice analysis were compared using IRIS software for phoniatrics, before and after a 30-min vocal loading test in 35 female teachers with diagnosed occupational voice disorders (group I) and in 31 female teachers with functional dysphonia (group II). In group I, vocal effort produced significant abnormalities in voice acoustic parameters, compared to group II. These included significantly increased mean fundamental frequency (Fo) value (by 11 Hz) and worsened jitter, shimmer and NHR parameters. Also, the percentage of subjects showing abnormalities in voice acoustic analysis was higher in this group. Conducting voice acoustic analysis before and after the vocal loading test makes it possible to objectively confirm irreversible voice impairments in persons with work-related pathologies of the larynx, which is essential for medical certification of occupational voice diseases.

Quantitative analysis of professionally trained versus untrained voices.

PubMed

Siupsinskiene, Nora

2003-01-01

The aim of this study was to compare healthy trained and untrained voices as well as healthy and dysphonic trained voices in adults using combined voice range profile and aerodynamic tests, to define the normal range limiting values of quantitative voice parameters and to select the most informative quantitative voice parameters for separation between healthy and dysphonic trained voices. Three groups of persons were evaluated. One hundred eighty six healthy volunteers were divided into two groups according to voice training: non-professional speakers group consisted of 106 untrained voices persons (36 males and 70 females) and professional speakers group--of 80 trained voices persons (21 males and 59 females). Clinical group consisted of 103 dysphonic professional speakers (23 males and 80 females) with various voice disorders. Eighteen quantitative voice parameters from combined voice range profile (VRP) test were analyzed: 8 of voice range profile, 8 of speaking voice, overall vocal dysfunction degree and coefficient of sound, and aerodynamic maximum phonation time. Analysis showed that healthy professional speakers demonstrated expanded vocal abilities in comparison to healthy non-professional speakers. Quantitative voice range profile parameters- pitch range, high frequency limit, area of high frequencies and coefficient of sound differed significantly between healthy professional and non-professional voices, and were more informative than speaking voice or aerodynamic parameters in showing the voice training. Logistic stepwise regression revealed that VRP area in high frequencies was sufficient to discriminate between healthy and dysphonic professional speakers for male subjects (overall discrimination accuracy--81.8%) and combination of three quantitative parameters (VRP high frequency limit, maximum voice intensity and slope of speaking curve) for female subjects (overall model discrimination accuracy--75.4%). We concluded that quantitative voice assessment

The Accuracy of Preoperative Rigid Stroboscopy in the Evaluation of Voice Disorders in Children.

PubMed

Mansour, Jobran; Amir, Ofer; Sagiv, Doron; Alon, Eran E; Wolf, Michael; Primov-Fever, Adi

2017-07-01

Stroboscopy is considered the most appropriate tool for evaluating the function of the vocal folds but may harbor significant limitations in children. Still, direct laryngoscopy (DL), under general anesthesia, is regarded the "gold standard" for establishing a diagnosis of vocal fold pathology. The aim of the study is to examine the accuracy of preoperative rigid stroboscopy in children with voice disorders. This is a retrospective study. A retrospective study was conducted on a cohort of 39 children with dysphonia, aged 4 to 18 years, who underwent DL. Twenty-six children underwent rigid stroboscopy (RS) prior to surgery and 13 children underwent fiber-optic laryngoscopy. The preoperative diagnoses were matched with intraoperative (DL) findings. DL was found to contradict preoperative evaluations in 20 out of 39 children (51%) and in 26 out of 53 of the findings (49%). Overdiagnosis of cysts and underdiagnosis of sulci were noted in RS compared to DL. The overall rate of accuracy for RS was 64%. The accuracy of rigid stroboscopy in the evaluation of children with voice disorders was found to be similar with previous reports in adults. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Exploring the feasibility of smart phone microphone for measurement of acoustic voice parameters and voice pathology screening.

PubMed

Uloza, Virgilijus; Padervinskis, Evaldas; Vegiene, Aurelija; Pribuisiene, Ruta; Saferis, Viktoras; Vaiciukynas, Evaldas; Gelzinis, Adas; Verikas, Antanas

2015-11-01

The objective of this study is to evaluate the reliability of acoustic voice parameters obtained using smart phone (SP) microphones and investigate the utility of use of SP voice recordings for voice screening. Voice samples of sustained vowel/a/obtained from 118 subjects (34 normal and 84 pathological voices) were recorded simultaneously through two microphones: oral AKG Perception 220 microphone and SP Samsung Galaxy Note3 microphone. Acoustic voice signal data were measured for fundamental frequency, jitter and shimmer, normalized noise energy (NNE), signal to noise ratio and harmonic to noise ratio using Dr. Speech software. Discriminant analysis-based Correct Classification Rate (CCR) and Random Forest Classifier (RFC) based Equal Error Rate (EER) were used to evaluate the feasibility of acoustic voice parameters classifying normal and pathological voice classes. Lithuanian version of Glottal Function Index (LT_GFI) questionnaire was utilized for self-assessment of the severity of voice disorder. The correlations of acoustic voice parameters obtained with two types of microphones were statistically significant and strong (r = 0.73-1.0) for the entire measurements. When classifying into normal/pathological voice classes, the Oral-NNE revealed the CCR of 73.7% and the pair of SP-NNE and SP-shimmer parameters revealed CCR of 79.5%. However, fusion of the results obtained from SP voice recordings and GFI data provided the CCR of 84.60% and RFC revealed the EER of 7.9%, respectively. In conclusion, measurements of acoustic voice parameters using SP microphone were shown to be reliable in clinical settings demonstrating high CCR and low EER when distinguishing normal and pathological voice classes, and validated the suitability of the SP microphone signal for the task of automatic voice analysis and screening.

Validation of the Acoustic Voice Quality Index Version 03.01 and the Acoustic Breathiness Index in the Spanish language.

PubMed

Delgado Hernández, Jonathan; León Gómez, Nieves M; Jiménez, Alejandra; Izquierdo, Laura M; Barsties V Latoszek, Ben

2018-05-01

The aim of this study was to validate the Acoustic Voice Quality Index 03.01 (AVQIv3) and the Acoustic Breathiness Index (ABI) in the Spanish language. Concatenated voice samples of continuous speech (cs) and sustained vowel (sv) from 136 subjects with dysphonia and 47 vocally healthy subjects were perceptually judged for overall voice quality and breathiness severity. First, to reach a higher level of ecological validity, the proportions of cs and sv were equalized regarding the time length of 3 seconds sv part and voiced cs part, respectively. Second, concurrent validity and diagnostic accuracy were verified. A moderate reliability of overall voice quality and breathiness severity from 5 experts was used. It was found that 33 syllables as standardization of the cs part, which represents 3 seconds of voiced cs, allows the equalization of both speech tasks. A strong correlation was revealed between AVQIv3 and overall voice quality and ABI and perceived breathiness severity. Additionally, the best diagnostic outcome was identified at a threshold of 2.28 and 3.40 for AVQIv3 and ABI, respectively. The AVQIv3 and ABI showed in the Spanish language valid and robust results to quantify abnormal voice qualities regarding overall voice quality and breathiness severity.

Similar representations of emotions across faces and voices.

PubMed

Kuhn, Lisa Katharina; Wydell, Taeko; Lavan, Nadine; McGettigan, Carolyn; Garrido, Lúcia

2017-09-01

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 17(6) of Emotion (see record 2017-18585-001). In the article, the copyright attribution was incorrectly listed and the Creative Commons CC-BY license disclaimer was incorrectly omitted from the author note. The correct copyright is "© 2017 The Author(s)" and the omitted disclaimer is below. All versions of this article have been corrected. "This article has been published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Copyright for this article is retained by the author(s). Author(s) grant(s) the American Psychological Association the exclusive right to publish the article and identify itself as the original publisher."] Emotions are a vital component of social communication, carried across a range of modalities and via different perceptual signals such as specific muscle contractions in the face and in the upper respiratory system. Previous studies have found that emotion recognition impairments after brain damage depend on the modality of presentation: recognition from faces may be impaired whereas recognition from voices remains preserved, and vice versa. On the other hand, there is also evidence for shared neural activation during emotion processing in both modalities. In a behavioral study, we investigated whether there are shared representations in the recognition of emotions from faces and voices. We used a within-subjects design in which participants rated the intensity of facial expressions and nonverbal vocalizations for each of the 6 basic emotion labels. For each participant and each modality, we then computed a representation matrix with the intensity ratings of each emotion. These matrices allowed us to examine the patterns of confusions between emotions and to characterize the representations

Associations between the Transsexual Voice Questionnaire (TVQ[superscript MtF) and Self-Report of Voice Femininity and Acoustic Voice Measures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dacakis, Georgia; Oates, Jennifer; Douglas, Jacinta

2017-01-01

Background: The Transsexual Voice Questionnaire (TVQ[Superscript MtF]) was designed to capture the voice-related perceptions of individuals whose gender identity as female is the opposite of their birth-assigned gender (MtF women). Evaluation of the psychometric properties of the TVQ[Superscript MtF]is ongoing. Aims: To investigate associations…

A Pilot Evaluation of the Reading Intervention 'Own-Voice Intensive Phonics'

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gwernan-Jones, Ruth; Macmillan, Philip; Norwich, Brahm

2018-01-01

This paper describes the mixed methodology evaluation of the Own-Voice Intensive Phonics (OVIP) programme with 33 secondary students with persistent literacy difficulties. The evaluation involved a quasi-experimental evaluation in which 33 students in years 7-9 in four schools used OVIP over an 8 week period and were monitored at three times for…

The impact of extended voice use on the acoustic characteristics of phonation after training and performance of actors from the La MaMa Experimental Theater club.

PubMed

Ferrone, Carol; Galgano, Jessica; Ramig, Lorraine Olson

2011-05-01

To test the hypothesis that extensive use of La MaMa vocal technique may result in symptoms of vocal abuse, an evaluation of the acoustic and perceptual characteristics of voice for eight performers from the Great Jones Repertory Company of the La MaMa Experimental Theater was conducted. This vocal technique includes wide ranges of frequency from 46 to 2003 Hz and vocal intensity that is sustained at 90-108 dB sound pressure level with a mouth-to-microphone distance of 30 cm for 3-4 hours per performance. The actors rehearsed for 4 hours per day, 5 days per week for 14 weeks before the series of performances. Thirty-nine performances were presented in 6 weeks. Three pretraining, three posttraining, and two postperformance series data collection sessions were carried out for each performer. Speech samples were gathered using the CSL 4500 and analyzed using Real-Time Pitch program and Multidimensional Voice Program. Acoustic analysis was performed on 48 tokens of sustained vowel phonation for each subject. Statistical analysis was performed using the Friedman test of related samples. Perceptual analysis included professional listeners rating voice quality in pretraining, posttraining, and postperformance samples of the Rainbow Passage and sample lines from the plays. The majority of professional listeners (11/12) judged that this technique would result in symptoms of vocal abuse; however, acoustic data revealed statistically stable or improved measurements for all subjects in most dependent acoustic variables when compared with both posttraining and postperformance trials. These findings add support to the notion that a technique that may be perceived as vocally abusive, generating 90-100 dB sound pressure level and sustained over 6 weeks of performances, actually resulted in improved vocal strength and flexibility. Copyright © 2011 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Interventions for preventing voice disorders in adults.

PubMed

Ruotsalainen, J H; Sellman, J; Lehto, L; Jauhiainen, M; Verbeek, J H

2007-10-17

Poor voice quality due to a voice disorder can lead to a reduced quality of life. In occupations where voice use is substantial it can lead to periods of absence from work. To evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to prevent voice disorders in adults. We searched MEDLINE (PubMed, 1950 to 2006), EMBASE (1974 to 2006), CENTRAL (The Cochrane Library, Issue 2 2006), CINAHL (1983 to 2006), PsychINFO (1967 to 2006), Science Citation Index (1986 to 2006) and the Occupational Health databases OSH-ROM (to 2006). The date of the last search was 05/04/06. Randomised controlled clinical trials (RCTs) of interventions evaluating the effectiveness of treatments to prevent voice disorders in adults. For work-directed interventions interrupted time series and prospective cohort studies were also eligible. Two authors independently extracted data and assessed trial quality. Meta-analysis was performed where appropriate. We identified two randomised controlled trials including a total of 53 participants in intervention groups and 43 controls. One study was conducted with teachers and the other with student teachers. Both trials were poor quality. Interventions were grouped into 1) direct voice training, 2) indirect voice training and 3) direct and indirect voice training combined.1) Direct voice training: One study did not find a significant decrease of the Voice Handicap Index for direct voice training compared to no intervention.2) Indirect voice training: One study did not find a significant decrease of the Voice Handicap Index for indirect voice training when compared to no intervention.3) Direct and indirect voice training combined: One study did not find a decrease of the Voice Handicap Index for direct and indirect voice training combined when compared to no intervention. The same study did however find an improvement in maximum phonation time (Mean Difference -3.18 sec; 95 % CI -4.43 to -1.93) for direct and indirect voice training combined when compared to no

Low is large: spatial location and pitch interact in voice-based body size estimation.

PubMed

Pisanski, Katarzyna; Isenstein, Sari G E; Montano, Kelyn J; O'Connor, Jillian J M; Feinberg, David R

2017-05-01

The binding of incongruent cues poses a challenge for multimodal perception. Indeed, although taller objects emit sounds from higher elevations, low-pitched sounds are perceptually mapped both to large size and to low elevation. In the present study, we examined how these incongruent vertical spatial cues (up is more) and pitch cues (low is large) to size interact, and whether similar biases influence size perception along the horizontal axis. In Experiment 1, we measured listeners' voice-based judgments of human body size using pitch-manipulated voices projected from a high versus a low, and a right versus a left, spatial location. Listeners associated low spatial locations with largeness for lowered-pitch but not for raised-pitch voices, demonstrating that pitch overrode vertical-elevation cues. Listeners associated rightward spatial locations with largeness, regardless of voice pitch. In Experiment 2, listeners performed the task while sitting or standing, allowing us to examine self-referential cues to elevation in size estimation. Listeners associated vertically low and rightward spatial cues with largeness more for lowered- than for raised-pitch voices. These correspondences were robust to sex (of both the voice and the listener) and head elevation (standing or sitting); however, horizontal correspondences were amplified when participants stood. Moreover, when participants were standing, their judgments of how much larger men's voices sounded than women's increased when the voices were projected from the low speaker. Our results provide novel evidence for a multidimensional spatial mapping of pitch that is generalizable to human voices and that affects performance in an indirect, ecologically relevant spatial task (body size estimation). These findings suggest that crossmodal pitch correspondences evoke both low-level and higher-level cognitive processes.

Design and Evaluation of Perceptual-based Object Group Selection Techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dehmeshki, Hoda

Selecting groups of objects is a frequent task in graphical user interfaces. It is required prior to many standard operations such as deletion, movement, or modification. Conventional selection techniques are lasso, rectangle selection, and the selection and de-selection of items through the use of modifier keys. These techniques may become time-consuming and error-prone when target objects are densely distributed or when the distances between target objects are large. Perceptual-based selection techniques can considerably improve selection tasks when targets have a perceptual structure, for example when arranged along a line. Current methods to detect such groups use ad hoc grouping algorithms that are not based on results from perception science. Moreover, these techniques do not allow selecting groups with arbitrary arrangements or permit modifying a selection. This dissertation presents two domain-independent perceptual-based systems that address these issues. Based on established group detection models from perception research, the proposed systems detect perceptual groups formed by the Gestalt principles of good continuation and proximity. The new systems provide gesture-based or click-based interaction techniques for selecting groups with curvilinear or arbitrary structures as well as clusters. Moreover, the gesture-based system is adapted for the graph domain to facilitate path selection. This dissertation includes several user studies that show the proposed systems outperform conventional selection techniques when targets form salient perceptual groups and are still competitive when targets are semi-structured.

Perception of a non-native speech contrast: Voiced and voiceless stops as perceived by Tamil speakers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tur, Sylwia

2004-05-01

The effect of linguistic experience plays a significant role in how speech sounds are perceived. The findings of many studies imply that the perception of non-native contrasts depends on their status in the native language of the listener. Tamil is a language with a single voicing category. All stop consonants in Tamil are phonemically voiceless, though allophonic voicing has been observed in spoken Tamil. The present study examined how native Tamil speakers and English controls perceived voiced and voiceless bilabial, alveolar, and velar stops in English. Voice onset time (VOT) was manipulated for editing of naturally produced stimuli with increasingly longer continuum. Perceptual data was collected from 16 Tamil and 16 English speakers. Experiment 1 was an AX task in which subjects responded same or different to 162 pairs of stimuli. Experiment 2 was a forced choice ID task in which subjects identified 99 individually presented stimuli as pa, ta, ka or ba, da, ga. Experiments show statistically significant differences between Tamil and English speakers in their perception of English stop consonants. Results of the study imply that the allophonic status of voiced stops in Tamil does not aid the Tamil speakers in perceiving phonemically voiced stops in English.

Validation and Adaptation of the Singing Voice Handicap Index for Egyptian Singing Voice.

PubMed

Abou-Elsaad, Tamer; Baz, Hemmat; Afsah, Omayma; Abo-Elsoud, Hend

2017-01-01

Measuring the severity of a voice disorder is difficult. This can be achieved by both subjective and objective measures. The Voice Handicap Index is the most known and used self-rating tool for voice disorders. The Classical Singing Handicap Index (CSHI) is a self-administered questionnaire measuring the impact of vocal deviation on the quality of life of singers. The objective of this study was to develop an Arabic version of the CSHI and to test its validity and reliability in Egyptian singers with different singing styles with normal voice and with voice disorders. The interpreted version was administered to 70 Egyptian singers including artistic singers (classical and popular) and specialized singers (Quran reciters and priests) who were divided into 40 asymptomatic singers (control group) and 30 singers with voice disorders. Participants' responses were statistically analyzed to assess the validity and reliability, and to compare the patient group with the control group. Quran reciters, patients with no previous professional training, and patients with vocal fold lesions demonstrated the highest scores. The Arabic version of CSHI is found to be a reliable, valid, and sensitive self-assessment tool that can be used in the clinical practice for the evaluation of the impact of voice disorders on singing voice. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of voice style, noise level, and acoustic feedback on objective and subjective voice evaluations

PubMed Central

Bottalico, Pasquale; Graetzer, Simone; Hunter, Eric J.

2015-01-01

Speakers adjust their vocal effort when communicating in different room acoustic and noise conditions and when instructed to speak at different volumes. The present paper reports on the effects of voice style, noise level, and acoustic feedback on vocal effort, evaluated as sound pressure level, and self-reported vocal fatigue, comfort, and control. Speakers increased their level in the presence of babble and when instructed to talk in a loud style, and lowered it when acoustic feedback was increased and when talking in a soft style. Self-reported responses indicated a preference for the normal style without babble noise. PMID:26723357

Screening value of V-RQOL in the evaluation of occupational voice disorders.

PubMed

Morawska, Joanna; Niebudek-Bogusz, Ewa; Wiktorowicz, Justyna; Śliwińska-Kowalska, Mariola

2018-03-09

Given the growing number of occupational voice users, easy and quick broad-scale screening is necessary to provide prophylaxis of voice disorders. The aim of the study was to assess applicability of the Voice Related Quality of Life questionnaire (V-RQOL) to screening occupational voice disorders. The research comprised 284 subjects divided into 3 groups: 0 - the control group of normophonic subjects, non-professional voice users (N = 60), 1 - occupational voice users with objectively confirmed voice disorders (N = 124), 2 - the non-randomized group of occupational voice users with and without voice problems (N = 100). Self-assessment of voice was performed by means of the V-RQOL in comparison to the Voice Handicap Index (VHI). The relation between the V-RQOL and VHI was determined by means of linear regression. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed and the cut-off point of the VRQOL was determined to discriminate between normophonic and dysphonic subjects. The relationship between the VHI and V-RQOL scores indicated a satisfactory coefficient of determination: R² = 0.7266. High values of Cronbach's α confirmed high reliability of the V-RQOL test (0.867). Voice-Related Quality of Life questionnaire (V-RQOL) results were significantly worse in the study group than for normophonic controls (p < 0.001). The cut-off point for the test was set at 79 points. The determined area under the curve (AUC) = 0.910 (p < 0.001) showed high diagnostic accuracy of the V-RQOL. Results of the VRQOL differed for diagnose-based subgroups of dysphonic patients. The study gives grounds for application of the V-RQOL as a reliable tool for screening occupational voice disorders. Med Pr 2018;69(2):119-128. This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.

Voice Tremor Outcomes of Subthalamic Nucleus and Zona Incerta Deep Brain Stimulation in Patients With Parkinson Disease.

PubMed

Karlsson, Fredrik; Malinova, Elin; Olofsson, Katarina; Blomstedt, Patric; Linder, Jan; Nordh, Erik

2018-01-17

We aimed to study the effect of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and caudal zona incerta (cZi) on level of perceived voice tremor in patients with Parkinson disease (PD). This is a prospective nonrandomized design with consecutive patients. Perceived voice tremor was assessed in patients with PD having received either STN-DBS (8 patients, 5 bilateral and 3 unilateral, aged 43.1-73.6 years; median = 61.2 years) or cZi-DBS (14 bilateral patients, aged 39.0-71.9 years; median = 56.6 years) 12 months before the assessment. Sustained vowels that were produced OFF and ON stimulation (with simultaneous l-DOPA medication) were assessed perceptually in terms of voice tremor by two raters on a four-point rating scale. The assessments were repeated five times per sample and rated in a blinded and randomized procedure. Three out of the 22 patients (13%) were concluded to have voice tremor OFF stimulation. Patients with PD with STN-DBS showed mild levels of perceived voice tremor OFF stimulation and a group level improvement. Patients with moderate/severe perceived voice tremor and cZi-DBS showed marked improvements, but there was no overall group effect. Six patients with cZi-DBS showed small increases in perceived voice tremor severity. STN-DBS decreased perceived voice tremor on a group level. cZi-DBS decreased perceived voice tremor in patients with PD with moderate to severe preoperative levels of the symptom. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Voice Quality Modelling for Expressive Speech Synthesis

PubMed Central

Socoró, Joan Claudi

2014-01-01

This paper presents the perceptual experiments that were carried out in order to validate the methodology of transforming expressive speech styles using voice quality (VoQ) parameters modelling, along with the well-known prosody (F 0, duration, and energy), from a neutral style into a number of expressive ones. The main goal was to validate the usefulness of VoQ in the enhancement of expressive synthetic speech in terms of speech quality and style identification. A harmonic plus noise model (HNM) was used to modify VoQ and prosodic parameters that were extracted from an expressive speech corpus. Perception test results indicated the improvement of obtained expressive speech styles using VoQ modelling along with prosodic characteristics. PMID:24587738

Perceptual experience and posttest improvements in perceptual accuracy and consistency.

PubMed

Wagman, Jeffrey B; McBride, Dawn M; Trefzger, Amanda J

2008-08-01

Two experiments investigated the relationship between perceptual experience (during practice) and posttest improvements in perceptual accuracy and consistency. Experiment 1 investigated the potential relationship between how often knowledge of results (KR) is provided during a practice session and posttest improvements in perceptual accuracy. Experiment 2 investigated the potential relationship between how often practice (PR) is provided during a practice session and posttest improvements in perceptual consistency. The results of both experiments are consistent with previous findings that perceptual accuracy improves only when practice includes KR and that perceptual consistency improves regardless of whether practice includes KR. In addition, the results showed that although there is a relationship between how often KR is provided during a practice session and posttest improvements in perceptual accuracy, there is no relationship between how often PR is provided during a practice session and posttest improvements in consistency.

Connections between voice ergonomic risk factors and voice symptoms, voice handicap, and respiratory tract diseases.

PubMed

Rantala, Leena M; Hakala, Suvi J; Holmqvist, Sofia; Sala, Eeva

2012-11-01

The aim of the study was to investigate the connections between voice ergonomic risk factors found in classrooms and voice-related problems in teachers. Voice ergonomic assessment was performed in 39 classrooms in 14 elementary schools by means of a Voice Ergonomic Assessment in Work Environment--Handbook and Checklist. The voice ergonomic risk factors assessed included working culture, noise, indoor air quality, working posture, stress, and access to a sound amplifier. Teachers from the above-mentioned classrooms reported their voice symptoms, respiratory tract diseases, and completed a Voice Handicap Index (VHI). The more voice ergonomic risk factors found in the classroom the higher were the teachers' total scores on voice symptoms and VHI. Stress was the factor that correlated most strongly with voice symptoms. Poor indoor air quality increased the occurrence of laryngitis. Voice ergonomics were poor in the classrooms studied and voice ergonomic risk factors affected the voice. It is important to convey information on voice ergonomics to education administrators and those responsible for school planning and taking care of school buildings. Copyright © 2012 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Overall intelligibility, articulation, resonance, voice and language in a child with Nager syndrome.

PubMed

Van Lierde, Kristiane M; Luyten, Anke; Mortier, Geert; Tijskens, Anouk; Bettens, Kim; Vermeersch, Hubert

2011-02-01

The purpose of this study was to provide a description of the language and speech (intelligibility, voice, resonance, articulation) in a 7-year-old Dutch speaking boy with Nager syndrome. To reveal these features comparison was made with an age and gender related child with a similar palatal or hearing problem. Language was tested with an age appropriate language test namely the Dutch version of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals. Regarding articulation a phonetic inventory, phonetic analysis and phonological process analysis was performed. A nominal scale with four categories was used to judge the overall speech intelligibility. A voice and resonance assessment included a videolaryngostroboscopy, a perceptual evaluation, acoustic analysis and nasometry. The most striking communication problems in this child were expressive and receptive language delay, moderately impaired speech intelligibility, the presence of phonetic and phonological disorders, resonance disorders and a high-pitched voice. The explanation for this pattern of communication is not completely straightforward. The language and the phonological impairment, only present in the child with the Nager syndrome, are not part of a more general developmental delay. The resonance disorders can be related to the cleft palate, but were not present in the child with the isolated cleft palate. One might assume that the cul-de-sac resonance and the much decreased mandibular movement and the restricted tongue lifting are caused by the restricted jaw mobility and micrognathia. To what extent the suggested mandibular distraction osteogenesis in early childhood allows increased mandibular movement and better speech outcome with increased oral resonance is subject for further research. According to the results of this study the speech and language management must be focused on receptive and expressive language skills and linguistic conceptualization, correct phonetic placement and the modification of

[The voice of the singer in the phonetogram].

PubMed

Klingholz, F

1989-01-01

Phonetograms were subdivided into areas approximating voice registers. By means of an analytical description of the areas, parameters could be established for a differentiation of voice categories and efficiency. The evaluation of 21 untrained and 34 trained voices showed a significant difference between the two groups. Male singers demonstrated more efficiency in the head and chest registers than male non-singers; female singers showed a stronger efficiency only in the head voice in comparison with their non-singer counterparts. Proceeding from voice sound alone, voices are often misclassified regarding the voice categories, and voice problems arise. Moreover, enhanced training of only chest or head voice function results in functional disorders in the singing voice. Such cases can be demonstrated by means of phonetograms.

Euclidean Distances as measures of speaker similarity including identical twin pairs: A forensic investigation using source and filter voice characteristics.

PubMed

San Segundo, Eugenia; Tsanas, Athanasios; Gómez-Vilda, Pedro

2017-01-01

There is a growing consensus that hybrid approaches are necessary for successful speaker characterization in Forensic Speaker Comparison (FSC); hence this study explores the forensic potential of voice features combining source and filter characteristics. The former relate to the action of the vocal folds while the latter reflect the geometry of the speaker's vocal tract. This set of features have been extracted from pause fillers, which are long enough for robust feature estimation while spontaneous enough to be extracted from voice samples in real forensic casework. Speaker similarity was measured using standardized Euclidean Distances (ED) between pairs of speakers: 54 different-speaker (DS) comparisons, 54 same-speaker (SS) comparisons and 12 comparisons between monozygotic twins (MZ). Results revealed that the differences between DS and SS comparisons were significant in both high quality and telephone-filtered recordings, with no false rejections and limited false acceptances; this finding suggests that this set of voice features is highly speaker-dependent and therefore forensically useful. Mean ED for MZ pairs lies between the average ED for SS comparisons and DS comparisons, as expected according to the literature on twin voices. Specific cases of MZ speakers with very high ED (i.e. strong dissimilarity) are discussed in the context of sociophonetic and twin studies. A preliminary simplification of the Vocal Profile Analysis (VPA) Scheme is proposed, which enables the quantification of voice quality features in the perceptual assessment of speaker similarity, and allows for the calculation of perceptual-acoustic correlations. The adequacy of z-score normalization for this study is also discussed, as well as the relevance of heat maps for detecting the so-called phantoms in recent approaches to the biometric menagerie. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Prototype app for voice therapy: a peer review.

PubMed

Lavaissiéri, Paula; Melo, Paulo Eduardo Damasceno

2017-03-09

Voice speech therapy promotes changes in patients' voice-related habits and rehabilitation. Speech-language therapists use a host of materials ranging from pictures to electronic resources and computer tools as aids in this process. Mobile technology is attractive, interactive and a nearly constant feature in the daily routine of a large part of the population and has a growing application in healthcare. To develop a prototype application for voice therapy, submit it to peer assessment, and to improve the initial prototype based on these assessments. a prototype of the Q-Voz application was developed based on Apple's Human Interface Guidelines. The prototype was analyzed by seven speech therapists who work in the voice area. Improvements to the product were made based on these assessments. all features of the application were considered satisfactory by most evaluators. All evaluators found the application very useful; evaluators reported that patients would find it easier to make changes in voice behavior with the application than without it; the evaluators stated they would use this application with their patients with dysphonia and in the process of rehabilitation and that the application offers useful tools for voice self-management. Based on the suggestions provided, six improvements were made to the prototype. the prototype Q-Voz Application was developed and evaluated by seven judges and subsequently improved. All evaluators stated they would use the application with their patients undergoing rehabilitation, indicating that the Q-Voz Application for mobile devices can be considered an auxiliary tool for voice speech therapy.

Early development of polyphonic sound encoding and the high voice superiority effect.

PubMed

Marie, Céline; Trainor, Laurel J

2014-05-01

Previous research suggests that when two streams of pitched tones are presented simultaneously, adults process each stream in a separate memory trace, as reflected by mismatch negativity (MMN), a component of the event-related potential (ERP). Furthermore, a superior encoding of the higher tone or voice in polyphonic sounds has been found for 7-month-old infants and both musician and non-musician adults in terms of a larger amplitude MMN in response to pitch deviant stimuli in the higher than the lower voice. These results, in conjunction with modeling work, suggest that the high voice superiority effect might originate in characteristics of the peripheral auditory system. If this is the case, the high voice superiority effect should be present in infants younger than 7 months. In the present study we tested 3-month-old infants as there is no evidence at this age of perceptual narrowing or specialization of musical processing according to the pitch or rhythmic structure of music experienced in the infant׳s environment. We presented two simultaneous streams of tones (high and low) with 50% of trials modified by 1 semitone (up or down), either on the higher or the lower tone, leaving 50% standard trials. Results indicate that like the 7-month-olds, 3-month-old infants process each tone in a separate memory trace and show greater saliency for the higher tone. Although MMN was smaller and later in both voices for the group of sixteen 3-month-olds compared to the group of sixteen 7-month-olds, the size of the difference in MMN for the high compared to low voice was similar across ages. These results support the hypothesis of an innate peripheral origin of the high voice superiority effect. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Acoustic Analysis of Voice in Singers: A Systematic Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gunjawate, Dhanshree R.; Ravi, Rohit; Bellur, Rajashekhar

2018-01-01

Purpose: Singers are vocal athletes having specific demands from their voice and require special consideration during voice evaluation. Presently, there is a lack of standards for acoustic evaluation in them. The aim of the present study was to systematically review the available literature on the acoustic analysis of voice in singers. Method: A…

Voice outcomes after concurrent chemoradiotherapy for advanced nonlaryngeal head and neck cancer: a prospective study.

PubMed

Paleri, Vinidh; Carding, Paul; Chatterjee, Sanjoy; Kelly, Charles; Wilson, Janet Ann; Welch, Andrew; Drinnan, Michael

2012-12-01

The voice impact of treatment for nonlaryngeal head and neck primary sites remains unknown. We conducted a prospective study of a consecutive sample of patients undergoing chemoradiation for nonlaryngeal head and neck cancer. The Voice Symptom Scale (VoiSS) was completed, and voice recordings were made at 3 time-points. Of 42 recruited patients, 34 completed the measures before and in the early posttreatment phase (mean 16.5 weeks), while 21 patients were assessed at the final time-point (mean, 20.4 months). VoiSS scores showed statistically significant progressive deterioration in the total score (p = .02) and impairment subscale (p < .0001) through to the final assessment. Acoustic measures and perceptual ratings deteriorated significantly (p < .001) in the early posttreatment weeks and improved at the final assessment, but not to the baseline. Interrater agreement was excellent for expert measures. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first prospective study to show that chemoradiation therapy for nonlaryngeal head and neck cancer has a significant effect on the patients' self-reported voice quality, even in the long term. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Greater perceptual sensitivity to happy facial expression.

PubMed

Maher, Stephen; Ekstrom, Tor; Chen, Yue

2014-01-01

Perception of subtle facial expressions is essential for social functioning; yet it is unclear if human perceptual sensitivities differ in detecting varying types of facial emotions. Evidence diverges as to whether salient negative versus positive emotions (such as sadness versus happiness) are preferentially processed. Here, we measured perceptual thresholds for the detection of four types of emotion in faces--happiness, fear, anger, and sadness--using psychophysical methods. We also evaluated the association of the perceptual performances with facial morphological changes between neutral and respective emotion types. Human observers were highly sensitive to happiness compared with the other emotional expressions. Further, this heightened perceptual sensitivity to happy expressions can be attributed largely to the emotion-induced morphological change of a particular facial feature (end-lip raise).

Training to Use Voice Onset Time as a Cue to Talker Identification Induces a Left-Ear/Right-Hemisphere Processing Advantage

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Francis, Alexander L.; Driscoll, Courtney

2006-01-01

We examined the effect of perceptual training on a well-established hemispheric asymmetry in speech processing. Eighteen listeners were trained to use a within-category difference in voice onset time (VOT) to cue talker identity. Successful learners (n = 8) showed faster response times for stimuli presented only to the left ear than for those…

Evaluation of speaker de-identification based on voice gender and age conversion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Přibil, Jiří; Přibilová, Anna; Matoušek, Jindřich

2018-03-01

Two basic tasks are covered in this paper. The first one consists in the design and practical testing of a new method for voice de-identification that changes the apparent age and/or gender of a speaker by multi-segmental frequency scale transformation combined with prosody modification. The second task is aimed at verification of applicability of a classifier based on Gaussian mixture models (GMM) to detect the original Czech and Slovak speakers after applied voice deidentification. The performed experiments confirm functionality of the developed gender and age conversion for all selected types of de-identification which can be objectively evaluated by the GMM-based open-set classifier. The original speaker detection accuracy was compared also for sentences uttered by German and English speakers showing language independence of the proposed method.

Voice disorders in children and its relationship with auditory, acoustic and vocal behavior parameters.

PubMed

Simões-Zenari, Marcia; Nemr, Katia; Behlau, Mara

2012-06-01

Parameters to distinguish normal from deviant voices in early childhood have not been established. The current study sought to auditorily and acoustically characterize voices of children, and to study the relationship between vocal behavior reported by teachers and the presence of vocal aberrations. One hundred children between four and 6 years and 11 months, who attended early childhood educational institutions, were included. The sample comprised 50 children with normal voices (NVG) and 50 with deviant voices (DVG) matched by gender and age. All participants were submitted to auditory and acoustic analysis of vocal quality and had their vocal behaviors assessed by teachers through a specific protocol. DVG had a higher incidence of breathiness (p<0.001) and roughness (p<0.001), but not vocal strain (p=0.546), which was similar in both groups. The average F(0) was lower in the DVG and a higher noise component was observed in this group as well. Regarding the protocol used "Aspects Related to Phonotrauma - Children's Protocol", higher means were observed for children from DVG in all analyzed aspects and also on the overall means (DVG=2.15; NVG=1.12, p<0.001). In NVG, a higher incidence of vocal behavior without alterations or with discrete alterations was observed, whereas a higher incidence of moderate, severe or extreme alterations of vocal behavior was observed in DVG. Perceptual assessment of voice, vocal acoustic parameters (F(0), noise and GNE), and aspects related to vocal trauma and vocal behavior differentiated the groups of children with normal voice and deviant voice. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Silence and voicing accumulations in Italian primary school teachers with and without voice disorders

PubMed Central

Bottalico, Pasquale; Graetzer, Simone; Astolfi, Arianna; Hunter, Eric J.

2016-01-01

Objectives The relationship between the silence and voicing accumulations of primary school teachers and the teachers’ clinical status was examined. The goal was to determine whether more voicing accumulations and fewer silence accumulations were measured for the vocally unhealthy subjects than for the healthy subjects, which would imply more vocal loading and fewer short-term recovery moments. Methods 26 Italian primary school teachers were allocated by clinicians to three groups: (1) with organic voice disorders, (2) with subjectively mild organic alteration and/or functional voice symptoms, and (3) normal voice quality and physiology. Continuous silence and voicing periods were measured with the APM3200 during the teachers’ 4-hour workdays. The accumulations were grouped into 7 time intervals, ranging from 0.03–0.9 s to 3.16–10 s, according to Italian prosody. The effects of group on silence and voicing accumulations were evaluated. Results Regarding silence accumulations, Group 1 accumulated higher values in intervals between 0.1 and 3.15 s than other groups, while Groups 2 and 3 did not differ from each other. Voicing accumulations between 0.17 and 3.15 s were higher for subjects with a structural disorder. A higher time dose was accumulated by these subjects (40.6%) than other subjects (Group 2, 31.9%; Group 3, 32.3%). Conclusions While previous research has suggested that a rest period of a few seconds may produce some vocal fatigue recovery, these results indicate that periods shorter than 3.16 s may not have an observable effect on recovery. The results provide insight into how vocal fatigue and vocal recovery may relate to voice disorders in occupational voice users. PMID:27316793

Perceptual inference.

PubMed

Aggelopoulos, Nikolaos C

2015-08-01

Perceptual inference refers to the ability to infer sensory stimuli from predictions that result from internal neural representations built through prior experience. Methods of Bayesian statistical inference and decision theory model cognition adequately by using error sensing either in guiding action or in "generative" models that predict the sensory information. In this framework, perception can be seen as a process qualitatively distinct from sensation, a process of information evaluation using previously acquired and stored representations (memories) that is guided by sensory feedback. The stored representations can be utilised as internal models of sensory stimuli enabling long term associations, for example in operant conditioning. Evidence for perceptual inference is contributed by such phenomena as the cortical co-localisation of object perception with object memory, the response invariance in the responses of some neurons to variations in the stimulus, as well as from situations in which perception can be dissociated from sensation. In the context of perceptual inference, sensory areas of the cerebral cortex that have been facilitated by a priming signal may be regarded as comparators in a closed feedback loop, similar to the better known motor reflexes in the sensorimotor system. The adult cerebral cortex can be regarded as similar to a servomechanism, in using sensory feedback to correct internal models, producing predictions of the outside world on the basis of past experience. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Parent Trigger Laws and the Promise of Parental Voice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, William C.; Rowland, Julie

2014-01-01

Parent trigger laws have gained momentum nationally under the premise that they will increase local authority by amplifying parental voice in the decision to turn around "failing" schools. Using Hirschman's exit, voice, and loyalty framework we create two conceptual models of voice and evaluate the promise of voice in California, home of…

Exogenous attention facilitates location transfer of perceptual learning.

PubMed

Donovan, Ian; Szpiro, Sarit; Carrasco, Marisa

2015-01-01

Perceptual skills can be improved through practice on a perceptual task, even in adulthood. Visual perceptual learning is known to be mostly specific to the trained retinal location, which is considered as evidence of neural plasticity in retinotopic early visual cortex. Recent findings demonstrate that transfer of learning to untrained locations can occur under some specific training procedures. Here, we evaluated whether exogenous attention facilitates transfer of perceptual learning to untrained locations, both adjacent to the trained locations (Experiment 1) and distant from them (Experiment 2). The results reveal that attention facilitates transfer of perceptual learning to untrained locations in both experiments, and that this transfer occurs both within and across visual hemifields. These findings show that training with exogenous attention is a powerful regime that is able to overcome the major limitation of location specificity.

Exogenous attention facilitates location transfer of perceptual learning

PubMed Central

Donovan, Ian; Szpiro, Sarit; Carrasco, Marisa

2015-01-01

Perceptual skills can be improved through practice on a perceptual task, even in adulthood. Visual perceptual learning is known to be mostly specific to the trained retinal location, which is considered as evidence of neural plasticity in retinotopic early visual cortex. Recent findings demonstrate that transfer of learning to untrained locations can occur under some specific training procedures. Here, we evaluated whether exogenous attention facilitates transfer of perceptual learning to untrained locations, both adjacent to the trained locations (Experiment 1) and distant from them (Experiment 2). The results reveal that attention facilitates transfer of perceptual learning to untrained locations in both experiments, and that this transfer occurs both within and across visual hemifields. These findings show that training with exogenous attention is a powerful regime that is able to overcome the major limitation of location specificity. PMID:26426818

Wendler glottoplasty and voice-therapy in male-to-female transsexuals: results in pre and post-surgery assessment.

PubMed

Casado, Juan C; O'Connor, Carlos; Angulo, María S; Adrián, José A

2016-01-01

With the development of new ENT techniques, many male transsexuals who wish to become women usually request a surgical procedure to raise the fundamental frequency of the voice (feminization). The ENT specialist and the voice-therapist have to use an interdisciplinary approach to this growing social demand. The aim of this study was to show the results in a group of transsexual patients after Wendler's anterior synechiae, with additional voice-therapy treatment. Ten male transexulas who wish to become women patients who had Wendler glottoplasty and voice-therapy were assessed. The surgical procedure consisted of a de-epithelialization of the anterior third of both vocal folds; this area was sutured and the surface of both vocal folds was vaporised with laser diode. Pre- and postsurgery voice assessment consisted of measuring fundamental frequency (Fo) and maximum phonation time, administering the transgender self-assessment questionnaire (TSEQ) and obtaining perceptual voice assessment by inter-rater agreement. All the male transsexuals who wish to become women patients significantly increased their Fo (106 Hz on average) after the treatment. Furthermore, significant improvements were shown in self-reported satisfaction and in the degree of voice feminization. No improvements in the maximum phonation time were observed. Wendler glottoplasty is a surgical procedure to contribute to feminising the voice, with good medium-term results and without noteworthy medical complications. The increase in vocal tone was observed using several pre- and post-surgery control measures and voice therapy. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Otorrinolaringología y Patología Cérvico-Facial. All rights reserved.

Relationship Between Voice and Motor Disabilities of Parkinson's Disease.

PubMed

Majdinasab, Fatemeh; Karkheiran, Siamak; Soltani, Majid; Moradi, Negin; Shahidi, Gholamali

2016-11-01

To evaluate voice of Iranian patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and find any relationship between motor disabilities and acoustic voice parameters as speech motor components. We evaluated 27 Farsi-speaking PD patients and 21 age- and sex-matched healthy persons as control. Motor performance was assessed by the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale part III and Hoehn and Yahr rating scale in the "on" state. Acoustic voice evaluation, including fundamental frequency (f0), standard deviation of f0, minimum of f0, maximum of f0, shimmer, jitter, and harmonic to noise ratio, was done using the Praat software via /a/ prolongation. No difference was seen between the voice of the patients and the voice of the controls. f0 and its variation had a significant correlation with the duration of the disease, but did not have any relationships with the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale part III. Only limited relationship was observed between voice and motor disabilities. Tremor is an important main feature of PD that affects motor and phonation systems. Females had an older age at onset, more prolonged disease, and more severe motor disabilities (not statistically significant), but phonation disorders were more frequent in males and showed more relationship with severity of motor disabilities. Voice is affected by PD earlier than many other motor components and is more sensitive to disease progression. Tremor is the most effective part of PD that impacts voice. PD has more effect on voice of male versus female patients. Copyright © 2016 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Voices on Voice: Perspectives, Definitions, Inquiry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yancey, Kathleen Blake, Ed.

This collection of essays approaches "voice" as a means of expression that lives in the interactions of writers, readers, and language, and examines the conceptualizations of voice within the oral rhetorical and expressionist traditions, and the notion of voice as both a singular and plural phenomenon. An explanatory introduction by the…

Perceptual load in sport and the heuristic value of the perceptual load paradigm in examining expertise-related perceptual-cognitive adaptations.

PubMed

Furley, Philip; Memmert, Daniel; Schmid, Simone

2013-03-01

In two experiments, we transferred perceptual load theory to the dynamic field of team sports and tested the predictions derived from the theory using a novel task and stimuli. We tested a group of college students (N = 33) and a group of expert team sport players (N = 32) on a general perceptual load task and a complex, soccer-specific perceptual load task in order to extend the understanding of the applicability of perceptual load theory and further investigate whether distractor interference may differ between the groups, as the sport-specific processing task may not exhaust the processing capacity of the expert participants. In both, the general and the specific task, the pattern of results supported perceptual load theory and demonstrates that the predictions of the theory also transfer to more complex, unstructured situations. Further, perceptual load was the only determinant of distractor processing, as we neither found expertise effects in the general perceptual load task nor the sport-specific task. We discuss the heuristic utility of using response-competition paradigms for studying both general and domain-specific perceptual-cognitive adaptations.

Combined Use of Standard and Throat Microphones for Measurement of Acoustic Voice Parameters and Voice Categorization.

PubMed

Uloza, Virgilijus; Padervinskis, Evaldas; Uloziene, Ingrida; Saferis, Viktoras; Verikas, Antanas

2015-09-01

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the reliability of the measurements of acoustic voice parameters obtained simultaneously using oral and contact (throat) microphones and to investigate utility of combined use of these microphones for voice categorization. Voice samples of sustained vowel /a/ obtained from 157 subjects (105 healthy and 52 pathological voices) were recorded in a soundproof booth simultaneously through two microphones: oral AKG Perception 220 microphone (AKG Acoustics, Vienna, Austria) and contact (throat) Triumph PC microphone (Clearer Communications, Inc, Burnaby, Canada) placed on the lamina of thyroid cartilage. Acoustic voice signal data were measured for fundamental frequency, percent of jitter and shimmer, normalized noise energy, signal-to-noise ratio, and harmonic-to-noise ratio using Dr. Speech software (Tiger Electronics, Seattle, WA). The correlations of acoustic voice parameters in vocal performance were statistically significant and strong (r = 0.71-1.0) for the entire functional measurements obtained for the two microphones. When classifying into healthy-pathological voice classes, the oral-shimmer revealed the correct classification rate (CCR) of 75.2% and the throat-jitter revealed CCR of 70.7%. However, combination of both throat and oral microphones allowed identifying a set of three voice parameters: throat-signal-to-noise ratio, oral-shimmer, and oral-normalized noise energy, which provided the CCR of 80.3%. The measurements of acoustic voice parameters using a combination of oral and throat microphones showed to be reliable in clinical settings and demonstrated high CCRs when distinguishing the healthy and pathological voice patient groups. Our study validates the suitability of the throat microphone signal for the task of automatic voice analysis for the purpose of voice screening. Copyright © 2015 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Natural asynchronies in audiovisual communication signals regulate neuronal multisensory interactions in voice-sensitive cortex.

PubMed

Perrodin, Catherine; Kayser, Christoph; Logothetis, Nikos K; Petkov, Christopher I

2015-01-06

When social animals communicate, the onset of informative content in one modality varies considerably relative to the other, such as when visual orofacial movements precede a vocalization. These naturally occurring asynchronies do not disrupt intelligibility or perceptual coherence. However, they occur on time scales where they likely affect integrative neuronal activity in ways that have remained unclear, especially for hierarchically downstream regions in which neurons exhibit temporally imprecise but highly selective responses to communication signals. To address this, we exploited naturally occurring face- and voice-onset asynchronies in primate vocalizations. Using these as stimuli we recorded cortical oscillations and neuronal spiking responses from functional MRI (fMRI)-localized voice-sensitive cortex in the anterior temporal lobe of macaques. We show that the onset of the visual face stimulus resets the phase of low-frequency oscillations, and that the face-voice asynchrony affects the prominence of two key types of neuronal multisensory responses: enhancement or suppression. Our findings show a three-way association between temporal delays in audiovisual communication signals, phase-resetting of ongoing oscillations, and the sign of multisensory responses. The results reveal how natural onset asynchronies in cross-sensory inputs regulate network oscillations and neuronal excitability in the voice-sensitive cortex of macaques, a suggested animal model for human voice areas. These findings also advance predictions on the impact of multisensory input on neuronal processes in face areas and other brain regions.

Natural asynchronies in audiovisual communication signals regulate neuronal multisensory interactions in voice-sensitive cortex

PubMed Central

Perrodin, Catherine; Kayser, Christoph; Logothetis, Nikos K.; Petkov, Christopher I.

2015-01-01

When social animals communicate, the onset of informative content in one modality varies considerably relative to the other, such as when visual orofacial movements precede a vocalization. These naturally occurring asynchronies do not disrupt intelligibility or perceptual coherence. However, they occur on time scales where they likely affect integrative neuronal activity in ways that have remained unclear, especially for hierarchically downstream regions in which neurons exhibit temporally imprecise but highly selective responses to communication signals. To address this, we exploited naturally occurring face- and voice-onset asynchronies in primate vocalizations. Using these as stimuli we recorded cortical oscillations and neuronal spiking responses from functional MRI (fMRI)-localized voice-sensitive cortex in the anterior temporal lobe of macaques. We show that the onset of the visual face stimulus resets the phase of low-frequency oscillations, and that the face–voice asynchrony affects the prominence of two key types of neuronal multisensory responses: enhancement or suppression. Our findings show a three-way association between temporal delays in audiovisual communication signals, phase-resetting of ongoing oscillations, and the sign of multisensory responses. The results reveal how natural onset asynchronies in cross-sensory inputs regulate network oscillations and neuronal excitability in the voice-sensitive cortex of macaques, a suggested animal model for human voice areas. These findings also advance predictions on the impact of multisensory input on neuronal processes in face areas and other brain regions. PMID:25535356

Silent reading of direct versus indirect speech activates voice-selective areas in the auditory cortex.

PubMed

Yao, Bo; Belin, Pascal; Scheepers, Christoph

2011-10-01

In human communication, direct speech (e.g., Mary said: "I'm hungry") is perceived to be more vivid than indirect speech (e.g., Mary said [that] she was hungry). However, for silent reading, the representational consequences of this distinction are still unclear. Although many of us share the intuition of an "inner voice," particularly during silent reading of direct speech statements in text, there has been little direct empirical confirmation of this experience so far. Combining fMRI with eye tracking in human volunteers, we show that silent reading of direct versus indirect speech engenders differential brain activation in voice-selective areas of the auditory cortex. This suggests that readers are indeed more likely to engage in perceptual simulations (or spontaneous imagery) of the reported speaker's voice when reading direct speech as opposed to meaning-equivalent indirect speech statements as part of a more vivid representation of the former. Our results may be interpreted in line with embodied cognition and form a starting point for more sophisticated interdisciplinary research on the nature of auditory mental simulation during reading.

Voice deviation, dysphonia risk screening and quality of life in individuals with various laryngeal diagnoses

PubMed Central

Nemr, Katia; Cota, Ariane; Tsuji, Domingos; Simões-Zenari, Marcia

2018-01-01

OBJECTIVES: To characterize the voice quality of individuals with dysphonia and to investigate possible correlations between the degree of voice deviation (D) and scores on the Dysphonia Risk Screening Protocol-General (DRSP), the Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL) measure and the Voice Handicap Index, short version (VHI-10). METHODS: The sample included 200 individuals with dysphonia. Following laryngoscopy, the participants completed the DRSP, the V-RQOL measure, and the VHI-10; subsequently, voice samples were recorded for auditory-perceptual and acoustic analyses. The correlation between the score for each questionnaire and the overall degree of vocal deviation was analyzed, as was the correlation among the scores for the three questionnaires. RESULTS: Most of the participants (62%) were female, and the mean age of the sample was 49 years. The most common laryngeal diagnosis was organic dysphonia (79.5%). The mean D was 59.54, and the predominance of roughness had a mean of 54.74. All the participants exhibited at least one abnormal acoustic aspect. The mean questionnaire scores were DRSP, 44.7; V-RQOL, 57.1; and VHI-10, 16. An inverse correlation was found between the V-RQOL score and D; however, a positive correlation was found between both the VHI-10 and DRSP scores and D. CONCLUSION: A predominance of adult women, organic dysphonia, moderate voice deviation, high dysphonia risk, and low to moderate quality of life impact characterized our sample. There were correlations between the scores of each of the three questionnaires and the degree of voice deviation. It should be noted that the DRSP monitored the degree of dysphonia severity, which reinforces its applicability for patients with different laryngeal diagnoses. PMID:29538494

Voice deviation, dysphonia risk screening and quality of life in individuals with various laryngeal diagnoses.

PubMed

Nemr, Katia; Cota, Ariane; Tsuji, Domingos; Simões-Zenari, Marcia

2018-03-12

To characterize the voice quality of individuals with dysphonia and to investigate possible correlations between the degree of voice deviation (D) and scores on the Dysphonia Risk Screening Protocol-General (DRSP), the Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL) measure and the Voice Handicap Index, short version (VHI-10). The sample included 200 individuals with dysphonia. Following laryngoscopy, the participants completed the DRSP, the V-RQOL measure, and the VHI-10; subsequently, voice samples were recorded for auditory-perceptual and acoustic analyses. The correlation between the score for each questionnaire and the overall degree of vocal deviation was analyzed, as was the correlation among the scores for the three questionnaires. Most of the participants (62%) were female, and the mean age of the sample was 49 years. The most common laryngeal diagnosis was organic dysphonia (79.5%). The mean D was 59.54, and the predominance of roughness had a mean of 54.74. All the participants exhibited at least one abnormal acoustic aspect. The mean questionnaire scores were DRSP, 44.7; V-RQOL, 57.1; and VHI-10, 16. An inverse correlation was found between the V-RQOL score and D; however, a positive correlation was found between both the VHI-10 and DRSP scores and D. A predominance of adult women, organic dysphonia, moderate voice deviation, high dysphonia risk, and low to moderate quality of life impact characterized our sample. There were correlations between the scores of each of the three questionnaires and the degree of voice deviation. It should be noted that the DRSP monitored the degree of dysphonia severity, which reinforces its applicability for patients with different laryngeal diagnoses.

Association of trait emotional intelligence and individual fMRI-activation patterns during the perception of social signals from voice and face.

PubMed

Kreifelts, Benjamin; Ethofer, Thomas; Huberle, Elisabeth; Grodd, Wolfgang; Wildgruber, Dirk

2010-07-01

Multimodal integration of nonverbal social signals is essential for successful social interaction. Previous studies have implicated the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) in the perception of social signals such as nonverbal emotional signals as well as in social cognitive functions like mentalizing/theory of mind. In the present study, we evaluated the relationships between trait emotional intelligence (EI) and fMRI activation patterns in individual subjects during the multimodal perception of nonverbal emotional signals from voice and face. Trait EI was linked to hemodynamic responses in the right pSTS, an area which also exhibits a distinct sensitivity to human voices and faces. Within all other regions known to subserve the perceptual audiovisual integration of human social signals (i.e., amygdala, fusiform gyrus, thalamus), no such linked responses were observed. This functional difference in the network for the audiovisual perception of human social signals indicates a specific contribution of the pSTS as a possible interface between the perception of social information and social cognition. (c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Application of psychometric theory to the measurement of voice quality using rating scales.

PubMed

Shrivastav, Rahul; Sapienza, Christine M; Nandur, Vuday

2005-04-01

Rating scales are commonly used to study voice quality. However, recent research has demonstrated that perceptual measures of voice quality obtained using rating scales suffer from poor interjudge agreement and reliability, especially in the mid-range of the scale. These findings, along with those obtained using multidimensional scaling (MDS), have been interpreted to show that listeners perceive voice quality in an idiosyncratic manner. Based on psychometric theory, the present research explored an alternative explanation for the poor interlistener agreement observed in previous research. This approach suggests that poor agreement between listeners may result, in part, from measurement errors related to a variety of factors rather than true differences in the perception of voice quality. In this study, 10 listeners rated breathiness for 27 vowel stimuli using a 5-point rating scale. Each stimulus was presented to the listeners 10 times in random order. Interlistener agreement and reliability were calculated from these ratings. Agreement and reliability were observed to improve when multiple ratings of each stimulus from each listener were averaged and when standardized scores were used instead of absolute ratings. The probability of exact agreement was found to be approximately .9 when using averaged ratings and standardized scores. In contrast, the probability of exact agreement was only .4 when a single rating from each listener was used to measure agreement. These findings support the hypothesis that poor agreement reported in past research partly arises from errors in measurement rather than individual differences in the perception of voice quality.

Applying the attractor field model to social cognition: Perceptual discrimination is facilitated, but memory is impaired for faces displaying evaluatively congruent expressions.

PubMed

Corneille, Olivier; Hugenberg, Kurt; Potter, Timothy

2007-09-01

A new model of mental representation is applied to social cognition: the attractor field model. Using the model, the authors predicted and found a perceptual advantage but a memory disadvantage for faces displaying evaluatively congruent expressions. In Experiment 1, participants completed a same/different perceptual discrimination task involving morphed pairs of angry-to-happy Black and White faces. Pairs of faces displaying evaluatively incongruent expressions (i.e., happy Black, angry White) were more likely to be labeled as similar and were less likely to be accurately discriminated from one another than faces displaying evaluatively congruent expressions (i.e., angry Black, happy White). Experiment 2 replicated this finding and showed that objective discriminability of stimuli moderated the impact of attractor field effects on perceptual discrimination accuracy. In Experiment 3, participants completed a recognition task for angry and happy Black and White faces. Consistent with the attractor field model, memory accuracy was better for faces displaying evaluatively incongruent expressions. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved

Training outcome in future professional voice users after 18 months of voice training.

PubMed

Timmermans, Bernadette; De Bodt, Marc S; Wuyts, Floris L; Van de Heyning, Paul H

2004-01-01

The goal of this study is to define the long-term influence of vocal hygiene education and the effectiveness of voice training in 46 students. Half of the subjects, called the trained group (n = 23), received vocal hygiene education during 1 school year and voice training during 2 school years (18 months). The other half, also 23 subjects, received neither vocal hygiene education nor voice training as such (called the untrained group). The voice training is made up of technical workshops (30 h a year in groups of 5-8 subjects) and vocal coaching in the radio and drama projects (30 h whole class). In the lectures (30 h) a theoretical background on breathing, articulation, voicing and vocal hygiene was discussed. A multidimensional test battery containing the GRBAS scale, videolaryngostroboscopy, maximum phonation time, jitter, lowest intensity, highest frequency, Dysphonia Severity Index (DSI) and Voice Handicap Index (VHI) was applied before and after 18 months to evaluate the effect of voice training over time. A questionnaire on daily habits was presented before the lectures, and after 18 months to detect the long-term effect of the lectures. The objectively measured voice quality (DSI) of the trained group improved significantly over time (p < 0.001) due to training (p = 0.008), which was not the case in the untrained group. The self-assessed VHI, on the other hand, changed over time (p < 0.001) in both groups. For the trained group the VHI changed from 18.4 to 14.4 and in the untrained group from 20.1 to 15.3. It is important to note that the VHI scores of both groups remained high. The interpretation of the results of the daily habit questionnaire is disturbing: the initial high degree of smoking, vocal abuse, stress and late meals was not influenced by the lectures or training and remained high. This study proves the positive outcome and emphasizes the need for a well-organized voice training program in future professional voice users. However, the lectures

Voice Controlled Wheelchair

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1977-01-01

Michael Condon, a quadraplegic from Pasadena, California, demonstrates the NASA-developed voice-controlled wheelchair and its manipulator, which can pick up packages, open doors, turn a TV knob, and perform a variety of other functions. A possible boon to paralyzed and other severely handicapped persons, the chair-manipulator system responds to 35 one-word voice commands, such as "go," "stop," "up," "down," "right," "left," "forward," "backward." The heart of the system is a voice-command analyzer which utilizes a minicomputer. Commands are taught I to the computer by the patient's repeating them a number of times; thereafter the analyzer recognizes commands only in the patient's particular speech pattern. The computer translates commands into electrical signals which activate appropriate motors and cause the desired motion of chair or manipulator. Based on teleoperator and robot technology for space-related programs, the voice-controlled system was developed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory under the joint sponsorship of NASA and the Veterans Administration. The wheelchair-manipulator has been tested at Rancho Los Amigos Hospital, Downey, California, and is being evaluated at the VA Prosthetics Center in New York City.

Voice Register in Mon: Acoustics and Electroglottography

PubMed Central

Abramson, Arthur S.; Tiede, Mark K.; Luangthongkum, Theraphan

2016-01-01

Mon is spoken in villages in Thailand and Myanmar. The dialect of Ban Nakhonchum, Thailand has two voice registers, modal and breathy; these phonation types, along with other phonetic properties, distinguish minimal pairs. Four native speakers of this dialect recorded repetitions of 14 randomized words (seven minimal pairs) for acoustic analysis. We used a subset of these pairs in a listening test to verify the perceptual robustness of the register distinction. Acoustic analysis found significant differences in noise component, spectral slope, and fundamental frequency. In a subsequent session four speakers were also recorded using electroglottography (EGG), which showed systematic differences in the contact quotient (CQ). The salience of these properties in maintaining the register distinction is discussed in the context of possible tonogenesis for this language. PMID:26636544

Evaluation of voice codecs for the Australian mobile satellite system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bundrock, Tony; Wilkinson, Mal

1990-01-01

The evaluation procedure to choose a low bit rate voice coding algorithm is described for the Australian land mobile satellite system. The procedure is designed to assess both the inherent quality of the codec under 'normal' conditions and its robustness under 'severe' conditions. For the assessment, normal conditions were chosen to be random bit error rate with added background acoustic noise and the severe condition is designed to represent burst error conditions when mobile satellite channel suffers from signal fading due to roadside vegetation. The assessment is divided into two phases. First, a reduced set of conditions is used to determine a short list of candidate codecs for more extensive testing in the second phase. The first phase conditions include quality and robustness and codecs are ranked with a 60:40 weighting on the two. Second, the short listed codecs are assessed over a range of input voice levels, BERs, background noise conditions, and burst error distributions. Assessment is by subjective rating on a five level opinion scale and all results are then used to derive a weighted Mean Opinion Score using appropriate weights for each of the test conditions.

Acoustic and Perceived Measurements Certifying Tango as Voice Treatment Method.

PubMed

Tafiadis, Dionysios; Kosma, Evangelia I; Chronopoulos, Spyridon K; Papadopoulos, Aggelos; Toki, Eugenia I; Vassiliki, Siafaka; Ziavra, Nausica

2018-03-01

Voice disorders are affecting everyday life in many levels, and their prevalence has been studied extensively in certain and general populations. Notably, several factors have a cohesive influence on voice disorders and voice characteristics. Several studies report that health and environmental and psychological etiologies can serve as risk factors for voice disorders. Many diagnostic protocols, in the literature, evaluate voice and its parameters leading to direct or indirect treatment intervention. This study was designed to examine the effect of tango on adult acoustic voice parameters. Fifty-two adults (26 male and 26 female) were recruited and divided into four subgroups (male dancers, female dancers, male nondancers, and female nondancers). The participants were asked to answer two questionnaires (Voice Handicap Index and Voice Evaluation Form), and their voices were recorded before and after the tango dance session. Moreover, water consumption was investigated. The study's results indicated that the voices' acoustic characteristics were different between tango dancers and the control group. The beneficial results are far from prominent as they prove that tango dance can serve stand-alone as voice therapy without the need for hydration. Also, more research is imperative to be conducted on a longitudinal basis to obtain a more accurate result on the required time for the proposed therapy. Copyright © 2018 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Voice Recognition: A New Assessment Tool?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Darla

2005-01-01

This article presents the results of a study conducted in Anchorage, Alaska, that evaluated the accuracy and efficiency of using voice recognition (VR) technology to collect oral reading fluency data for classroom-based assessments. The primary research question was as follows: Is voice recognition technology a valid and reliable alternative to…

Audiovisual speech perception development at varying levels of perceptual processing.

PubMed

Lalonde, Kaylah; Holt, Rachael Frush

2016-04-01

This study used the auditory evaluation framework [Erber (1982). Auditory Training (Alexander Graham Bell Association, Washington, DC)] to characterize the influence of visual speech on audiovisual (AV) speech perception in adults and children at multiple levels of perceptual processing. Six- to eight-year-old children and adults completed auditory and AV speech perception tasks at three levels of perceptual processing (detection, discrimination, and recognition). The tasks differed in the level of perceptual processing required to complete them. Adults and children demonstrated visual speech influence at all levels of perceptual processing. Whereas children demonstrated the same visual speech influence at each level of perceptual processing, adults demonstrated greater visual speech influence on tasks requiring higher levels of perceptual processing. These results support previous research demonstrating multiple mechanisms of AV speech processing (general perceptual and speech-specific mechanisms) with independent maturational time courses. The results suggest that adults rely on both general perceptual mechanisms that apply to all levels of perceptual processing and speech-specific mechanisms that apply when making phonetic decisions and/or accessing the lexicon. Six- to eight-year-old children seem to rely only on general perceptual mechanisms across levels. As expected, developmental differences in AV benefit on this and other recognition tasks likely reflect immature speech-specific mechanisms and phonetic processing in children.

Exploring Tactile Perceptual Dimensions Using Materials Associated with Sensory Vocabulary.

PubMed

Sakamoto, Maki; Watanabe, Junji

2017-01-01

Considering tactile sensation when designing products is important because the decision to purchase often depends on how products feel. Numerous psychophysical studies have attempted to identify important factors that describe tactile perceptions. However, the numbers and types of major tactile dimensions reported in previous studies have varied because of differences in materials used across experiments. To obtain a more complete picture of perceptual space with regard to touch, our study focuses on using vocabulary that expresses tactile sensations as a guiding principle for collecting material samples because these types of words are expected to cover all the basic categories within tactile perceptual space. We collected 120 materials based on a variety of Japanese sound-symbolic words for tactile sensations, and used the materials to examine tactile perceptual dimensions and their associations with affective evaluations. Analysis revealed six major dimensions: "Affective evaluation and Friction," "Compliance," "Surface," "Volume," "Temperature," and "Naturalness." These dimensions include four factors that previous studies have regarded as fundamental, as well as two new factors: "Volume" and "Naturalness." Additionally, we showed that "Affective evaluation" is more closely related to the "Friction" component (slipperiness and dryness) than to other tactile perceptual features. Our study demonstrates that using vocabulary could be an effective method for selecting material samples to explore tactile perceptual space.

Health-related quality of life in children with dysphonia and validation of the French Pediatric Voice Handicap Index.

PubMed

Oddon, P A; Boucekine, M; Boyer, L; Triglia, J M; Nicollas, R

2018-01-01

voice disorders are common in the pediatric population and can negatively affect children's quality of life. The pediatric voice handicap Index (pVHI) is a valid instrument to assess parental perception of their children voice but it is not translated into French language. The aim of the present study was to adapt a French version of the pVHI and to evaluate its psychometric properties including construct validity, reliability, and some aspects of external validity. we performed a cross sectional study including 32 dysphonic children and 60 children with no history of voice problems between 3 and 12 years of age. The original pVHI was translated into French language according to forward-backward rules and then administered to parents or caregivers. Construct validity and internal consistency were explored using confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha. The questionnaire was filled twice to assess test-retest reliability using the intra-class correlation coefficient. The external validity was explored by comparing the French pVHI total and subscales scores between dysphonic and asymptomatic children. Correlations between the French pVHI and both the perceptual GRBAS scale and the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) survey "Vécu et Santé Perçu de l'Adolescent et de l'Enfant" (VSP-Ap) were also performed. the structure of the French pVHI showed a good fit with excellent reliability (α = 0.929) and high test-retest reliability. Significant differences were found between the group of dysphonic children and the control group (p < 0.001). The French pVHI scores were positively correlated to all parameters of the GRBAS scale (p < 0.05). Significant negative correlations were found between the Functional domain of the pVHI and various domains of the VSP-Ap as Leisure Activities, Schooling and Sentimental Relationship (p < 0.05). the French pVHI is considered to be a valid and reliable instrument to assess voice-related quality of life in children

Learning [Voice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tauberer, Joshua Ian

2010-01-01

The [voice] distinction between homorganic stops and fricatives is made by a number of acoustic correlates including voicing, segment duration, and preceding vowel duration. The present work looks at [voice] from a number of multidimensional perspectives. This dissertation's focus is a corpus study of the phonetic realization of [voice] in two…

A report on alterations to the speaking and singing voices of four women following hormonal therapy with virilizing agents.

PubMed

Baker, J

1999-12-01

Four women aged between 27 and 58 years sought otolaryngological examination due to significant alterations to their voices, the primary concerns being hoarseness in vocal quality, lowering of habitual pitch, difficulty projecting their speaking voices, and loss of control over their singing voices. Otolaryngological examination with a mirror or flexible laryngoscope revealed no apparent abnormality of vocal fold structure or function, and the women were referred for speech pathology with diagnoses of functional dysphonia. Objective acoustic measures using the Kay Visipitch indicated significant lowering of the mean fundamental frequency for each woman, and perceptual analysis of the patients' voices during quiet speaking, projected voice use, and comprehensive singing activities revealed a constellation of features typically noted in the pubescent male. The original diagnoses of a functional dysphonia were queried, prompting further exploration of each woman's medical history, revealing in each case onset of vocal symptoms shortly after commencing treatment for conditions with medications containing virilizing agents (eg, Danocrine (danazol), Deca-Durabolin (nandrolene decanoate), and testosterone). Although some of the vocal symptoms decreased in severity with the influences from 6 months voice therapy and after withdrawal from the drugs, a number of symptoms remained permanent, suggesting each subject had suffered significant alterations in vocal physiology, including muscle tissue changes, muscle coordination dysfunction, and propioceptive dysfunction. This retrospective study is presented in order to illustrate that it was both the projected speaking voice and the singing voice that proved so highly sensitive to the virilization effects. The implications for future prospective research studies and responsible clinical practice are discussed.

Voice amplification versus vocal hygiene instruction for teachers with voice disorders: a treatment outcomes study.

PubMed

Roy, Nelson; Weinrich, Barbara; Gray, Steven D; Tanner, Kristine; Toledo, Sue Walker; Dove, Heather; Corbin-Lewis, Kim; Stemple, Joseph C

2002-08-01

Voice problems are common among schoolteachers. This prospective, randomized clinical trial used patient-based treatment outcomes measures combined with acoustic analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of two treatment programs. Forty-four voice-disordered teachers were randomly assigned to one of three groups: voice amplification using the ChatterVox portable amplifier (VA, n = 15), vocal hygiene (VH, n = 15), and a nontreatment control group (n = 14). Before and after a 6-week treatment phase, all teachers completed: (a) the Voice Handicap Index (VHI), an instrument designed to appraise the self-perceived psychosocial consequences of voice disorders; (b) a voice severity self-rating scale; and (c) an audiorecording for later acoustic analysis. Based on pre- and posttreatment comparisons, only the amplification group experienced significant reductions on mean VHI scores (p = .045), voice severity self-ratings (p = .012), and the acoustic measures of percent jitter (p = .031) and shimmer (p = .008). The nontreatment control group reported a significant increase in level of vocal handicap as assessed by the VHI (p = .012). Although most pre- to posttreatment changes were in the desired direction, no significant improvements were observed within the VH group on any of the dependent measures. Between-group comparisons involving the three possible pairings of the groups revealed a pattern of results to suggest that: (a) compared to the control group, both treatment groups (i.e., VA and VH) experienced significantly more improvement on specific outcomes measures and (b) there were no significant differences between the VA and VH groups to indicate superiority of one treatment over another. Results, however, from a posttreatment questionnaire regarding the perceived benefits of treatment revealed that, compared to the VH group, the VA group reported more clarity of their speaking and singing voice (p = .061), greater ease of voice production (p = .001), and greater

The Neighborhood Voice: evaluating a mobile research vehicle for recruiting African Americans to participate in cancer control studies.

PubMed

Alcaraz, Kassandra I; Weaver, Nancy L; Andresen, Elena M; Christopher, Kara; Kreuter, Matthew W

2011-09-01

The Neighborhood Voice is a vehicle customized for conducting health research in community settings. It brings research studies into neighborhoods affected most by health disparities and reaches groups often underrepresented in research samples. This paper reports on the experience and satisfaction of 599 African American women who participated in research on board the Neighborhood Voice. Using bivariate, psychometric, and logistic regression analyses, we examined responses to a brief post-research survey. Most women (71%) reported that they had never previously participated in research, and two-thirds (68%) rated their Neighborhood Voice experience as excellent. Satisfaction scores were highest among first-time research participants (p < .05). Women's ratings of the Neighborhood Voice on Comfort (OR = 4.9; 95% CI = 3.0, 7.9) and Convenience (OR = 1.8; 95% CI = 1.2, 2.9) significantly predicted having an excellent experience. Mobile research facilities may increase participation among disadvantaged and minority populations. Our brief survey instrument is a model for evaluating such outreach.

Internet-based perceptual learning in treating amblyopia.

PubMed

Zhang, Wenqiu; Yang, Xubo; Liao, Meng; Zhang, Ning; Liu, Longqian

2013-01-01

Amblyopia is a common childhood condition, which affects 2%-3% of the population. The efficacy of conventional treatment in amblyopia seems not to be high and recently perceptual learning has been used for treating amblyopia. The aim of this study was to address the efficacy of Internet-based perceptual learning in treating amblyopia. A total of 530 eyes of 341 patients with amblyopia presenting to the outpatient department of West China Hospital of Sichuan University between February 2011 and December 2011 were reviewed. A retrospective cohort study was conducted to compare the efficacy of Internet-based perceptual learning and conventional treatment in amblyopia. The efficacy was evaluated by the change in visual acuity between pretreatment and posttreatment. The change in visual acuity between pretreatment and posttreatment by Internet-based perceptual learning was larger than that by conventional treatment in ametropic and strabismic amblyopia (p<0.05), but smaller than that in anisometropic and other types of amblyopia (p<0.05). The improvement in visual acuity by Internet-based perceptual learning was larger for patients with amblyopia not younger than 7 years (p<0.05). The mean cure time of patients with amblyopia by Internet-based perceptual learning was 3.06 ± 1.42 months, while conventional treatment required 3.52 ± 1.67 months to reach the same improvement (p<0.05). Internet-based perceptual learning can be considered as an alternative to conventional treatment. It is especially suitable for ametropic and strabismic patients with amblyopia who are older than 7 years and can shorten the cure time of amblyopia.

Human Perceptual Performance With Nonliteral Imagery: Region Recognition and Texture-Based Segmentation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Essock, Edward A.; Sinai, Michael J.; DeFord, Kevin; Hansen, Bruce C.; Srinivasan, Narayanan

2004-01-01

In this study the authors address the issue of how the perceptual usefulness of nonliteral imagery should be evaluated. Perceptual performance with nonliteral imagery of natural scenes obtained at night from infrared and image-intensified sensors and from multisensor fusion methods was assessed to relate performance on 2 basic perceptual tasks to…

Improving Higher Education Practice through Student Evaluation Systems: Is the Student Voice Being Heard?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blair, Erik; Valdez Noel, Keisha

2014-01-01

Many higher education institutions use student evaluation systems as a way of highlighting course and lecturer strengths and areas for improvement. Globally, the student voice has been increasing in volume, and capitalising on student feedback has been proposed as a means to benefit teacher professional development. This paper examines the student…

Audiovisual speech perception development at varying levels of perceptual processing

PubMed Central

Lalonde, Kaylah; Holt, Rachael Frush

2016-01-01

This study used the auditory evaluation framework [Erber (1982). Auditory Training (Alexander Graham Bell Association, Washington, DC)] to characterize the influence of visual speech on audiovisual (AV) speech perception in adults and children at multiple levels of perceptual processing. Six- to eight-year-old children and adults completed auditory and AV speech perception tasks at three levels of perceptual processing (detection, discrimination, and recognition). The tasks differed in the level of perceptual processing required to complete them. Adults and children demonstrated visual speech influence at all levels of perceptual processing. Whereas children demonstrated the same visual speech influence at each level of perceptual processing, adults demonstrated greater visual speech influence on tasks requiring higher levels of perceptual processing. These results support previous research demonstrating multiple mechanisms of AV speech processing (general perceptual and speech-specific mechanisms) with independent maturational time courses. The results suggest that adults rely on both general perceptual mechanisms that apply to all levels of perceptual processing and speech-specific mechanisms that apply when making phonetic decisions and/or accessing the lexicon. Six- to eight-year-old children seem to rely only on general perceptual mechanisms across levels. As expected, developmental differences in AV benefit on this and other recognition tasks likely reflect immature speech-specific mechanisms and phonetic processing in children. PMID:27106318

The relationship between the Nasality Severity Index 2.0 and perceptual judgments of hypernasality.

PubMed

Bettens, Kim; De Bodt, Marc; Maryn, Youri; Luyten, Anke; Wuyts, Floris L; Van Lierde, Kristiane M

2016-01-01

The Nasality Severity Index 2.0 (NSI 2.0) forms a new, multiparametric approach in the identification of hypernasality. The present study aimed to investigate the correlation between the NSI 2.0 scores and the perceptual assessment of hypernasality. Speech samples of 35 patients, representing a range of nasality from normal to severely hypernasal, were rated by four expert speech-language pathologists using visual analogue scaling (VAS) judging the degree of hypernasality, audible nasal airflow (ANA) and speech intelligibility. Inter- and intra-listener reliability was verified using intraclass correlation coefficients. Correlations between NSI 2.0 scores and its parameters (i.e. nasalance score of an oral text and vowel /u/, voice low tone to high tone ratio of the vowel /i/) and the degree of hypernasality were determined using Pearson correlation coefficients. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to investigate the possible influence of ANA and speech intelligibility on the NSI 2.0 scores. Overall good to excellent inter- and intra-listener reliability was found for the perceptual ratings. A moderate, but significant negative correlation between NSI 2.0 scores and perceived hypernasality (r=-0.64) was found, in which a more negative NSI 2.0 score indicates the presence of more severe hypernasality. No significant influence of ANA or intelligibility on the NSI 2.0 was observed based on the regression analysis. Because the NSI 2.0 correlates significantly with perceived hypernasality, it provides an easy-to-interpret severity score of hypernasality which will facilitate the evaluation of therapy outcomes, communication to the patient and other clinicians, and decisions for treatment planning, based on a multiparametric approach. However, research is still necessary to further explore the instrumental correlates of perceived hypernasality. The reader will be able to (1) describe and discuss current issues and influencing variables regarding perceptual

Voice Tremor in Parkinson's Disease: An Acoustic Study.

PubMed

Gillivan-Murphy, Patricia; Miller, Nick; Carding, Paul

2018-01-30

Voice tremor associated with Parkinson disease (PD) has not been characterized. Its relationship with voice disability and disease variables is unknown. This study aimed to evaluate voice tremor in people with PD (pwPD) and a matched control group using acoustic analysis, and to examine correlations with voice disability and disease variables. Acoustic voice tremor analysis was completed on 30 pwPD and 28 age-gender matched controls. Voice disability (Voice Handicap Index), and disease variables of disease duration, Activities of Daily Living (Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale [UPDRS II]), and motor symptoms related to PD (UPDRS III) were examined for relationship with voice tremor measures. Voice tremor was detected acoustically in pwPD and controls with similar frequency. PwPD had a statistically significantly higher rate of amplitude tremor (Hz) than controls (P = 0.001). Rate of amplitude tremor was negatively and significantly correlated with UPDRS III total score (rho -0.509). For pwPD, the magnitude and periodicity of acoustic tremor was higher than for controls without statistical significance. The magnitude of frequency tremor (Mftr%) was positively and significantly correlated with disease duration (rho 0.463). PwPD had higher Voice Handicap Index total, functional, emotional, and physical subscale scores than matched controls (P < 0.001). Voice disability did not correlate significantly with acoustic voice tremor measures. Acoustic analysis enhances understanding of PD voice tremor characteristics, its pathophysiology, and its relationship with voice disability and disease symptomatology. Copyright © 2018 The Voice Foundation. All rights reserved.

Native voice, self-concept and the moral case for personalized voice technology.

PubMed

Nathanson, Esther

2017-01-01

Purpose (1) To explore the role of native voice and effects of voice loss on self-concept and identity, and survey the state of assistive voice technology; (2) to establish the moral case for developing personalized voice technology. Methods This narrative review examines published literature on the human significance of voice, the impact of voice loss on self-concept and identity, and the strengths and limitations of current voice technology. Based on the impact of voice loss on self and identity, and voice technology limitations, the moral case for personalized voice technology is developed. Results Given the richness of information conveyed by voice, loss of voice constrains expression of the self, but the full impact is poorly understood. Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices facilitate communication but, despite advances in this field, voice output cannot yet express the unique nuances of individual voice. The ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence and equality of opportunity establish the moral responsibility to invest in accessible, cost-effective, personalized voice technology. Conclusions Although further research is needed to elucidate the full effects of voice loss on self-concept, identity and social functioning, current understanding of the profoundly negative impact of voice loss establishes the moral case for developing personalized voice technology. Implications for Rehabilitation Rehabilitation of voice-disordered patients should facilitate self-expression, interpersonal connectedness and social/occupational participation. Proactive questioning about the psychological and social experiences of patients with voice loss is a valuable entry point for rehabilitation planning. Personalized voice technology would enhance sense of self, communicative participation and autonomy and promote shared healthcare decision-making. Further research is needed to identify the best strategies to preserve and strengthen identity and sense of

The Impact of Vocal Cool-down Exercises: A Subjective Study of Singers' and Listeners' Perceptions.

PubMed

Ragan, Kari

2016-11-01

Using subjective measures, this study investigated singers' and listeners' perceptions of changes in voice condition after vocal cool-down exercises. A single-subject crossover was designed to evaluate whether there were discernible differences in either singer or listener perceptions from pre (no vocal cool downs) to post (with cool downs) test. Subjective questionnaires were completed throughout the study. Twenty classically trained female singers documented self-ratings and perceptual judgments through the Evaluation of the Ability to Sing Easily survey, the Singing Voice Handicap Index, and Self-Perceptual Questionnaires after a 60-minute voice load. Recordings were made and assessed by four expert listeners. The assessed data from the Singing Voice Handicap Index, the Evaluation of the Ability to Sing Easily, and Daily Perceptual Questionnaires show 68%, 67%, and 74% of singers reported improvement, respectively. However, because of significant variability in the underlying scores, the amount of improvement was not deemed to be statistically significant. Expert listeners correctly identified the cool-down week 46% of the time. Singers strongly perceived positive impact from the cool-down exercises on both their speaking and singing voices. Even though the objective data were statistically insignificant, the singers' subjective data clearly indicates a perceived sense of vocal well-being after utilizing the vocal cool-down protocol. The variability in the daily life of a singer (eg, stress, menses, reflux, vocal load, and vocal hygiene) makes it difficult to objectively quantify the impact of vocal cool downs. Copyright © 2016 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Perceptual processing affects conceptual processing.

PubMed

Van Dantzig, Saskia; Pecher, Diane; Zeelenberg, René; Barsalou, Lawrence W

2008-04-05

According to the Perceptual Symbols Theory of cognition (Barsalou, 1999), modality-specific simulations underlie the representation of concepts. A strong prediction of this view is that perceptual processing affects conceptual processing. In this study, participants performed a perceptual detection task and a conceptual property-verification task in alternation. Responses on the property-verification task were slower for those trials that were preceded by a perceptual trial in a different modality than for those that were preceded by a perceptual trial in the same modality. This finding of a modality-switch effect across perceptual processing and conceptual processing supports the hypothesis that perceptual and conceptual representations are partially based on the same systems. 2008 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Acoustic voice analysis of prelingually deaf adults before and after cochlear implantation.

PubMed

Evans, Maegan K; Deliyski, Dimitar D

2007-11-01

It is widely accepted that many severe to profoundly deaf adults have benefited from cochlear implants (CIs). However, limited research has been conducted to investigate changes in voice and speech of prelingually deaf adults who receive CIs, a population well known for presenting with a variety of voice and speech abnormalities. The purpose of this study was to use acoustic analysis to explore changes in voice and speech for three prelingually deaf males pre- and postimplantation over 6 months. The following measurements, some measured in varying contexts, were obtained: fundamental frequency (F0), jitter, shimmer, noise-to-harmonic ratio, voice turbulence index, soft phonation index, amplitude- and F0-variation, F0-range, speech rate, nasalance, and vowel production. Characteristics of vowel production were measured by determining the first formant (F1) and second formant (F2) of vowels in various contexts, magnitude of F2-variation, and rate of F2-variation. Perceptual measurements of pitch, pitch variability, loudness variability, speech rate, and intonation were obtained for comparison. Results are reported using descriptive statistics. The results showed patterns of change for some of the parameters while there was considerable variation across the subjects. All participants demonstrated a decrease in F0 in at least one context and demonstrated a change in nasalance toward the norm as compared to their normal hearing control. The two participants who were oral-language communicators were judged to produce vowels with an average of 97.2% accuracy and the sign-language user demonstrated low percent accuracy for vowel production.

Evaluation of Voice Acoustics as Predictors of Clinical Depression Scores.

PubMed

Hashim, Nik Wahidah; Wilkes, Mitch; Salomon, Ronald; Meggs, Jared; France, Daniel J

2017-03-01

The aim of the present study was to determine if acoustic measures of voice, characterizing specific spectral and timing properties, predict clinical ratings of depression severity measured in a sample of patients using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). This is a prospective study. Voice samples and clinical depression scores were collected prospectively from consenting adult patients who were referred to psychiatry from the adult emergency department or primary care clinics. The patients were audio-recorded as they read a standardized passage in a nearly closed-room environment. Mean Absolute Error (MAE) between actual and predicted depression scores was used as the primary outcome measure. The average MAE between predicted and actual HAMD scores was approximately two scores for both men and women, and the MAE for the BDI-II scores was approximately one score for men and eight scores for women. Timing features were predictive of HAMD scores in female patients while a combination of timing features and spectral features was predictive of scores in male patients. Timing features were predictive of BDI-II scores in male patients. Voice acoustic features extracted from read speech demonstrated variable effectiveness in predicting clinical depression scores in men and women. Voice features were highly predictive of HAMD scores in men and women, and BDI-II scores in men, respectively. The methodology is feasible for diagnostic applications in diverse clinical settings as it can be implemented during a standard clinical interview in a normal closed room and without strict control on the recording environment. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Two-voice fundamental frequency estimation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Cheveigné, Alain

2002-05-01

An algorithm is presented that estimates the fundamental frequencies of two concurrent voices or instruments. The algorithm models each voice as a periodic function of time, and jointly estimates both periods by cancellation according to a previously proposed method [de Cheveigné and Kawahara, Speech Commun. 27, 175-185 (1999)]. The new algorithm improves on the old in several respects; it allows an unrestricted search range, effectively avoids harmonic and subharmonic errors, is more accurate (it uses two-dimensional parabolic interpolation), and is computationally less costly. It remains subject to unavoidable errors when periods are in certain simple ratios and the task is inherently ambiguous. The algorithm is evaluated on a small database including speech, singing voice, and instrumental sounds. It can be extended in several ways; to decide the number of voices, to handle amplitude variations, and to estimate more than two voices (at the expense of increased processing cost and decreased reliability). It makes no use of instrument models, learned or otherwise, although it could usefully be combined with such models. [Work supported by the Cognitique programme of the French Ministry of Research and Technology.

Voice care knowledge among clinicians and people with healthy voices or dysphonia.

PubMed

Fletcher, Helen M; Drinnan, Michael J; Carding, Paul N

2007-01-01

An important clinical component in the prevention and treatment of voice disorders is voice care and hygiene. Research in voice care knowledge has mainly focussed on specific groups of professional voice users with limited reporting on the tool and evidence base used. In this study, a questionnaire to measure voice care knowledge was developed based on "best evidence." The questionnaire was validated by measuring specialist voice clinicians' agreement. Preliminary data are then presented using the voice care knowledge questionnaire with 17 subjects with nonorganic dysphonia and 17 with healthy voices. There was high (89%) agreement among the clinicians. There was a highly significant difference between the dysphonic and the healthy group scores (P = 0.00005). Furthermore, the dysphonic subjects (63% agreement) presented with less voice care knowledge than the subjects with healthy voices (72% agreement). The questionnaire provides a useful and valid tool to investigate voice care knowledge. The findings have implications for clinical intervention, voice therapy, and health prevention.

Issues in forensic voice.

PubMed

Hollien, Harry; Huntley Bahr, Ruth; Harnsberger, James D

2014-03-01

The following article provides a general review of an area that can be referred to as Forensic Voice. Its goals will be outlined and that discussion will be followed by a description of its major elements. Considered are (1) the processing and analysis of spoken utterances, (2) distorted speech, (3) enhancement of speech intelligibility (re: surveillance and other recordings), (4) transcripts, (5) authentication of recordings, (6) speaker identification, and (7) the detection of deception, intoxication, and emotions in speech. Stress in speech and the psychological stress evaluation systems (that some individuals attempt to use as lie detectors) also will be considered. Points of entry will be suggested for individuals with the kinds of backgrounds possessed by professionals already working in the voice area. Copyright © 2014 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Visual Perceptual Learning and Models.

PubMed

Dosher, Barbara; Lu, Zhong-Lin

2017-09-15

Visual perceptual learning through practice or training can significantly improve performance on visual tasks. Originally seen as a manifestation of plasticity in the primary visual cortex, perceptual learning is more readily understood as improvements in the function of brain networks that integrate processes, including sensory representations, decision, attention, and reward, and balance plasticity with system stability. This review considers the primary phenomena of perceptual learning, theories of perceptual learning, and perceptual learning's effect on signal and noise in visual processing and decision. Models, especially computational models, play a key role in behavioral and physiological investigations of the mechanisms of perceptual learning and for understanding, predicting, and optimizing human perceptual processes, learning, and performance. Performance improvements resulting from reweighting or readout of sensory inputs to decision provide a strong theoretical framework for interpreting perceptual learning and transfer that may prove useful in optimizing learning in real-world applications.

The Belt voice: Acoustical measurements and esthetic correlates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bounous, Barry Urban

This dissertation explores the esthetic attributes of the Belt voice through spectral acoustical analysis. The process of understanding the nature and safe practice of Belt is just beginning, whereas the understanding of classical singing is well established. The unique nature of the Belt sound provides difficulties for voice teachers attempting to evaluate the quality and appropriateness of a particular sound or performance. This study attempts to provide answers to the question "does Belt conform to a set of measurable esthetic standards?" In answering this question, this paper expands on a previous study of the esthetic attributes of the classical baritone voice (see "Vocal Beauty", NATS Journal 51,1) which also drew some tentative conclusions about the Belt voice but which had an inadequate sample pool of subjects from which to draw. Further, this study demonstrates that it is possible to scientifically investigate the realm of musical esthetics in the singing voice. It is possible to go beyond the "a trained voice compared to an untrained voice" paradigm when evaluating quantitative vocal parameters and actually investigate what truly beautiful voices do. There are functions of sound energy (measured in dB) transference which may affect the nervous system in predictable ways and which can be measured and associated with esthetics. This study does not show consistency in measurements for absolute beauty (taste) even among belt teachers and researchers but does show some markers with varying degrees of importance which may point to a difference between our cognitive learned response to singing and our emotional, more visceral response to sounds. The markers which are significant in determining vocal beauty are: (1) Vibrancy-Characteristics of vibrato including speed, width, and consistency (low variability). (2) Spectral makeup-Ratio of partial strength above the fundamental to the fundamental. (3) Activity of the voice-The quantity of energy being produced. (4

Perceived control and voice handicap in patients with voice disorders.

PubMed

Frazier, Patricia; Merians, Addie; Misono, Stephanie

2017-11-01

The purpose of the study was to replicate and extend previous research on the relation between perceived present control and voice handicap and to further examine the psychometric properties of a present control scale adapted for patients with voice disorders (Misono, Meredith, Peterson, & Frazier, 2016). Sample 1 consisted of 1,129 patients recruited from a voice disorder clinic who completed measures of perceived present control, distress, and voice handicap in the clinic. Sample 2 consisted of 62 patients from the same clinic who completed measures of present control, distress, voice handicap, and general control beliefs online at baseline and measures of present control and voice handicap again 3 weeks later (n = 59). With regard to the psychometric properties of the voice-adapted present control scale, alpha coefficients were above .80 and the 3-week test-reliability coefficient was .69. There was mixed support for the hypothesized 1-factor structure of the scale. In Sample 1, present control was more strongly associated with lower voice handicap than was distress and accounted for significant variance in voice handicap controlling for distress. In Sample 2, present control at baseline predicted later voice handicap, controlling for general control beliefs and distress. Present control appears to be a promising target for adjunctive interventions for patients with voice disorders. An evidence-based online present control intervention (Hintz, Frazier, & Meredith, 2015) is being adapted for this patient population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Comparison of the produced and perceived voice range profiles in untrained and trained classical singers.

PubMed

Hunter, Eric J; Svec, Jan G; Titze, Ingo R

2006-12-01

Frequency and intensity ranges (in true decibel sound pressure level, 20 microPa at 1 m) of voice production in trained and untrained vocalists were compared with the perceived dynamic range (phons) and units of loudness (sones) of the ear. Results were reported in terms of standard voice range profiles (VRPs), perceived VRPs (as predicted by accepted measures of auditory sensitivities), and a new metric labeled as an overall perceptual level construct. Trained classical singers made use of the most sensitive part of the hearing range (around 3-4 kHz) through the use of the singer's formant. When mapped onto the contours of equal loudness (depicting nonuniform spectral and dynamic sensitivities of the auditory system), the formant is perceived at an even higher sound level, as measured in phons, than a flat or A-weighted spectrum would indicate. The contributions of effects like the singer's formant and the sensitivities of the auditory system helped the trained singers produce 20% to 40% more units of loudness, as measured in sones, than the untrained singers. Trained male vocalists had a maximum overall perceptual level construct that was 40% higher than the untrained male vocalists. Although the A-weighted spectrum (commonly used in VRP measurement) is a reasonable first-order approximation of auditory sensitivities, it misrepresents the most salient part of the sensitivities (where the singer's formant is found) by nearly 10 dB.

COMPARISON OF THE PRODUCED AND PERCEIVED VOICE RANGE PROFILES IN UNTRAINED AND TRAINED CLASSICAL SINGERS

PubMed Central

Hunter, Eric J.; Švec, Jan G.; Titze, Ingo R.

2016-01-01

Frequency and intensity ranges (in true dB SPL re 20 μPa at 1 meter) of voice production in trained and untrained vocalists were compared to the perceived dynamic range (phons) and units of loudness (sones) of the ear. Results were reported in terms of standard Voice Range Profiles (VRPs), perceived VRPs (as predicted by accepted measures of auditory sensitivities), and a new metric labeled as an Overall Perceptual Level Construct. Trained classical singers made use of the most sensitive part of the hearing range (around 3–4 KHz) through the use of the singer’s formant. When mapped onto the contours of equal-loudness (depicting non-uniform spectral and dynamic sensitivities of the auditory system), the formant is perceived at an even higher sound level, as measured in phons, than a flat or A-weighted spectrum would indicate. The contributions of effects like the singer’s formant and the sensitivities of the auditory system helped the trained singers produce 20–40 percent more units of loudness, as measured in sones, than the untrained singers. Trained male vocalists had a maximum Overall Perceptual Level Construct that was 40% higher than the untrained male vocalists. While the A-weighted spectrum (commonly used in VRP measurement) is a reasonable first order approximation of auditory sensitivities, it misrepresents the most salient part of the sensitivities (where the singer’s formant is found) by nearly 10 dB. PMID:16325373

Assessing the effectiveness of botulinum toxin injections for adductor spasmodic dysphonia: clinician and patient perception.

PubMed

Braden, Maia N; Johns, Michael M; Klein, Adam M; Delgaudio, John M; Gilman, Marina; Hapner, Edie R

2010-03-01

To determine the effectiveness of Botox treatment for adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD), the clinician and patient judge changes in voice symptoms and the effect on quality of life. Currently, there is no standard protocol for determining the effectiveness of Botox injections in treating ADSD. Therefore, clinicians use a variety of perceptual scales and patient-based self-assessments to determine patients' impressions of severity and changes after treatments. The purpose of this study was to assess clinician-patient agreement of the effects of Botox on voice quality and quality of life in ADSD. Retrospective chart review of 199 randomly selected patients since 2004. Results indicated a weak correlation between the patient's assessment of voice impairment (EIS) and patient's quality of life impairment (Voice-Related Quality of Life [V-RQOL]) in the mild-moderate dysphonia severity group and the moderate-to-severe dysphonia group. There was a weak correlation between the patient's assessment of voice impairment EIS and the clinician's perceptual judgment of voice impairment (Consensus Auditory Perceptual Evaluation of Voice [CAPE-V]) only in the moderate to severe dysphonia group. There was a weak correlation between the patient's quality of life impairment (V-RQOL) and the clinician's perceptual judgment of voice impairment (CAPE-V) only in the severe to profound dysphonia group. The poor relationship among commonly used outcome measures leads us to question how best to assess the effectiveness of Botox in ADSD. Clinicians are required to document treatment outcomes, making it important to use scales that are valid, reliable, and sensitive to change. Future research directions include examining relationships between measures both before and after Botox injections, examining the specific factors that determine quality of life changes, and further research on specific parameters of the CAPE-V as well as comparing perceptual and quality of life scales with acoustic

How Can We Confidently Judge the Extent to Which Student Voice in Higher Education Has Been Genuinely Amplified? A Proposal for a New Evaluation Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seale, Jane

2016-01-01

This article aims to contribute to the development of frameworks for evaluating student voice projects in higher education by offering a critically evaluative account of two student voice projects. Although both projects had been underpinned by the principles of participatory (inclusive) research, one appeared to be more successful than the other…

Transmasculine People's Voice Function: A Review of the Currently Available Evidence.

PubMed

Azul, David; Nygren, Ulrika; Södersten, Maria; Neuschaefer-Rube, Christiane

2017-03-01

This study aims to evaluate the currently available discursive and empirical data relating to those aspects of transmasculine people's vocal situations that are not primarily gender-related, to identify restrictions to voice function that have been observed in this population, and to make suggestions for future voice research and clinical practice. We conducted a comprehensive review of the voice literature. Publications were identified by searching six electronic databases and bibliographies of relevant articles. Twenty-two publications met inclusion criteria. Discourses and empirical data were analyzed for factors and practices that impact on voice function and for indications of voice function-related problems in transmasculine people. The quality of the evidence was appraised. The extent and quality of studies investigating transmasculine people's voice function was found to be limited. There was mixed evidence to suggest that transmasculine people might experience restrictions to a range of domains of voice function, including vocal power, vocal control/stability, glottal function, pitch range/variability, vocal endurance, and voice quality. More research into the different factors and practices affecting transmasculine people's voice function that takes account of a range of parameters of voice function and considers participants' self-evaluations is needed to establish how functional voice production can be best supported in this population. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Metacognitive Confidence Increases with, but Does Not Determine, Visual Perceptual Learning.

PubMed

Zizlsperger, Leopold; Kümmel, Florian; Haarmeier, Thomas

2016-01-01

While perceptual learning increases objective sensitivity, the effects on the constant interaction of the process of perception and its metacognitive evaluation have been rarely investigated. Visual perception has been described as a process of probabilistic inference featuring metacognitive evaluations of choice certainty. For visual motion perception in healthy, naive human subjects here we show that perceptual sensitivity and confidence in it increased with training. The metacognitive sensitivity-estimated from certainty ratings by a bias-free signal detection theoretic approach-in contrast, did not. Concomitant 3Hz transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) was applied in compliance with previous findings on effective high-low cross-frequency coupling subserving signal detection. While perceptual accuracy and confidence in it improved with training, there were no statistically significant tACS effects. Neither metacognitive sensitivity in distinguishing between their own correct and incorrect stimulus classifications, nor decision confidence itself determined the subjects' visual perceptual learning. Improvements of objective performance and the metacognitive confidence in it were rather determined by the perceptual sensitivity at the outset of the experiment. Post-decision certainty in visual perceptual learning was neither independent of objective performance, nor requisite for changes in sensitivity, but rather covaried with objective performance. The exact functional role of metacognitive confidence in human visual perception has yet to be determined.

Perceptual and Cognitive Impairments and Driving

PubMed Central

Korner-Bitensky, Nicol; Coopersmith, Henry; Mayo, Nancy; Leblanc, Ginette; Kaizer, Franceen

1990-01-01

Perceptual and cognitive disorders that frequently accompany stroke and head injury influence an individual's ability to drive a motor vehicle. Canadian physicians are legally responsible for identifying patients who are potentially unsafe to drive and, if they fail to do so, may be held liable in a civil action suit. The authors review the guidelines for physicians evaluating a patient's fitness to drive after brain injury. They also examine the actions a physician should take when a patient with perceptual and cognitive problems wants to drive. Ultimately, by taking these actions, physicians will help to prevent driving accidents. PMID:21234047

Perceptual learning and human expertise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kellman, Philip J.; Garrigan, Patrick

2009-06-01

We consider perceptual learning: experience-induced changes in the way perceivers extract information. Often neglected in scientific accounts of learning and in instruction, perceptual learning is a fundamental contributor to human expertise and is crucial in domains where humans show remarkable levels of attainment, such as language, chess, music, and mathematics. In Section 2, we give a brief history and discuss the relation of perceptual learning to other forms of learning. We consider in Section 3 several specific phenomena, illustrating the scope and characteristics of perceptual learning, including both discovery and fluency effects. We describe abstract perceptual learning, in which structural relationships are discovered and recognized in novel instances that do not share constituent elements or basic features. In Section 4, we consider primary concepts that have been used to explain and model perceptual learning, including receptive field change, selection, and relational recoding. In Section 5, we consider the scope of perceptual learning, contrasting recent research, focused on simple sensory discriminations, with earlier work that emphasized extraction of invariance from varied instances in more complex tasks. Contrary to some recent views, we argue that perceptual learning should not be confined to changes in early sensory analyzers. Phenomena at various levels, we suggest, can be unified by models that emphasize discovery and selection of relevant information. In a final section, we consider the potential role of perceptual learning in educational settings. Most instruction emphasizes facts and procedures that can be verbalized, whereas expertise depends heavily on implicit pattern recognition and selective extraction skills acquired through perceptual learning. We consider reasons why perceptual learning has not been systematically addressed in traditional instruction, and we describe recent successful efforts to create a technology of perceptual

Listening to Young Children's Voices: The Evaluation of a Coding System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tertoolen, Anja; Geldens, Jeannette; van Oers, Bert; Popeijus, Herman

2015-01-01

Listening to young children's voices is an issue with increasing relevance for many researchers in the field of early childhood research. At the same time, teachers and researchers are faced with challenges to provide children with possibilities to express their notions, and to find ways of comprehending children's voices. In our research we aim…

Effects of Radioactive Iodine Ablation Therapy on Voice Quality.

PubMed

Aydoğdu, İmran; Atar, Yavuz; Saltürk, Ziya; Sarı, Hüseyin; Ataç, Enes; Aydoğdu, Zeynep; İnan, Muzaffer; Mersinlioğlu, Gökhan; Uyar, Yavuz

2017-01-01

The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of radioactive iodine ablation therapy on voice quality of patients diagnosed with well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma. We enrolled 36 patients who underwent total or subtotal thyroidectomy due to well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma. Voice recordings from patients were analyzed for acoustic and aerodynamic voice. The Voice Handicap Index-10 was used for subjective analysis. The control group consisted of 36 healthy participants. Results taken before and after therapy were compared statistically. There were no differences in the results taken before and after therapy for the radioactive iodine ablation group. The Voice Handicap Index-10 results did not differ between groups before and after therapy. Radioactive iodine ablation therapy has no effect on voice quality objectively or subjectively. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Pupil dilation reflects perceptual selection and predicts subsequent stability in perceptual rivalry

PubMed Central

Einhäuser, Wolfgang; Stout, James; Koch, Christof; Carter, Olivia

2008-01-01

During sustained viewing of an ambiguous stimulus, an individual's perceptual experience will generally switch between the different possible alternatives rather than stay fixed on one interpretation (perceptual rivalry). Here, we measured pupil diameter while subjects viewed different ambiguous visual and auditory stimuli. For all stimuli tested, pupil diameter increased just before the reported perceptual switch and the relative amount of dilation before this switch was a significant predictor of the subsequent duration of perceptual stability. These results could not be explained by blink or eye-movement effects, the motor response or stimulus driven changes in retinal input. Because pupil dilation reflects levels of norepinephrine (NE) released from the locus coeruleus (LC), we interpret these results as suggestive that the LC–NE complex may play the same role in perceptual selection as in behavioral decision making. PMID:18250340

Vocal effort and voice handicap among teachers.

PubMed

Sampaio, Márcio Cardoso; dos Reis, Eduardo José Farias Borges; Carvalho, Fernando Martins; Porto, Lauro Antonio; Araújo, Tânia Maria

2012-11-01

The relationship between voice handicap and professional vocal effort was investigated among teachers in a cross-sectional study of census nature on 4496 teachers within the public elementary education network in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Voice handicap (the outcome of interest) was evaluated using the Voice Handicap Index 10. The main exposure, the lifetime vocal effort index, was obtained as the product of the number of years working as a teacher multiplied by the mean weekly working hours. The prevalence of voice handicap was 28.8% among teachers with high professional vocal effort and 21.3% among those with acceptable vocal effort, thus yielding a crude prevalence ratio (PR) of 1.36 (95% confidence interval [CI]=1.14-1.61). In the final logistic model, the prevalence of voice handicap was statistically associated with the professional vocal effort index (PR=1.47; 95% CI=1.19-1.82), adjusted according to sex, microphone availability in the classroom, excessive noise, pressure from the school management, heartburn, and rhinitis. Copyright © 2012 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Voice symptoms and voice-related quality of life in college students.

PubMed

Merrill, Ray M; Tanner, Kristine; Merrill, Joseph G; McCord, Matthew D; Beardsley, Melissa M; Steele, Brittanie A

2013-08-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of voice disorders in college students and their effect on the students as shown by quality-of-life indicators. A cross-sectional survey was completed by 545 college students in 2012. The survey included 10 questions from the Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL), selected voice symptoms, and quality-of-life indicators of functional health and well-being based on the Short Form 36-item Health Survey (SF-36). Twenty-nine percent of the college students (mean age, 22.7 years) reported a history of a voice disorder. Hoarseness was the most prevalent voice symptom, but was not correlated with V-RQOL scores. A wobbly or shaky voice, throat dryness, vocal fatigue, and vocal effort explained a significant amount of variance on the social-emotional and physical domains of the V-RQOL index (p < 0.05). Voice symptoms limited emotional and physical functioning as indicated by SF-36 scores. Voice disorders significantly influence psychosocial and physical functioning in college students. These findings have important implications for voice-care services in this population.

Perceptual Compensation Is Correlated with Individuals' “Autistic” Traits: Implications for Models of Sound Change

PubMed Central

Yu, Alan C. L.

2010-01-01

Variation is a ubiquitous feature of speech. Listeners must take into account context-induced variation to recover the interlocutor's intended message. When listeners fail to normalize for context-induced variation properly, deviant percepts become seeds for new perceptual and production norms. In question is how deviant percepts accumulate in a systematic fashion to give rise to sound change (i.e., new pronunciation norms) within a given speech community. The present study investigated subjects' classification of /s/ and // before /a/ or /u/ spoken by a male or a female voice. Building on modern cognitive theories of autism-spectrum condition, which see variation in autism-spectrum condition in terms of individual differences in cognitive processing style, we established a significant correlation between individuals' normalization for phonetic context (i.e., whether the following vowel is /a/ or /u/) and talker voice variation (i.e., whether the talker is male or female) in speech and their “autistic” traits, as measured by the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ). In particular, our mixed-effect logistic regression models show that women with low AQ (i.e., the least “autistic”) do not normalize for phonetic coarticulation as much as men and high AQ women. This study provides first direct evidence that variability in human's ability to compensate for context-induced variations in speech perceptually is governed by the individual's sex and cognitive processing style. These findings lend support to the hypothesis that the systematic infusion of new linguistic variants (i.e., the deviant percepts) originate from a sub-segment of the speech community that consistently under-compensates for contextual variation in speech. PMID:20808859

Voice Quality and Gender Stereotypes: A Study of Lebanese Women With Reinke's Edema.

PubMed

Matar, Nayla; Portes, Cristel; Lancia, Leonardo; Legou, Thierry; Baider, Fabienne

2016-12-01

Women with Reinke's edema (RW) report being mistaken for men during telephone conversations. For this reason, their masculine-sounding voices are interesting for the study of gender stereotypes. The study's objective is to verify their complaint and to understand the cues used in gender identification. Using a self-evaluation study, we verified RW's perception of their own voices. We compared the acoustic parameters of vowels produced by 10 RW to those produced by 10 men and 10 women with healthy voices (hereafter referred to as NW) in Lebanese Arabic. We conducted a perception study for the evaluation of RW, healthy men's, and NW voices by naïve listeners. RW self-evaluated their voices as masculine and their gender identities as feminine. The acoustic parameters that distinguish RW from NW voices concern fundamental frequency, spectral slope, harmonicity of the voicing signal, and complexity of the spectral envelope. Naïve listeners very often rate RW as surely masculine. Listeners may rate RW's gender incorrectly. These incorrect gender ratings are correlated with acoustic measures of fundamental frequency and voice quality. Further investigations will reveal the contribution of each of these parameters to gender perception and guide the treatment plan of patients complaining of a gender ambiguous voice.

Her Voice Lingers on and Her Memory Is Strategic: Effects of Gender on Directed Forgetting

PubMed Central

Yang, Hwajin; Yang, Sujin; Park, Giho

2013-01-01

The literature on directed forgetting has employed exclusively visual words. Thus, the potentially interesting aspects of a spoken utterance, which include not only vocal cues (e.g., prosody) but also the speaker and the listener, have been neglected. This study demonstrates that prosody alone does not influence directed-forgetting effects, while the sex of the speaker and the listener significantly modulate directed-forgetting effects for spoken utterances. Specifically, forgetting costs were attenuated for female-spoken items compared to male-spoken items, and forgetting benefits were eliminated among female listeners but not among male listeners. These results suggest that information conveyed in a female voice draws attention to its distinct perceptual attributes, thus interfering with retention of the semantic meaning, while female listeners' superior capacity for processing the surface features of spoken utterances may predispose them to spontaneously employ adaptive strategies to retain content information despite distraction by perceptual features. Our findings underscore the importance of sex differences when processing spoken messages in directed forgetting. PMID:23691141

Accessibility of Mobile Devices for Visually Impaired Users: An Evaluation of the Screen-Reader VoiceOver.

PubMed

Smaradottir, Berglind; Håland, Jarle; Martinez, Santiago

2017-01-01

A mobile device's touchscreen allows users to use a choreography of hand gestures to interact with the user interface. A screen reader on a mobile device is designed to support the interaction of visually disabled users while using gestures. This paper presents an evaluation of VoiceOver, a screen reader in Apple Inc. products. The evaluation was a part of the research project "Visually impaired users touching the screen - a user evaluation of assistive technology".

The professional voice.

PubMed

Benninger, M S

2011-02-01

The human voice is not only the key to human communication but also serves as the primary musical instrument. Many professions rely on the voice, but the most noticeable and visible are singers. Care of the performing voice requires a thorough understanding of the interaction between the anatomy and physiology of voice production, along with an awareness of the interrelationships between vocalisation, acoustic science and non-vocal components of performance. This review gives an overview of the care and prevention of professional voice disorders by describing the unique and integrated anatomy and physiology of singing, the roles of development and training, and the importance of the voice care team.

Perceptual distortion analysis of color image VQ-based coding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Charrier, Christophe; Knoblauch, Kenneth; Cherifi, Hocine

1997-04-01

It is generally accepted that a RGB color image can be easily encoded by using a gray-scale compression technique on each of the three color planes. Such an approach, however, fails to take into account correlations existing between color planes and perceptual factors. We evaluated several linear and non-linear color spaces, some introduced by the CIE, compressed with the vector quantization technique for minimum perceptual distortion. To study these distortions, we measured contrast and luminance of the video framebuffer, to precisely control color. We then obtained psychophysical judgements to measure how well these methods work to minimize perceptual distortion in a variety of color space.

[The vocal behavior of telemarketing operators before and after a working day].

PubMed

Amorim, Geová Oliveira de; Bommarito, Silvana; Kanashiro, Célia Akemi; Chiari, Brasilia Maria

2011-01-01

To evaluate the vocal behavior of receptive telemarketing operators in pre- and post-work shift moments, and to relate the results to the variable gender. Participants were 55 telemarketing operators (11 men and 44 women) working in a receptive mode in the city of Maceió (Alagoas, Brazil). A questionnaire was applied before the work shift to initially identify the vocal complaints. After that, vocal samples were recorded, comprising sustained emissions and connected speech produced 10 minutes before and 10 minutes after the workday to be later evaluated. Auditory-perceptual and acoustic analyses of voice were conducted. Vocal complaints and symptoms reported by the operators after the work shift were: dry throat (64%); neck and cervix pain (33%); hoarseness (31%); voice failure (26%); and vocal fatigue (22%).Telemarketing operators presented reduced maximum phonation time before and after the day of work (p=0.645). Data from the auditory-perceptual assessment of voice were similar in pre- and post-shift moments (p=0.645). No difference was found between moments also on acoustic analysis data (p=0.738). Telemarketing operators have high indexes of vocal symptoms after the work shift, and there are no differences between pre- and post-work shift in auditory-perceptual and acoustic assessments of voice.

"Ring" in the solo child singing voice.

PubMed

Howard, David M; Williams, Jenevora; Herbst, Christian T

2014-03-01

Listeners often describe the voices of solo child singers as being "pure" or "clear"; these terms would suggest that the voice is not only pleasant but also clearly audible. The audibility or clarity could be attributed to the presence of high-frequency partials in the sound: a "brightness" or "ring." This article aims to investigate spectrally the acoustic nature of this ring phenomenon in children's solo voices, and in particular, relating it to their "nonring" production. Additionally, this is set in the context of establishing to what extent, if any, the spectral characteristics of ring are shared with those of the singer's formant cluster associated with professional adult opera singers in the 2.5-3.5kHz region. A group of child solo singers, acknowledged as outstanding by a singing teacher who specializes in teaching professional child singers, were recorded in a major UK concert hall performing Come unto him, all ye that labour, from the aria He shall feed his flock from The Messiah by GF Handel. Their singing was accompanied by a recording of a piano played through in-ear headphones. Sound pressure recordings were made from well within the critical distance in the hall. The singers were observed to produce notes with and without ring, and these recordings were analyzed in the frequency domain to investigate their spectra. The results indicate that there is evidence to suggest that ring in child solo singers is carried in two areas of the output spectrum: first in the singer's formant cluster region, centered around 4kHz, which is more than 1000Hz higher than what is observed in adults; and second in the region around 7.5-11kHz where a significant strengthening of harmonic presence is observed. A perceptual test has been carried out demonstrating that 94% of 62 listeners label a synthesized version of the calculated overall average ring spectrum for all subjects as having ring when compared with a synthesized version of the calculated overall average nonring

Voice to Voice: Developing In-Service Teachers' Personal, Collaborative, and Public Voices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thurber, Frances; Zimmerman, Enid

1997-01-01

Describes a model for inservice education that begins with an interchange of teachers' voices with those of the students in an interactive dialog. The exchange allows them to develop their private voices through self-reflection and validation of their own experiences. (JOW)

Perceptual Grouping Enhances Visual Plasticity

PubMed Central

Mastropasqua, Tommaso; Turatto, Massimo

2013-01-01

Visual perceptual learning, a manifestation of neural plasticity, refers to improvements in performance on a visual task achieved by training. Attention is known to play an important role in perceptual learning, given that the observer's discriminative ability improves only for those stimulus feature that are attended. However, the distribution of attention can be severely constrained by perceptual grouping, a process whereby the visual system organizes the initial retinal input into candidate objects. Taken together, these two pieces of evidence suggest the interesting possibility that perceptual grouping might also affect perceptual learning, either directly or via attentional mechanisms. To address this issue, we conducted two experiments. During the training phase, participants attended to the contrast of the task-relevant stimulus (oriented grating), while two similar task-irrelevant stimuli were presented in the adjacent positions. One of the two flanking stimuli was perceptually grouped with the attended stimulus as a consequence of its similar orientation (Experiment 1) or because it was part of the same perceptual object (Experiment 2). A test phase followed the training phase at each location. Compared to the task-irrelevant no-grouping stimulus, orientation discrimination improved at the attended location. Critically, a perceptual learning effect equivalent to the one observed for the attended location also emerged for the task-irrelevant grouping stimulus, indicating that perceptual grouping induced a transfer of learning to the stimulus (or feature) being perceptually grouped with the task-relevant one. Our findings indicate that no voluntary effort to direct attention to the grouping stimulus or feature is necessary to enhance visual plasticity. PMID:23301100

Perceptual grouping enhances visual plasticity.

PubMed

Mastropasqua, Tommaso; Turatto, Massimo

2013-01-01

Visual perceptual learning, a manifestation of neural plasticity, refers to improvements in performance on a visual task achieved by training. Attention is known to play an important role in perceptual learning, given that the observer's discriminative ability improves only for those stimulus feature that are attended. However, the distribution of attention can be severely constrained by perceptual grouping, a process whereby the visual system organizes the initial retinal input into candidate objects. Taken together, these two pieces of evidence suggest the interesting possibility that perceptual grouping might also affect perceptual learning, either directly or via attentional mechanisms. To address this issue, we conducted two experiments. During the training phase, participants attended to the contrast of the task-relevant stimulus (oriented grating), while two similar task-irrelevant stimuli were presented in the adjacent positions. One of the two flanking stimuli was perceptually grouped with the attended stimulus as a consequence of its similar orientation (Experiment 1) or because it was part of the same perceptual object (Experiment 2). A test phase followed the training phase at each location. Compared to the task-irrelevant no-grouping stimulus, orientation discrimination improved at the attended location. Critically, a perceptual learning effect equivalent to the one observed for the attended location also emerged for the task-irrelevant grouping stimulus, indicating that perceptual grouping induced a transfer of learning to the stimulus (or feature) being perceptually grouped with the task-relevant one. Our findings indicate that no voluntary effort to direct attention to the grouping stimulus or feature is necessary to enhance visual plasticity.

Short, self-report voice symptom scales: psychometric characteristics of the voice handicap index-10 and the vocal performance questionnaire.

PubMed

Deary, Ian J; Webb, Alison; Mackenzie, Kenneth; Wilson, Janet A; Carding, Paul N

2004-09-01

Short, self-report symptom questionnaires are useful in routine clinical situations for assessing the progress of disorders and the influence of interventions. The Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10) and Vocal Performance Questionnaire (VPQ) are brief self-reported assessments of voice pathology, apparently useful in the general voice clinic population. Little is known of the structure or internal consistency of either tool, nor whether they correlate. This study carried out a substantial, systematic evaluation of their performance in the Laryngology office setting. 330 adult (222 women, 108 men) voice clinic attenders completed the VHI and the VPQ. The VHI-10 and VPQ each had a large, single principal component, high internal consistency, and were highly correlated (disattenuated r=0.91). The VHI-10 and the VPQ are similar, short, convenient, internally-consistent, unidimensional tools. The total VHI-10 or VPQ score is a good overall indicator of the severity of voice disorders.

Development of the child's voice: premutation, mutation.

PubMed

Hacki, T; Heitmüller, S

1999-10-05

Voice range profile (VRP) measurement was used to evaluate the vocal capabilities of 180 children aged between 4 and 12 years without voice pathology. There were 10 boys and 10 girls in each age group. Using an automatic VRP measurement system, F0 and SPL dB (lin) were determined and displayed two-dimensionally in real time. The speaking voice, the shouting voice and the singing voice were investigated. The results show that vocal capabilities grow with advancing age, but not continuously. The lowering of the habitual pitch of the speaking voice as well as of the entire speaking pitch range occurs for girls between the ages of 7 and 8, for boys between 8 and 9. A temporary restriction of the minimum vocal intensity of the speaking voice (the ability to speak softly) as well as of the singing voice occurs for girls and for boys at the age of 7-8. A decrease of the maximum speech intensity is found for girls at the age of between 7 and 8, for boys between 8 and 9. A lowering of the pitch as well as of the intensity of the shouting voice occurs for both sexes from the age of 10. In contrast to earlier general opinion we note for girls a stage of premutation (between the age of 7 and 8) with essentially the same changes seen among boys, but 1 year earlier. The beginning of the mutation can be fixed at the age of 10-11 years.

Human voice perception.

PubMed

Latinus, Marianne; Belin, Pascal

2011-02-22

We are all voice experts. First and foremost, we can produce and understand speech, and this makes us a unique species. But in addition to speech perception, we routinely extract from voices a wealth of socially-relevant information in what constitutes a more primitive, and probably more universal, non-linguistic mode of communication. Consider the following example: you are sitting in a plane, and you can hear a conversation in a foreign language in the row behind you. You do not see the speakers' faces, and you cannot understand the speech content because you do not know the language. Yet, an amazing amount of information is available to you. You can evaluate the physical characteristics of the different protagonists, including their gender, approximate age and size, and associate an identity to the different voices. You can form a good idea of the different speaker's mood and affective state, as well as more subtle cues as the perceived attractiveness or dominance of the protagonists. In brief, you can form a fairly detailed picture of the type of social interaction unfolding, which a brief glance backwards can on the occasion help refine - sometimes surprisingly so. What are the acoustical cues that carry these different types of vocal information? How does our brain process and analyse this information? Here we briefly review an emerging field and the main tools used in voice perception research. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using Hyaluronic Acid for Improving Vocal Function in a Prepubescent Boy With an Atrophied Right Vocal Fold.

PubMed

Cohen, Wendy; Wynne, David McGregor

2015-07-01

A single case study is reported of a child who underwent several surgical procedures as result of congenital grade III subglottic stenosis. The anterior aspect of the right vocal cord was damaged and underwent atrophy during one of these procedures. Now, an active 10-year-old, the patient has become increasingly aware of his vocal limitations on functional activities. Injection of hyaluronic acid into the vocal folds has been known to provide improved voice quality in adults although there are no known cases reported of this procedure in children. This article reports voice outcomes after injection of hyaluronic acid into the Reinke's space in a single case study. Voice recordings were made before, after, and 1 month after injection. The voice recordings were subject to acoustic and perceptual analysis. Post and follow-up voice recordings demonstrate decreased jitter, shimmer, and harmonics-to-noise ratio. Perceptual evaluation indicates improved voice quality. Injection of hyaluronic acid in children who require voice augmentation is possible and may contribute to increased vocal function and improved voice outcomes. Copyright © 2015 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effect of singing on respiratory function, voice, and mood after quadriplegia: a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Tamplin, Jeanette; Baker, Felicity A; Grocke, Denise; Brazzale, Danny J; Pretto, Jeffrey J; Ruehland, Warren R; Buttifant, Mary; Brown, Douglas J; Berlowitz, David J

2013-03-01

To explore the effects of singing training on respiratory function, voice, mood, and quality of life for people with quadriplegia. Randomized controlled trial. Large, university-affiliated public hospital, Victoria, Australia. Participants (N=24) with chronic quadriplegia (C4-8, American Spinal Injury Association grades A and B). The experimental group (n=13) received group singing training 3 times weekly for 12 weeks. The control group (n=11) received group music appreciation and relaxation for 12 weeks. Assessments were conducted pre, mid-, immediately post-, and 6-months postintervention. Standard respiratory function testing, surface electromyographic activity from accessory respiratory muscles, sound pressure levels during vocal tasks, assessments of voice quality (Perceptual Voice Profile, Multidimensional Voice Profile), and Voice Handicap Index, Profile of Mood States, and Assessment of Quality of Life instruments. The singing group increased projected speech intensity (P=.028) and maximum phonation length (P=.007) significantly more than the control group. Trends for improvements in respiratory function, muscle strength, and recruitment were also evident for the singing group. These effects were limited by small sample sizes with large intersubject variability. Both groups demonstrated an improvement in mood (P=.002), which was maintained in the music appreciation and relaxation group after 6 months (P=.017). Group music therapy can have a positive effect on not only physical outcomes, but also can improve mood, energy, social participation, and quality of life for an at-risk population, such as those with quadriplegia. Specific singing therapy can augment these general improvements by improving vocal intensity. Copyright © 2013 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Recognition memory and awareness: occurrence of perceptual effects in remembering or in knowing depends on conscious resources at encoding, but not at retrieval.

PubMed

Gardiner, John M; Gregg, Vernon H; Karayianni, Irene

2006-03-01

We report four experiments in which a remember-know paradigm was combined with a response deadline procedure in order to assess memory awareness in fast, as compared with slow,recognition judgments. In the experiments, we also investigated the perceptual effects of study-test congruence, either for picture size or for speaker's voice, following either full or divided attention at study. These perceptual effects occurred in remembering with full attention and in knowing with divided attention, but they were uninfluenced by recognition speed, indicating that their occurrence in remembering or knowing depends more on conscious resources at encoding than on those at retrieval. The results have implications for theoretical accounts of remembering and knowing that assume that remembering is more consciously controlled and effortful, whereas knowing is more automatic and faster.

I like my voice better: self-enhancement bias in perceptions of voice attractiveness.

PubMed

Hughes, Susan M; Harrison, Marissa A

2013-01-01

Previous research shows that the human voice can communicate a wealth of nonsemantic information; preferences for voices can predict health, fertility, and genetic quality of the speaker, and people often use voice attractiveness, in particular, to make these assessments of others. But it is not known what we think of the attractiveness of our own voices as others hear them. In this study eighty men and women rated the attractiveness of an array of voice recordings of different individuals and were not told that their own recorded voices were included in the presentation. Results showed that participants rated their own voices as sounding more attractive than others had rated their voices, and participants also rated their own voices as sounding more attractive than they had rated the voices of others. These findings suggest that people may engage in vocal implicit egotism, a form of self-enhancement.

Perceptual organization and visual attention.

PubMed

Kimchi, Ruth

2009-01-01

Perceptual organization--the processes structuring visual information into coherent units--and visual attention--the processes by which some visual information in a scene is selected--are crucial for the perception of our visual environment and to visuomotor behavior. Recent research points to important relations between attentional and organizational processes. Several studies demonstrated that perceptual organization constrains attentional selectivity, and other studies suggest that attention can also constrain perceptual organization. In this chapter I focus on two aspects of the relationship between perceptual organization and attention. The first addresses the question of whether or not perceptual organization can take place without attention. I present findings demonstrating that some forms of grouping and figure-ground segmentation can occur without attention, whereas others require controlled attentional processing, depending on the processes involved and the conditions prevailing for each process. These findings challenge the traditional view, which assumes that perceptual organization is a unitary entity that operates preattentively. The second issue addresses the question of whether perceptual organization can affect the automatic deployment of attention. I present findings showing that the mere organization of some elements in the visual field by Gestalt factors into a coherent perceptual unit (an "object"), with no abrupt onset or any other unique transient, can capture attention automatically in a stimulus-driven manner. Taken together, the findings discussed in this chapter demonstrate the multifaceted, interactive relations between perceptual organization and visual attention.

Surgery or Rehabilitation: A Randomized Clinical Trial Comparing the Treatment of Vocal Fold Polyps via Phonosurgery and Traditional Voice Therapy with "Voice Therapy Expulsion" Training.

PubMed

Barillari, Maria Rosaria; Volpe, Umberto; Mirra, Giuseppina; Giugliano, Francesco; Barillari, Umberto

2017-05-01

Phonomicrosurgery is generally considered to be the treatment of choice for removing vocal fold polyps. However, specific techniques of voice therapy may represent, in selected cases and under certain conditions, a noninvasive therapeutic option for the treatment of such laryngeal lesions. The aim of the present study is to longitudinally assess, in terms of clinical outcomes and quality of life, two groups of patients with cordal polyps, treated either with standard surgery plus standard voice therapy or with a specific training of voice therapy alone, which we have called "Voice Therapy Expulsion." This study is a randomized controlled trial. A total of 150 patients with vocal fold polyps were randomly assigned to either standard surgery or "voice therapy expulsion" protocol. The trial was carried out at the Division of Phoniatrics and Audiology of the Second University of Naples and at the Division of Communication Disorders of Local Health Unit (3 Naples South) from January 2010 to December 2013. A thorough phoniatric evaluation, including laryngostroboscopy, acoustic voice analysis, global grade of dysphonia, instability, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, and strain scale, Voice Handicap Index, and Voice-Related Quality of Life, was performed by using standardized tools, at baseline, at the end of the treatment, and up to 1 year after treatment. We found no significant differences between the two experimental groups in terms of clinical outcomes and personal satisfaction. However, "Voice Therapy Expulsion" was associated with higher scores for quality of life at endpoint evaluation. Besides phonosurgery, this specific "Voice Therapy Expulsion" technique should be considered as a valid, noninvasive, and well-tolerated therapeutic option for the treatment of selected patients with vocal fold polyps. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Are Vocal Alterations Caused by Smoking in Reinke's Edema in Women Entirely Reversible After Microsurgery and Smoking Cessation?

PubMed

Martins, Regina Helena Garcia; Tavares, Elaine Lara Mendes; Pessin, Adriana Bueno Benito

2017-05-01

Reinke's edema is a benign lesion of the vocal folds that affects chronic smokers, especially women. The voice becomes hoarse and virilized, and the treatment is microsurgery. However, even after surgery and smoking cessation, many patients remain with a deep and hoarse voice. The aim of the present study was to compare pre- and postoperative acoustic and perceptual-auditory vocal analyses of women with Reinke's edema and of women in the control group, who were non-smokers. A total of 20 women with videolaryngoscopy diagnosis of Reinke's edema who underwent laryngeal microsurgery were evaluated pre- and postoperatively (6 months) by videolaryngoscopy, acoustic voice, and perceptual-auditory analyses (General degree of dysphonia, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain, and Instability [GRBASI] scale), and the maximum phonation times were calculated. The pre- and postoperative parameters of the women with Reinke's edema were compared with those of the control group of women with no laryngeal lesions, smoking habit, or vocal symptoms. Acoustic vocal perceptual-auditory analyses and the maximum phonation time of women with Reinke's edema improved significantly in the postoperative evaluations; nevertheless, 6 months after surgery, their voices became worse than the voices of the women from the control group. Abnormalities caused by smoking in Reinke's edema in women are not fully reversible with surgery and smoking cessation. One explanation would be the presence of possible structural alterations in fibroblasts caused by the toxicity of cigarette components, resulting in the uncontrolled production of fibrous matrix in the lamina propria, and preventing complete vocal recovery. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Connections between voice ergonomic risk factors in classrooms and teachers' voice production.

PubMed

Rantala, Leena M; Hakala, Suvi; Holmqvist, Sofia; Sala, Eeva

2012-01-01

The aim of the study was to investigate if voice ergonomic risk factors in classrooms correlated with acoustic parameters of teachers' voice production. The voice ergonomic risk factors in the fields of working culture, working postures and indoor air quality were assessed in 40 classrooms using the Voice Ergonomic Assessment in Work Environment - Handbook and Checklist. Teachers (32 females, 8 males) from the above-mentioned classrooms recorded text readings before and after a working day. Fundamental frequency, sound pressure level (SPL) and the slope of the spectrum (alpha ratio) were analyzed. The higher the number of the risk factors in the classrooms, the higher SPL the teachers used and the more strained the males' voices (increased alpha ratio) were. The SPL was already higher before the working day in the teachers with higher risk than in those with lower risk. In the working environment with many voice ergonomic risk factors, speakers increase voice loudness and use more strained voice quality (males). A practical implication of the results is that voice ergonomic assessments are needed in schools. Copyright © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Quantitative image quality evaluation of MR images using perceptual difference models

PubMed Central

Miao, Jun; Huo, Donglai; Wilson, David L.

2008-01-01

The authors are using a perceptual difference model (Case-PDM) to quantitatively evaluate image quality of the thousands of test images which can be created when optimizing fast magnetic resonance (MR) imaging strategies and reconstruction techniques. In this validation study, they compared human evaluation of MR images from multiple organs and from multiple image reconstruction algorithms to Case-PDM and similar models. The authors found that Case-PDM compared very favorably to human observers in double-stimulus continuous-quality scale and functional measurement theory studies over a large range of image quality. The Case-PDM threshold for nonperceptible differences in a 2-alternative forced choice study varied with the type of image under study, but was ≈1.1 for diffuse image effects, providing a rule of thumb. Ordering the image quality evaluation models, we found in overall Case-PDM ≈ IDM (Sarnoff Corporation) ≈ SSIM [Wang et al. IEEE Trans. Image Process. 13, 600–612 (2004)] > mean squared error ≈ NR [Wang et al. (2004) (unpublished)] > DCTune (NASA) > IQM (MITRE Corporation). The authors conclude that Case-PDM is very useful in MR image evaluation but that one should probably restrict studies to similar images and similar processing, normally not a limitation in image reconstruction studies. PMID:18649487

Effects of a Straw Phonation Protocol on Acoustic and Perceptual Measures of an SATB Chorus.

PubMed

Manternach, Jeremy N; Daugherty, James F

2017-12-29

Recent scholarship has suggested that semi-occluded vocal tract (SOVT) exercises may increase vocal economy of individuals by reducing vocal effort while maintaining or increasing acoustic output. Choral singers, however, may use different resonance techniques or change voicing behaviors in an effort to hear their own sound in relation to others. One investigation revealed significant increases in a choir's mean spectral energy after participating in a straw phonation protocol. However, that study reported only acoustic measures and did not include choristers' perceptions of the choral sound and their own voicing efficiency. The purpose of this study was to measure the effect of a straw phonation protocol on acoustic (long-term average spectrum) and perceptual (self-report) measures of the choral sound of an intact soprano, alto, tenor, and bass (SATB) choir. This is a quasi-experimental, one-group, pretest-posttest design. An SATB choir (N = 48 singers) performed a Renaissance motet, participated in a 4-minute voicing protocol with a small straw, and then sang the motet a second time. They completed the same procedure later in the rehearsal. Long-term average spectrum results indicated no statistically significant mean changes in spectral energy after the SOVT protocols. Most participants, however, perceived that the choir sounded better (78.26%) and that their own vocal production was more efficient or comfortable (73.91%) following the protocol. Choristers perceived less vocal effort while maintaining vocal output after straw phonation, which may feasibly align with extant solo research. More research may determine whether this result is due specifically to SOVTs. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Voice responses to changes in pitch of voice or tone auditory feedback

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sivasankar, Mahalakshmi; Bauer, Jay J.; Babu, Tara; Larson, Charles R.

2005-02-01

The present study was undertaken to examine if a subject's voice F0 responded not only to perturbations in pitch of voice feedback but also to changes in pitch of a side tone presented congruent with voice feedback. Small magnitude brief duration perturbations in pitch of voice or tone auditory feedback were randomly introduced during sustained vowel phonations. Results demonstrated a higher rate and larger magnitude of voice F0 responses to changes in pitch of the voice compared with a triangular-shaped tone (experiment 1) or a pure tone (experiment 2). However, response latencies did not differ across voice or tone conditions. Data suggest that subjects responded to the change in F0 rather than harmonic frequencies of auditory feedback because voice F0 response prevalence, magnitude, or latency did not statistically differ across triangular-shaped tone or pure-tone feedback. Results indicate the audio-vocal system is sensitive to the change in pitch of a variety of sounds, which may represent a flexible system capable of adapting to changes in the subject's voice. However, lower prevalence and smaller responses to tone pitch-shifted signals suggest that the audio-vocal system may resist changes to the pitch of other environmental sounds when voice feedback is present. .

Singing voice outcomes following singing voice therapy.

PubMed

Dastolfo-Hromack, Christina; Thomas, Tracey L; Rosen, Clark A; Gartner-Schmidt, Jackie

2016-11-01

The objectives of this study were to describe singing voice therapy (SVT), describe referred patient characteristics, and document the outcomes of SVT. Retrospective. Records of patients receiving SVT between June 2008 and June 2013 were reviewed (n = 51). All diagnoses were included. Demographic information, number of SVT sessions, and symptom severity were retrieved from the medical record. Symptom severity was measured via the 10-item Singing Voice Handicap Index (SVHI-10). Treatment outcome was analyzed by diagnosis, history of previous training, and SVHI-10. SVHI-10 scores decreased following SVT (mean change = 11, 40% decrease) (P < .001). Approximately 18% (n = 9) of patient SVHI-10 scores decreased to normal range. The average number of sessions attended was three (± 2); patients who concurrently attended singing lessons (n = 10) also completed an average of three SVT sessions. Primary muscle tension dysphonia (MTD1) and benign vocal fold lesion (lesion) were the most common diagnoses. Most patients (60%) had previous vocal training. SVHI-10 decrease was not significantly different between MTD and lesion. This is the first outcome-based study of SVT in a disordered population. Diagnosis of MTD or lesion did not influence treatment outcomes. Duration of SVT was short (approximately three sessions). Voice care providers are encouraged to partner with a singing voice therapist to provide optimal care for the singing voice. This study supports the use of SVT as a tool for the treatment of singing voice disorders. 4 Laryngoscope, 126:2546-2551, 2016. © 2016 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

Geometry of the perceptual space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Assadi, Amir H.; Palmer, Stephen; Eghbalnia, Hamid; Carew, John

1999-09-01

The concept of space and geometry varies across the subjects. Following Poincare, we consider the construction of the perceptual space as a continuum equipped with a notion of magnitude. The study of the relationships of objects in the perceptual space gives rise to what we may call perceptual geometry. Computational modeling of objects and investigation of their deeper perceptual geometrical properties (beyond qualitative arguments) require a mathematical representation of the perceptual space. Within the realm of such a mathematical/computational representation, visual perception can be studied as in the well-understood logic-based geometry. This, however, does not mean that one could reduce all problems of visual perception to their geometric counterparts. Rather, visual perception as reported by a human observer, has a subjective factor that could be analytically quantified only through statistical reasoning and in the course of repetitive experiments. Thus, the desire to experimentally verify the statements in perceptual geometry leads to an additional probabilistic structure imposed on the perceptual space, whose amplitudes are measured through intervention by human observers. We propose a model for the perceptual space and the case of perception of textured surfaces as a starting point for object recognition. To rigorously present these ideas and propose computational simulations for testing the theory, we present the model of the perceptual geometry of surfaces through an amplification of theory of Riemannian foliation in differential topology, augmented by statistical learning theory. When we refer to the perceptual geometry of a human observer, the theory takes into account the Bayesian formulation of the prior state of the knowledge of the observer and Hebbian learning. We use a Parallel Distributed Connectionist paradigm for computational modeling and experimental verification of our theory.

Functional outcome of vocal fold medialization thyroplasty with a hydroxyapatite implant.

PubMed

Storck, Claudio; Brockmann, Meike; Schnellmann, Elvira; Stoeckli, Sandro J; Schmid, Stephan

2007-06-01

Unilateral vocal fold paralysis can cause a persistent incomplete glottal closure during phonation, resulting in impaired voice function. The aim of this study was to evaluate functional results of medialization thyroplasty using a hydroxyapatite implant (VoCoM). Prospective observational cohort study. Between 1999 and 2003, a total of 26 patients (19 men, 7 women) undergoing medialization thyroplasty using a hydroxyapatite implant because of unilateral vocal fold paralysis were enrolled in the study. To evaluate voice function, the following parameters were measured preoperatively and postoperatively: mean fundamental frequency, mean sound pressure level, frequency and amplitude range (voice range profile), and maximum phonation time. A perceptual assessment of hoarseness was conducted using the Roughness, Breathiness, Hoarseness scale. Furthermore, the magnitude of voice related impairment of the patient's communication skills was rated on a 7-point scale. A combined parameter called the Voice Dysfunction Index (VDI) was used to rate vocal performance. All patients showed a statistically significant improvement in the VDI, in perceptual voice analysis, in maximum phonation time, and in the dynamic range of voice. One patient experienced a postoperative wound hemorrhage as a minor complication. No further complications or implant extrusions were observed. Medialization thyroplasty using a hydroxyapatite implant is a secure and efficient phonosurgical procedure. Voice quality and patient satisfaction improve significantly after treatment.

The singer's voice range profile: female professional opera soloists.

PubMed

Lamarche, Anick; Ternström, Sten; Pabon, Peter

2010-07-01

This work concerns the collection of 30 voice range profiles (VRPs) of female operatic voice. We address the questions: Is there a need for a singer's protocol in VRP acquisition? Are physiological measurements sufficient or should the measurement of performance capabilities also be included? Can we address the female singing voice in general or is there a case for categorizing voices when studying phonetographic data? Subjects performed a series of structured tasks involving both standard speech voice protocols and additional singing tasks. Singers also completed an extensive questionnaire. Physiological VRPs differ from performance VRPs. Two new VRP metrics, the voice area above a defined level threshold and the dynamic range independent from the fundamental frequency (F(0)), were found to be useful in the analysis of singer VRPs. Task design had no effect on performance VRP outcomes. Voice category differences were mainly attributable to phonation frequency-based information. Results support the clinical importance of addressing the vocal instrument as it is used in performance. Equally important is the elaboration of a protocol suitable for the singing voice. The given context and instructions can be more important than task design for performance VRPs. Yet, for physiological VRP recordings, task design remains critical. Both types of VRPs are suggested for a singer's voice evaluation. Copyright (c) 2010 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Visual perceptual skills in children born with very low birth weights.

PubMed

Davis, Deborah Winders; Burns, Barbara M; Wilkerson, Shirley A; Steichen, Jean J

2005-01-01

A disproportionate number of very low birth weight (VLBW; < or =1500 g) children require special education services and have school-related problems even when they are free from major disabilities and have average intelligence quotient scores. Visual-perceptual problems have been suggested as contributors to deficits in academic performance, but few data are available describing specific visual-perceptual problems. This study was designed to identify specific visual-perceptual skills in VLBW children. Participants were 92 VLBW children aged 4 through 5 years who were free from major disability and appropriate for gestational age at birth. The Test of Visual-Perceptual Skills (non-motor)-Revised was used. Despite intelligent quotient scores in the average range, the majority (63% to 78.3%) of the children performed below age level on all seven subscales of a normed assessment of visual perceptual skills. Results suggest that visual perceptual screening should be considered as a part of routine evaluations of preschool-aged children born prematurely. Early identification of specific deficits could lead to interventions to improve achievement trajectories for these high-risk children.

Predicting Voice Disorder Status From Smoothed Measures of Cepstral Peak Prominence Using Praat and Analysis of Dysphonia in Speech and Voice (ADSV).

PubMed

Sauder, Cara; Bretl, Michelle; Eadie, Tanya

2017-09-01

The purposes of this study were to (1) determine and compare the diagnostic accuracy of a single acoustic measure, smoothed cepstral peak prominence (CPPS), to predict voice disorder status from connected speech samples using two software systems: Analysis of Dysphonia in Speech and Voice (ADSV) and Praat; and (2) to determine the relationship between measures of CPPS generated from these programs. This is a retrospective cross-sectional study. Measures of CPPS were obtained from connected speech recordings of 100 subjects with voice disorders and 70 nondysphonic subjects without vocal complaints using commercially available ADSV and freely downloadable Praat software programs. Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were used to evaluate and compare the diagnostic accuracy of CPPS measures. Relationships between CPPS measures from the programs were determined. Results showed acceptable overall accuracy rates (75% accuracy, ADSV; 82% accuracy, Praat) and area under the ROC curves (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.81, ADSV; AUC = 0.91, Praat) for predicting voice disorder status, with slight differences in sensitivity and specificity. CPPS measures derived from Praat were uniquely predictive of disorder status above and beyond CPPS measures from ADSV (χ 2 (1) = 40.71, P < 0.001). CPPS measures from both programs were significantly and highly correlated (r = 0.88, P < 0.001). A single acoustic measure of CPPS was highly predictive of voice disorder status using either program. Clinicians may consider using CPPS to complement clinical voice evaluation and screening protocols. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Recalibration in functional perceptual-motor tasks: A systematic review.

PubMed

Brand, Milou Tessa; de Oliveira, Rita Ferraz

2017-12-01

Skilled actions are the result of a perceptual-motor system being well-calibrated to the appropriate information variables. Changes to the perceptual or motor system initiates recalibration, which is the rescaling of the perceptual-motor system to informational variables. For example, a professional baseball player may need to rescale their throws due to fatigue. The aim of this systematic review is to analyse how recalibration can and has been measured and also to evaluate the literature on recalibration. Five databases were systematically screened to identify literature that reported experiments where a disturbance was applied to the perceptual-motor system in functional perceptual-motor tasks. Each of the 91 experiments reported the immediate effects of a disturbance and/or the effects of removing that disturbance after recalibration. The results showed that experiments applied disturbances to either perception or action, and used either direct or indirect measures of recalibration. In contrast with previous conclusions, active exploration was only sufficient for fast recalibration when the relevant information source was available. Further research into recalibration mechanisms should include the study of information sources as well as skill expertise. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keeping Your Voice Healthy

MedlinePlus

... an ENT Doctor Near You Keeping Your Voice Healthy Keeping Your Voice Healthy Patient Health Information News ... voice-related. Key Steps for Keeping Your Voice Healthy Drink plenty of water. Moisture is good for ...

[Vocal capabilities of nonprofessional singers evaluated by measurement and superimposition of their speaking, shouting and singing voice range profiles].

PubMed

Hacki, T

1999-09-01

Voice range profile(VRP) measurement (Phonetography) was used for the evaluation of the vocal capabilities of 41 female (F) and 50 male (M) members of a nonprofessional choir. By means of an automatic VPR measurement system F0 and SPL dB(A) were determined and displayed real time, two-dimensionally. The speaking voice (reading a standard passage as well as counting from the softest to the loudest intensity), the shouting voice (3-4 times shouting a standard sentence) and the singing voice (sustained phonation / la:/ at minimum and maximum intensity level) were measured. The VRPs of these voice modalities were superimposed on the screen and the plot. The averaged values for the speaking VRP: intensity range (F): 48 dB (range 46 soft to 94 dB loud phonation), (M): 52 dB (range 46-98). Pitch range (F): 15 semitones (ST) (Cis3, 138-E4, 329 Hz), (M): 19 ST (E2, 82 Hz-H3, 246 Hz). The average slope for the speaking voice (F): 0,31 ST/dB, (M): 0,36 ST/dB. Shouting VRP highest intensity (F): 106,5 dB, (M): 108,5 dB, highest pitch (F): between Ais4, 466 and H4, 493 Hz. (M): E4, 329 Hz. Average slope for speaking and shouting voice (F): 0,36 ST/dB, (M): 0,39 ST/dB. Singing VRP pitch range (F): 34,6 ST, (M): 37 ST, intensity range (F): 60 dB, (M): 58 dB. The pitch extension of the speaking VRP ranges from 2,9 to 46,2%, speaking and shouting VRPs together with 2,9 to 65% of the pitch range of the singing VRP (F), (M) 2,7-54% and 2,7-67,5% accordingly. The average values for nonprofessional singers reflect an effective but not special use of the phonatory system for the speaking, shouting and singing voice functions with respect to pitch and intensity.

Emotional memory is perceptual.

PubMed

Arntz, Arnoud; de Groot, Corlijn; Kindt, Merel

2005-03-01

In two experiments it was investigated which aspects of memory are influenced by emotion. Using a framework proposed by Roediger (American Psychologist 45 (1990) 1043-1056), two dimensions relevant for memory were distinguished the implicit-explicit distinction, and the perceptual versus conceptual distinction. In week 1, subjects viewed a series of slides accompanied with a spoken story in either of the two versions, a neutral version, or a version with an emotional mid-phase. In week 2, memory performance for the slides and story was assessed unexpectedly. A free recall test revealed superior memory in the emotional condition for the story's mid-phase stimuli as compared to the neutral condition, replicating earlier findings. Furthermore, memory performance was assessed using tests that systematically assessed all combinations of implicit versus explicit and perceptual versus conceptual memory. Subjects who had listened to the emotional story had superior perceptual memory, on both implicit and explicit level, compared to those who had listened to the neutral story. Conceptual memory was not superior in the emotional condition. The results suggest that emotion specifically promotes perceptual memory, probably by better encoding of perceptual aspects of emotional experiences. This might be related to the prominent position of perceptual memories in traumatic memory, manifest in intrusions, nightmares and reliving experiences.

The Relationship of Gender and Voice to Depression and Eating Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smolak, Linda; Munstertieger, Britannie Fairman

2002-01-01

Research often fails to document a gender difference in measures of voice. This is inconsistent with Gilligan's conceptualization of voice as a gendered construct. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate currently available measures of voice, particularly in terms of whether they appear to be assessing the same characteristics in men as…

Voice Habits and Behaviors: Voice Care Among Flamenco Singers.

PubMed

Garzón García, Marina; Muñoz López, Juana; Y Mendoza Lara, Elvira

2017-03-01

The purpose of this study is to analyze the vocal behavior of flamenco singers, as compared with classical music singers, to establish a differential vocal profile of voice habits and behaviors in flamenco music. Bibliographic review was conducted, and the Singer's Vocal Habits Questionnaire, an experimental tool designed by the authors to gather data regarding hygiene behavior, drinking and smoking habits, type of practice, voice care, and symptomatology perceived in both the singing and the speaking voice, was administered. We interviewed 94 singers, divided into two groups: the flamenco experimental group (FEG, n = 48) and the classical control group (CCG, n = 46). Frequency analysis, a Likert scale, and discriminant and exploratory factor analysis were used to obtain a differential profile for each group. The FEG scored higher than the CCG in speaking voice symptomatology. The FEG scored significantly higher than the CCG in use of "inadequate vocal technique" when singing. Regarding voice habits, the FEG scored higher in "lack of practice and warm-up" and "environmental habits." A total of 92.6% of the subjects classified themselves correctly in each group. The Singer's Vocal Habits Questionnaire has proven effective in differentiating flamenco and classical singers. Flamenco singers are exposed to numerous vocal risk factors that make them more prone to vocal fatigue, mucosa dehydration, phonotrauma, and muscle stiffness than classical singers. Further research is needed in voice training in flamenco music, as a means to strengthen the voice and enable it to meet the requirements of this musical genre. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Perceptual aspects of reproduced sound in car cabin acoustics.

PubMed

Kaplanis, Neofytos; Bech, Søren; Tervo, Sakari; Pätynen, Jukka; Lokki, Tapio; van Waterschoot, Toon; Jensen, Søren Holdt

2017-03-01

An experiment was conducted to determine the perceptual effects of car cabin acoustics on the reproduced sound field. In-car measurements were conducted whilst the cabin's interior was physically modified. The captured sound fields were recreated in the laboratory using a three-dimensional loudspeaker array. A panel of expert assessors followed a rapid sensory analysis protocol, the flash profile, to perceptually characterize and evaluate 12 acoustical conditions of the car cabin using individually elicited attributes. A multivariate analysis revealed the panel's consensus and the identified perceptual constructs. Six perceptual constructs characterize the differences between the acoustical conditions of the cabin, related to bass, ambience, transparency, width and envelopment, brightness, and image focus. The current results indicate the importance of several acoustical properties of a car's interior on the perceived sound qualities. Moreover, they signify the capacity of the applied methodology in assessing spectral and spatial properties of automotive environments in laboratory settings using a time-efficient and flexible protocol.

Integrating cues of social interest and voice pitch in men's preferences for women's voices.

PubMed

Jones, Benedict C; Feinberg, David R; Debruine, Lisa M; Little, Anthony C; Vukovic, Jovana

2008-04-23

Most previous studies of vocal attractiveness have focused on preferences for physical characteristics of voices such as pitch. Here we examine the content of vocalizations in interaction with such physical traits, finding that vocal cues of social interest modulate the strength of men's preferences for raised pitch in women's voices. Men showed stronger preferences for raised pitch when judging the voices of women who appeared interested in the listener than when judging the voices of women who appeared relatively disinterested in the listener. These findings show that voice preferences are not determined solely by physical properties of voices and that men integrate information about voice pitch and the degree of social interest expressed by women when forming voice preferences. Women's preferences for raised pitch in women's voices were not modulated by cues of social interest, suggesting that the integration of cues of social interest and voice pitch when men judge the attractiveness of women's voices may reflect adaptations that promote efficient allocation of men's mating effort.

Voice Therapy Practices and Techniques: A Survey of Voice Clinicians.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mueller, Peter B.; Larson, George W.

1992-01-01

Eighty-three voice disorder therapists' ratings of statements regarding voice therapy practices indicated that vocal nodules are the most frequent disorder treated; vocal abuse and hard glottal attack elimination, counseling, and relaxation were preferred treatment approaches; and voice therapy is more effective with adults than with children.…

Predicting mutational change in the speaking voice of boys.

PubMed

Fuchs, Michael; Fröehlich, Matthias; Hentschel, Bettina; Stuermer, Ingo W; Kruse, Eberhard; Knauft, Daniel

2007-03-01

The authors investigated whether acoustic speaking voice analyses can be used to predict the beginning of mutation in 21 male members of a professional boys' choir. Over a period of 3 years before mutation, children were examined every 3 months by ear, nose, and throat (ENT) and phoniatric specialists. At the same time, the voice was evaluated acoustically using analysis features of the Goettingen Hoarseness Diagram (GHD). Irregularity component and noise component, jitter, shimmer, mean waveform correlation coefficient, and fundamental frequency were determined from recordings of the speaking voice. Significant changes of acoustic features appeared 7 and 5 months before mutation onset, which indicates that vocal function is already restricted 6 months before mutation onset. This acoustic voice analysis is therefore suitable to support the care of the professional singing voice.

[The comparative assessment of the vocal function in the professional voice users and non-occupational voice users in the late adulthood].

PubMed

Pavlikhin, O G; Romanenko, S G; Krasnikova, D I; Lesogorova, E V; Yakovlev, V S

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the clinical and functional condition of the voice apparatus in the elderly patients and to elaborate recommendations for the prevention of disturbances of the vocal function in the professional voice users. This comprehensive study involved 95 patients including the active professional voice users (n=48) and 45 non-occupational voice users at the age from 61 to 82 years with the employment history varying from 32 to 51 years. The study was designed to obtain the voice characteristics by means of the subjective auditory assessment, microlaryngoscopy, video laryngostroboscopy, determination of maximum phonation time (MPT), and computer-assisted acoustic analysis of the voice with the use of the MDVP Kay Pentaxy system. The level of anxiety of the patients was estimated based on the results of the HADS questionnaire study. It is concluded that the majority of the disturbances of the vocal function in the professional voice users have the functional nature. It is concluded that the method of neuro-muscular electrophonopedic stimulation (NMEPS) of laryngeal muscles is the method of choice for the diagnostics of the vocal function of the voice users in the late adulthood. It is recommended that the professional vocal load for such subjects should not exceed 12-14 hours per week. Rational psychotherapy must constitute an important component of the system of measures intended to support the working capacity of the voice users belonging to this age group.

Perceptual Processing Affects Conceptual Processing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Dantzig, Saskia; Pecher, Diane; Zeelenberg, Rene; Barsalou, Lawrence W.

2008-01-01

According to the Perceptual Symbols Theory of cognition (Barsalou, 1999), modality-specific simulations underlie the representation of concepts. A strong prediction of this view is that perceptual processing affects conceptual processing. In this study, participants performed a perceptual detection task and a conceptual property-verification task…

Seven and up: individual differences in male voice fundamental frequency emerge before puberty and remain stable throughout adulthood

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fouquet, Meddy; Pisanski, Katarzyna; Mathevon, Nicolas; Reby, David

2016-10-01

Voice pitch (the perceptual correlate of fundamental frequency, F0) varies considerably even among individuals of the same sex and age, communicating a host of socially and evolutionarily relevant information. However, due to the almost exclusive utilization of cross-sectional designs in previous studies, it remains unknown whether these individual differences in voice pitch emerge before, during or after sexual maturation, and whether voice pitch remains stable into adulthood. Here, we measured the F0 parameters of men who were recorded once every 7 years from age 7 to 56 as they participated in the British television documentary Up Series. Linear mixed models revealed significant effects of age on all F0 parameters, wherein F0 mean, minimum, maximum and the standard deviation of F0 showed sharp pubertal decreases between age 7 and 21, yet remained remarkably stable after age 28. Critically, men's pre-pubertal F0 at age 7 strongly predicted their F0 at every subsequent adult age, explaining up to 64% of the variance in post-pubertal F0. This finding suggests that between-individual differences in voice pitch that are known to play an important role in men's reproductive success are in fact largely determined by age 7, and may therefore be linked to prenatal and/or pre-pubertal androgen exposure.

Parallel perceptual enhancement and hierarchic relevance evaluation in an audio-visual conjunction task.

PubMed

Potts, Geoffrey F; Wood, Susan M; Kothmann, Delia; Martin, Laura E

2008-10-21

, an FSP was present when either the visual only or both auditory and visual features were targets, but not when only the auditory stimulus was a target, indicating that the conjunction target determination was evaluated serially and hierarchically with visual information taking precedence. This indicates that the detection of a target defined by audio-visual conjunction is achieved via the same mechanism as within a single perceptual modality, through separate, parallel processing of the auditory and visual features and serial processing of the feature conjunction elements, rather than by evaluation of a fused multimodal percept.

Birth Control Pills and Nonprofessional Voice: Acoustic Analyses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amir, Ofer; Biron-Shental, Tal; Shabtai, Esther

2006-01-01

Purpose: Two studies are presented here. Study 1 was aimed at evaluating whether the voice characteristics of women who use birth control pills that contain different progestins differ from the voice characteristics of a control group. Study 2 presents a meta-analysis that combined the results of Study 1 with those from 3 recent studies that…

Perceptual learning in sensorimotor adaptation.

PubMed

Darainy, Mohammad; Vahdat, Shahabeddin; Ostry, David J

2013-11-01

Motor learning often involves situations in which the somatosensory targets of movement are, at least initially, poorly defined, as for example, in learning to speak or learning the feel of a proper tennis serve. Under these conditions, motor skill acquisition presumably requires perceptual as well as motor learning. That is, it engages both the progressive shaping of sensory targets and associated changes in motor performance. In the present study, we test the idea that perceptual learning alters somatosensory function and in so doing produces changes to human motor performance and sensorimotor adaptation. Subjects in these experiments undergo perceptual training in which a robotic device passively moves the subject's arm on one of a set of fan-shaped trajectories. Subjects are required to indicate whether the robot moved the limb to the right or the left and feedback is provided. Over the course of training both the perceptual boundary and acuity are altered. The perceptual learning is observed to improve both the rate and extent of learning in a subsequent sensorimotor adaptation task and the benefits persist for at least 24 h. The improvement in the present studies varies systematically with changes in perceptual acuity and is obtained regardless of whether the perceptual boundary shift serves to systematically increase or decrease error on subsequent movements. The beneficial effects of perceptual training are found to be substantially dependent on reinforced decision-making in the sensory domain. Passive-movement training on its own is less able to alter subsequent learning in the motor system. Overall, this study suggests perceptual learning plays an integral role in motor learning.

Effects of lorazepam on visual perceptual abilities.

PubMed

Pompéia, S; Pradella-Hallinan, M; Manzano, G M; Bueno, O F A

2008-04-01

To evaluate the effects of an acute dose of the benzodiazepine (BZ) lorazepam in young healthy volunteers on five distinguishable visual perception abilities determined by previous factor-analytic studies. This was a double-blind, cross-over design study of acute oral doses of lorazepam (2 mg) and placebo in young healthy volunteers. We focused on a set of paper-and-pencil tests of visual perceptual abilities that load on five correlated but distinguishable factors (Spatial Visualization, Spatial Relations, Perceptual Speed, Closure Speed, and Closure Flexibility). Some other tests (DSST, immediate and delayed recall of prose; measures of subjective mood alterations) were used to control for the classic BZ-induced effects. Lorazepam impaired performance in the DSST and delayed recall of prose, increased subjective sedation and impaired tasks of all abilities except Spatial Visualization and Closure Speed. Only impairment in Perceptual Speed (Identical Pictures task) and delayed recall of prose were not explained by sedation. Acute administration of lorazepam, in a dose that impaired episodic memory, selectively affected different visual perceptual abilities before and after controlling for sedation. Central executive demands and sedation did not account for results, so impairment in the Identical Pictures task may be attributed to lorazepam's visual processing alterations. 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Acetylcholine and Olfactory Perceptual Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Donald A.; Fletcher, Max L.; Sullivan, Regina M.

2004-01-01

Olfactory perceptual learning is a relatively long-term, learned increase in perceptual acuity, and has been described in both humans and animals. Data from recent electrophysiological studies have indicated that olfactory perceptual learning may be correlated with changes in odorant receptive fields of neurons in the olfactory bulb and piriform…

Perceptual dimensions differentiate emotions.

PubMed

Cavanaugh, Lisa A; MacInnis, Deborah J; Weiss, Allen M

2015-08-26

Individuals often describe objects in their world in terms of perceptual dimensions that span a variety of modalities; the visual (e.g., brightness: dark-bright), the auditory (e.g., loudness: quiet-loud), the gustatory (e.g., taste: sour-sweet), the tactile (e.g., hardness: soft vs. hard) and the kinaesthetic (e.g., speed: slow-fast). We ask whether individuals use perceptual dimensions to differentiate emotions from one another. Participants in two studies (one where respondents reported on abstract emotion concepts and a second where they reported on specific emotion episodes) rated the extent to which features anchoring 29 perceptual dimensions (e.g., temperature, texture and taste) are associated with 8 emotions (anger, fear, sadness, guilt, contentment, gratitude, pride and excitement). Results revealed that in both studies perceptual dimensions differentiate positive from negative emotions and high arousal from low arousal emotions. They also differentiate among emotions that are similar in arousal and valence (e.g., high arousal negative emotions such as anger and fear). Specific features that anchor particular perceptual dimensions (e.g., hot vs. cold) are also differentially associated with emotions.

Multimodal browsing using VoiceXML

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caccia, Giuseppe; Lancini, Rosa C.; Peschiera, Giuseppe

2003-06-01

With the increasing development of devices such as personal computers, WAP and personal digital assistants connected to the World Wide Web, end users feel the need to browse the Internet through multiple modalities. We intend to investigate on how to create a user interface and a service distribution platform granting the user access to the Internet through standard I/O modalities and voice simultaneously. Different architectures are evaluated suggesting the more suitable for each client terminal (PC o WAP). In particular the design of the multimodal usermachine interface considers the synchronization issue between graphical and voice contents.

Multi-modal assessment of on-road demand of voice and manual phone calling and voice navigation entry across two embedded vehicle systems.

PubMed

Mehler, Bruce; Kidd, David; Reimer, Bryan; Reagan, Ian; Dobres, Jonathan; McCartt, Anne

2016-03-01

One purpose of integrating voice interfaces into embedded vehicle systems is to reduce drivers' visual and manual distractions with 'infotainment' technologies. However, there is scant research on actual benefits in production vehicles or how different interface designs affect attentional demands. Driving performance, visual engagement, and indices of workload (heart rate, skin conductance, subjective ratings) were assessed in 80 drivers randomly assigned to drive a 2013 Chevrolet Equinox or Volvo XC60. The Chevrolet MyLink system allowed completing tasks with one voice command, while the Volvo Sensus required multiple commands to navigate the menu structure. When calling a phone contact, both voice systems reduced visual demand relative to the visual-manual interfaces, with reductions for drivers in the Equinox being greater. The Equinox 'one-shot' voice command showed advantages during contact calling but had significantly higher error rates than Sensus during destination address entry. For both secondary tasks, neither voice interface entirely eliminated visual demand. Practitioner Summary: The findings reinforce the observation that most, if not all, automotive auditory-vocal interfaces are multi-modal interfaces in which the full range of potential demands (auditory, vocal, visual, manipulative, cognitive, tactile, etc.) need to be considered in developing optimal implementations and evaluating drivers' interaction with the systems. Social Media: In-vehicle voice-interfaces can reduce visual demand but do not eliminate it and all types of demand need to be taken into account in a comprehensive evaluation.

Multi-modal assessment of on-road demand of voice and manual phone calling and voice navigation entry across two embedded vehicle systems