scholarly journals Acoustic Analysis of Voice Signal of Patients with Unilateral Laryngeal Paralysis a View to Objective Evaluation after Rehabilitation

2021 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 1339-1344
Author(s):  
Mahraz Kabache ◽  
Mhania Guerti

We propose in this study an acoustic analysis called objective, based on physical measurements, to extract the acoustic characteristics of the voice of patients with Unilateral Laryngeal Paralysis. Our experiments were made at the Otorhinolaryngology service of the hospital of Bab El Oued. Algiers. (Algeria). In this work, an acoustic analysis of the vocal signal is based on measurements of the instability of the amplitude and frequency of the vibrations of the vocal cords. The results obtained are compared with those of a group of reference of subjects who normally speak. The study of the results obtained by the acoustic analysis of the pathological voice during the rehabilitation phase shows a strong correlation of the acoustic parameters between the pathological voice and the reference one. The exclusive use of hearing to evaluate the effect of voice rehabilitation in the Algerian hospital environment remains insufficient. It is important to correlate the perceptual information with the interpreted acoustic measurements, in a manner to be able to develop a therapeutic project appropriate to the patient’s expectations and difficulties.

2009 ◽  
Vol 137 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 234-238
Author(s):  
Mirjana Petrovic-Lazic ◽  
Snezana Babac ◽  
Zoran Ivankovic ◽  
Rade Kosanovic

Introduction. There are subjective and objective ways to examine the effects of vocal therapy in voice disorders. The most precise and objective check-up is the use of computer voice analysis. Objective. The aim of the research was to perform a detailed analysis of acoustic structure of the vowel A before and after voice treatment in patients with vocal fold nodules in order to obtain objective verification of the vocal rehabilitation success. Methods. We examined 30 female patients, aged 34.6?6.69 years, with vocal fold nodules. Acoustic parameters of voice were compared with the control group consisting of 21 subjects without voice pathology. In all persons the vowel A was recorded and analyzed before and after a month of vocal therapy. The success of the vocal therapy was tracked using computer analysis of vocal structure. Signal, noise and tremor parameters were processed. Results. Of the analyzed vowel A parameters: STD, PER, JITA, JITT, RAP, vFO, ShdB, SHIM, APQ, VTI, SPI, F0, NHR, FTRI, eleven improved (p<0.05 and p<0.01). Three parameters (F0, NHR, FTRI) changed showing improvement, but the obtained differences were not statistically significant (p>0.05). Conclusion. Based on the obtained results it was concluded that vocal therapy gave satisfactory results, but that it should be continually applied until full stabilization of the voice.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 323-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.S. Chhetri ◽  
R. Gautam

Background Voice problems caused by pathologies in vocal folds are well known. Some types of laryngeal pathologies have certain acoustic characteristics. Objective evaluation helps characterize the voice and voice problems providing supporting evidences, severity of disorders. It helps assess the response to the treatment and measures the outcomes.Objective The objective of the study is to determine the effectiveness of the voice therapy and quantify the results objectively by voice parameters.Method Study includes 61 patients who presented with different types of laryngeal pathologies. Acoustic analyses and voice assessment was done with Dr. Speech ver 4 (Tiger DRS Inc.). Acoustic parameters including fundamental frequency, jitters, shimmers, Harmonic to noise ratio (HNR), Normalized noise energy (NNE) were analyzed before and after voice therapy.Result Bilateral vocal nodules were the most common pathologies comprising 44.26%. All acoustic parameters showed a significant difference after the therapy (p<0.05) except for NNE. Dysphonia due to vocal fold polyp showed no improvement even after voice therapy (p>0.05).Conclusion Acoustic analysis provides an objective, recordable data regarding the voice parameters and its pathologies. Though, few pathology require alternative therapy rather than voice therapy, overall it has a good effect on glottic closure. As the voice therapy can improve the different indices of voice, it can be viewed as imperative part of treatment and to monitor progression.


Author(s):  
Natalia V. Solomennikova ◽  
Julia V. Dieeva ◽  
Volodymyr O. Palamarchuk ◽  
Volodymyr V. Kuts

Introduction: Acoustic analysis of voice is a method for assessing its quality, which has a relatively low cost. It quite simple to use, and is non-invasive. One of the programs of spectral analysis of voice is the program Praat, which allows to explore its acoustic characteristics and analyze the forms, also its allows to edit sound segments and print the spectrogram. The purpose: Investigate the acoustic parameters of the voice Ukrainians of different ages and genders and perform the calculation of reference intervals (RI) for these indicators. Material and methods: We had examined150 healthy Ukrainians aged 18 to 70. The study was performed using a Behringer C1U condenser microphone and Praat software (version 5.1.12.). The following acoustic characteristics of the voice were studied: the fundamental frequency of voice (F0) in Hz, the maximum phonation time (MPT) in seconds, the Harmonic to Noise Ratio (HNR) in dB, Jitter in%, Shimmer in%. Four groups were formed for the study: 1a – young women (18-44 years); 2a – young men (18-44 years); 1b – middle-aged women (45-59 years); 2b – middle-aged men (45-59 years). Results: Young and middle-aged men showed significantly higher MPT than women of relevant age. The value of MPT in women with age increased slightly, in men decreased slightly. RI for the indicator of MPT, in 1a group is 11,35-31,28 s, in 2a group – 15,55-39,53 s, in 1b group -14,30-33,01 s, and in 2b group –12,59-31,90 s. The value of F0 in young and middle-aged women is statistically higher than in men of the same age group (p <0.001). With age, this figure decreases slightly in women and men. RI for the indicator F0, in 1a group is 107,0-316,5 Hz, in 2a group – 94,1-139,3 Hz, in 1b group – 94,3-339,1 Hz, and in 2b group – 80,3 -174,3Hz.A comparative analysis of the HNR in young and middle-aged men didn’t show significant differences. In middle-aged women this value is significantly higher than in young women. RI for the HNR in group 1a is 14,194-26,946 dB; in group 2a – 17,328-28,675 dB; in group 1b -15,254-26,536 dB, and in group 2b – 13,545-30,368 dB. The Jitter index in men and young women does not differ statistically. This figure increases statistically in men with age, in women this rate the same level. RI for the Jitter in 1a group – 0,110-0,436%; in 2a group – 0,101-0,472%; in 1b group – 0,094-0,520% and in 2b group – 0,117-0,460%. A comparative analysis of Shimmer in men and young women didn't show significant differences, but in middle-aged women this figure decreased statistically compared to young women. In men, this figure has not changed with age. The RI for the Shimmer index is 1,974-14,128% in group 1a; 2,592-12,378% in group 2a; 2,008-6,788% in group 1b; 2,016-12,260% – In group 2b. Conclusions: Indicators of spectral analysis of voice in young and middle-aged women and men are relatively stable and do not change significantly in this time period.


Revista CEFAC ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liliane Ramone ◽  
Silvana de Coelho Frota

ABSTRACT Purpose: to compare acoustic characteristics of stop consonants in speakers of Brazilian Portuguese with and without alterations in speech referring to voicing feature. Methods: out of 66 children assessed, 18 were selected for this study, aged from 9 to 12 years, distributed in Control Group, 8 without language alterations, and Deviation Group, 10 children with alterations in speech, regarding sonority features. Participants with hearing loss, with cognitive deficit, left-handed ones or using neurological medication, were excluded. The following tests were performed: tonal audiometry, ABFW speech test, and a PowerPoint interactive production test, which was developed by the author for this study, with the purpose of comparing the minimal pairs in words. At the end, the acoustic analysis was conducted, by using the PRAAT program. The acoustic characteristics of stops related to total and relative duration of voice onset time were compared in the two groups and analyzed by the Mann-Whitney U test, with a significance level lower than 0.05. Results: significant differences were observed in the duration of the voice onset time between the two groups, such as the increase in absolute voice onset time in the Deviation Group in voiced stops, and reduction in absolute onset time in voiceless stops. The relative voice onset time presented significant differences between the two groups only in voiceless stops. Conclusion: Brazilian Portuguese speakers with alteration in their sonority feature showed an acoustic pattern different from that of other speakers, regarding the voice onset time.


2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (7) ◽  
pp. 1657-1666
Author(s):  
Constanze Mühl ◽  
Patricia EG Bestelmeyer

Recent models of voice perception propose a hierarchy of steps leading from a more general, “low-level” acoustic analysis of the voice signal to a voice-specific, “higher-level” analysis. We aimed to engage two of these stages: first, a more general detection task in which voices had to be identified amid environmental sounds, and, second, a more voice-specific task requiring a same/different decision about unfamiliar speaker pairs (Bangor Voice Matching Test [BVMT]). We explored how vulnerable voice recognition is to interfering distractor voices, and whether performance on the aforementioned tasks could predict resistance against such interference. In addition, we manipulated the similarity of distractor voices to explore the impact of distractor similarity on recognition accuracy. We found moderate correlations between voice detection ability and resistance to distraction ( r = .44), and BVMT and resistance to distraction ( r = .57). A hierarchical regression revealed both tasks as significant predictors of the ability to tolerate distractors ( R2 = .36). The first stage of the regression (BVMT as sole predictor) already explained 32% of the variance. Descriptively, the “higher-level” BVMT was a better predictor (β = .47) than the more general detection task (β = .25), although further analysis revealed no significant difference between both beta weights. Furthermore, distractor similarity did not affect performance on the distractor task. Overall, our findings suggest the possibility to target specific stages of the voice perception process. This could help explore different stages of voice perception and their contributions to specific auditory abilities, possibly also in forensic and clinical settings.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 58-63
Author(s):  
Yu. E. Stepanova ◽  
◽  
M. V. Mokhotaeva ◽  
A. A. Korneenkov ◽  
◽  
...  

The article presents the results of a study of the acoustic characteristics of the voice in voice professionals and non-voice professionals. We examined 80 people aged 23 to 45 years with functional dysphonia of the hypotonic type, who applied to the phoniatric office of the St. Petersburg Research Institute of ENT. Of these, 23 were professional vocalists, 12 were representatives of speech professions, and 45 were non-professional voices. First, the phoniatrist examined the larynx and assessed its condition with video endostroboscopy (K. Storz) or video pharyngolaryngoscopy (VIVIDEO, KayPentax). Objective acoustic analysis was performed using the Multi-Speech software and hardware complex and the MDVP software (KayPentax). The numerical and graphical expressions of the following parameters were evaluated: noise-to-harmonic ratio (NHR), voice turbulence index (VTI), and soft phonation index (SPI). The results of the study showed that the SPI index is the most informative in assessing hoarseness in patients with hypotonic functional dysphonia. The lower values of this indicator in vocalists can be explained by the presence of a sufficiently developed resonator system of the vocal apparatus, which is reflected in the amplification of the high-frequency components of the voice spectrum.


MANUSYA ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 39-59
Author(s):  
Phanintra Teeranon

This paper aims to analyze the acoustic characteristics of initial consonant voicing perturbation of the fundamental frequency of oral vowels and nasal vowels of Ban Doi Pwo Karen. Three age groups of informants were selected: over-sixty years old (>60), middle aged (35-45), and under-twenty years old (<20). The acoustic analysis method was employed to analyze the mean vowel duration (msec), mean vowel amplitude (dB), and mean vowel fundamental frequency (Hz). The results show that voiceless initial consonants tend to cause a lower fundamental frequency than that of the voiced initial consonants. This has excited controversy concerning the tonogenesis theory of initial voicing perturbation on vowels. However, it was later found that the vowels followed by voiceless initial consonants were breathy and it was the voice register of vowels that caused the low fundamental frequency values. In contrast to other studies, the nasal vowels were not always higher in fundamental frequency when compared to oral vowels. In all age groups, nasal vowels following either voiceless or voiced consonants were found to be higher in fundamental frequency than oral vowels, except in the younger age group where the fundamental frequency of nasal vowels following voiced consonants was lower than that of the oral vowels following voiced consonants.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Allan Orr

AbstractCarillons are a diverse and global form of musical and civic heritage: musical instruments comprised of a series of 23 or more bells, typically hung in a tower-like structure, tuned chromatically and played from a touch-sensitive manual and pedal console using an elaborate mechanical action. Carillon bells have a distinct series of musical overtones which should be accurately tuned to one another and with other bells they sound alongside. Although these overtones have been previously studied ex situ, this study assesses the acoustic characteristics of two early-twentieth century carillons in Toronto, Canada as a combination of structure, bells, and mechanical action. Thus, the instrument and its context are considered holistically, more accurately reflecting the musical sensitivity of a carillonist. Spectral analysis of audio samples of each bell at different musical dynamic levels enabled the analysis of the acoustic qualities of the bells and the mechanical action of the instruments. The tuning of bells in the instruments varied; most importantly, there was a significant difference between the audial intensity of the bell tones produced by the instruments, demonstrating the importance of the mechanical action as part of the ‘carillon system’. This was represented with a resistive power-law model, that represents the sensitivity of intensity to carillonist musical dynamic level. A discussion of the implications for artistic and heritage practice follows. Understanding the in situ physical acoustics of the carillon as a holistic instrument in its context informs performers, arrangers, and composers of how they can best embrace the instrument’s unique qualities to improve artistic pursuits and support the appreciation of carillons as heritage instruments and function as civic voices.


Author(s):  
Evelyn Alves Spazzapan ◽  
Eliana Maria Gradim Fabron ◽  
Larissa Cristina Berti ◽  
Eduardo Federighi Baisi Chagas ◽  
Viviane Cristina de Castro Marino

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