Performance of the phonatory deviation diagram in the evaluation of rough and breathy synthesized voices

The Performance of the Acoustic Voice Quality Index and Acoustic Breathiness Index in Synthesized Voices

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the present study was to investigate the performance of the Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI) and the Acoustic Breathiness Index (ABI) in synthesized voice samples.

METHOD

The validity of the AVQI and ABI performances was analyzed in synthesized voice samples controlling the degree of predefined deviations for overall voice quality (G-scale) and breathiness (B-scale). A range of 26 synthesized voice samples with various severity degrees in G-scale with and without prominence of breathiness for male and female voices were created.

RESULTS

ABI received higher validity in the evaluation of breathiness than AVQI. Furthermore, ABI evaluated accurately breathiness degrees without considering roughness effects in voice samples and confirmed the findings of other studies with natural voices. Furthermore, ABI was more robust than AVQI in the evaluation of severe voice-disordered voice samples. Finally, AVQI represented moreover overall voice quality with an emphasis of breathiness evaluation and less roughness although roughness had a necessary component in overall voice quality evaluation.

CONCLUSION

AVQI and ABI are two robust measurements in the evaluation of voice quality. However, ABI received fewer errors than AVQI in the analyses of higher abnormalities in the voice signal. Disturbances of other subtypes of abnormal overall voice quality such as roughness were not demonstrated in the results of ABI.

Oropharyngeal Geometry of Maxilectomized Patients Rehabilitated with Palatal Obturators in the Trans-surgical Period: Repercussions on the Voice

INTRODUCTION

Patients undergoing maxillectomies may present alterations in the stomatognathic functions involved in oral communication. Rehabilitative treatment should favor the rescue of these functions, through surgical flaps, obturator prostheses or both.

OBJECTIVES

The present study aims to present the impact of the use of the palatal obturator on the oropharyngeal geometry and on the voice of patients undergoing maxillectomies, after adaptation to trans-surgical palatine obturators (TPO).

METHODS

Twelve patients treated at a Cancer Hospital, submitted to maxillectomy and rehabilitated during surgery were evaluated. The oropharyngeal geometry was measured by acoustic pharyngometry and the vocal parameters were evaluated through auditory-perceptual and acoustic analyses. The comparison between the results with and without TPO was analyzed using the Wilcoxon test and the correlation between oropharyngeal measurements and acoustic parameters using Spearman's correlation coefficient, all with a significance level of 5%.

RESULTS

There was a decrease in the following oropharyngeal measurements with the use of TPO: length of the pharyngeal cavity and vocal tract, volume of the oral cavity, pharyngeal and vocal tract and area of ​​the oropharyngeal junction. There was no difference in the length of the oral cavity and in the glottic area between situations with and without TPO. In the vocal evaluation, changes in intelligibility and resonance were observed in the situation without TPO and, in only one case, mild hypernasality was detected in the situation with TPO.

CONCLUSIONS

It is concluded that the use of TPO brought the oropharyngeal measurements closer to normal values ​​and provided an improvement in speech intelligibility and vocal resonance in maxilectomized individuals.

Do Professionals Who Use the Voice in a Journalistic Context Benefit from Humming as a Semi-occluded Vocal Tract Exercise?

INTRODUCTION

Many vocal enhancement and rehabilitation programs for voice professionals define vocal exercises without analyzing their effects on that specific population in which they will be applied, in the established dose and often without considering the presence and absence of vocal alteration. Journalists have sought the voice clinic due to new professional vocal demands and a vocal program is being elaborated.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the immediate effect of humming in professionals with and without voice disorders who work under high vocal demand in a journalistic context.

METHOD

Thirty-six individuals who completed the Dysphonia Risk Screening Protocol and underwent voice recording participated in the study. Three speech therapists defined the presence and/or absence of vocal changes by consensus. Subsequently, five repetitions of humming were proposed; the exercises lasted five seconds each and were separated by five seconds of complete silence, and recordings were made before and after the exercise (vowel and phrase). For the pre and post comparison between the groups with and without vocal changes, acoustic measurements and spectrogram, including the classification of the signal type, were performed.

RESULTS

The sample had a similar distribution of men and women and a mean age of 39.9 years. Most of the professionals were journalists or reporters. The risk of dysphonia was high for half of the sample, and the presence of vocal changes, predominantly mild ones, was identified in 56%. After the exercise, a decrease in noise at low frequencies and an improvement in the series of harmonics and the signal type were observed in both groups; a decrease in irregularity was observed only in the participants without vocal changes.

CONCLUSION

The proposed humming exercise had an immediate positive effect on the voice of professionals working in a journalistic context, and the changes were particularly evident in aspects of the voice that were initially altered.

Effect of Resonance Tube Technique on Oropharyngeal Geometry and Voice in Individuals with Parkinson's Disease

OBJECTIVE

To verify the immediate effect of the flexible resonance tube vocal technique on the oropharyngeal geometry and vocal acoustic parameters of individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) and to study the correlation between oropharyngeal geometry and the intensity and fundamental frequency (f0) parameters of the voice.

METHODS

Forty individuals participated-20 with PD and 20 healthy individuals, with a mean age of 60.95 (± 5.69) years. There were 10 men and 10 women in each group. All underwent pharyngometric analysis of the vocal tract and voice acoustics parameters before and after use of the vocal technique with a flexible resonance tube.

RESULTS

After the technique, there was a reduction in pharyngeal cavity volume only in females in the healthy group, a reduction in shimmer values in females in both groups and males in PD group and an improvement in noise parameters in females in the PD group. There was a negative correlation between vocal tract volume and intensity, between f0 and vocal tract volume, between f0 and oropharyngeal junction area, between f0 and oral cavity volume as well as a positive correlation between oral cavity length and f0.

CONCLUSION

The vocal technique with the flexible resonance tube applied to individuals with PD improved the subjects' voice quality in the perceptual and acoustic voice parameters. Regarding the oropharyngeal geometry, it was possible to observe its correlation with the parameters of vocal intensity and frequency in the studied population.

Configuração acústico-articulatória das vogais de mulheres com nódulos vocais e vocalmente saudáveis

RESUMO Objetivo Analisar a configuração acústico-articulatória das vogais em mulheres com nódulos vocais e vocalmente saudáveis. Método Participaram do estudo 12 mulheres com nódulos vocais (GE) e 12 vocalmente saudáveis (GC). Todas as mulheres gravaram frases-veículo com as vogais /a/, /i/ e /u/ em posição tônica, sucedidas e precedidas da oclusiva /p/: “Digo papa baixinho”, “Digo pipa baixinho” e “Digo pupa baixinho”. Posteriormente, foram extraídos os três primeiros formantes (F1, F2 e F3) dessas vogais. Resultados Observou-se diferença nas medidas de F1 para as vogais /a/ e /u/ e F2 para a vogal /a/ entre os dois grupos estudados. Mulheres com nódulos vocais apresentam menor valor dessas medidas em relação às mulheres vocalmente saudáveis. Pacientes com nódulos vocais apresentaram menor intervalo nos valores de F1 e F2 entre as vogais /a/, /i/ e /u/ em relação às mulheres vocalmente saudáveis. Conclusão Mulheres com nódulos vocais apresentam menores valores de F1 e F2, e menor amplitude de movimentação dos articuladores na produção vocálica em relação às mulheres vocalmente saudáveis.