Accuracy of traditional and formant acoustic measurements in the evaluation of vocal quality.

Leonardo Wanderley Lopes,Vinícius Jefferson Dias Vieira,Deyverson Da Silva Evangelista,Maria Fabiana Bonfim De Lima-Silva,Fernanda Pereira França,Leandro De Araújo Pernambuco,Jônatas Do Nascimento Alves

doi:10.1590/2317-1782/20182017282

Leonardo Wanderley Lopes, Vinícius Jefferson Dias Vieira + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/2317-1782/20182017282

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Journal: CoDAS	Publication Date: Oct 22, 2018
Citations: 14	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: Universidade Federal da Paraíba

Abstract

Investigate the accuracy of isolated and combined acoustic measurements in the discrimination of voice deviation intensity (GD) and predominant voice quality (PVQ) in patients with dysphonia. A total of 302 female patients with voice complaints participated in the study. The sustained /ɛ/ vowel was used to extract the following acoustic measures: mean and standard deviation (SD) of fundamental frequency (F0), jitter, shimmer, glottal to noise excitation (GNE) ratio and the mean of the first three formants (F1, F2, and F3). Auditory-perceptual evaluation of GD and PVQ was conducted by three speech-language pathologists who were voice specialists. In isolation, only GNE provided satisfactory performance when discriminating between GD and PVQ. Improvement in the classification of GD and PVQ was observed when the acoustic measures were combined. Mean F0, F2, and GNE (healthy × mild-to-moderate deviation), the SDs of F0, F1, and F3 (mild-to-moderate × moderate deviation), and mean jitter and GNE (moderate × intense deviation) were the best combinations for discriminating GD. The best combinations for discriminating PVQ were mean F0, shimmer, and GNE (healthy × rough), F3 and GNE (healthy × breathy), mean F 0, F3, and GNE (rough × tense), and mean F0 , F1, and GNE (breathy × tense). In isolation, GNE proved to be the only acoustic parameter capable of discriminating between GG and PVQ. There was a gain in classification performance for discrimination of both GD and PVQ when traditional and formant acoustic measurements were combined.

Highlights

The voice is essentially a multidimensional phenomenon that includes physiological, perceptual, aerodynamic, acoustic and emotional aspects
It is necessary that voice evaluations follow this principle and that these dimensions are considered and integrated in the process to achieve an overall view of dysphonia(1)
When investigating the discriminatory power of the combined acoustic measures in the classification of GG in the investigated sample, the greatest accuracy was found in the following combinations: the means of F0, F2 and glottal to noise excitation (GNE) (75.24±4.86%) when distinguishing between normal voice quality variability (NVQV) and mild to moderate deviations; and the standard deviation (SD) of F0, F1, F3, jitter and GNE (74.02±3.26%) when discriminating between mild and moderate deviations (Table 3)

Summary

Introduction

The voice is essentially a multidimensional phenomenon that includes physiological, perceptual, aerodynamic, acoustic and emotional aspects. The process of voice evaluation generally includes procedures relating to a visual laryngeal examination, auditory-perceptual voice evaluation, acoustic analysis, aerodynamic evaluation and voice self-evaluation(1). Auditory-perceptual analysis is considered the primary reference standard used by the speech therapist when performing voice evaluations(2). It is considered a subjective method, as it depends on the evaluator’s judgment and has an exclusively impressionistic nature(2,3). This type of evaluation provides information about the characterization of voice deviation intensity, as well as the predominant voice quality(4)

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