An Examination of the Relationship Between Electroglottographic Contact Quotient, Electroglottographic Decontacting Phase Profile, and Acoustical Spectral Moments

Abstract

To date, only a few studies have examined the possible relationship between electroglottographic (EGG) data and spectral characteristics of the voice. This study examined the possible association between EGG signal data (contact quotient [CQ] and decontacting phase profile) and spectral moments of the acoustic signal (spectral mean, spectral standard deviation (SD), spectral skewness, and spectral kurtosis). Furthermore, the possible effects of gender on these measurements were analyzed. Sustained vowel /ɑ/ productions were obtained from 48 normophonic individuals (24 adult males and 24 adult females). The central 1-second portions of the acoustic vowel samples were analyzed for spectral moments, and the EGG signal was analyzed for CQ (CQEGG), fundamental frequency (F0), and decontacting phase profile. Across all subjects, the spectral characteristics of the voice (in particular, spectral SD, skewness, and kurtosis) are significantly related to changes in the relative duration of vocal fold contact (as measured via CQEGG). In addition, significant effects of the profile of the EGG decontacting phase (ie, concave down/"knee" vs concave up/"no knee") on spectral SD were also observed, as well as a strong trend for decontacting phase profile to influence the spectral mean. Although the degree of vocal fold contact and differences in decontacting phase profile may have an influence on the spectral characteristics of the acoustic voice signal, the strength of correlations between CQEGG values and measures of spectral moments only accounted for approximately 13-16% of the variation in spectral distribution characteristics. These results stress the importance of the transformative role of the supraglottal vocal tract in producing an acoustic output that maintains some of the characteristics of the glottal source, but which modifies the source characteristics in ways not completely accounted for by single parameters such as CQEGG or EGG profile.