Comparison of results in two acoustic analysis programs: Praat and MDVP

Abstract

To compare acoustic analysis results obtained by 2 computer programs, Praat and the Multi-Dimensional Voice Program (MDVP). Different voice analysis programs use similar descriptions to define voice perturbation measures. Materials and methods: A total of 47 voice samples reflecting a spectrum of normal and pathological voices were randomly selected from a database, and the same voice samples were used to obtain mean fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, and noise-to-harmonics ratio results from 2 acoustic analysis programs. Results: The results obtained for mean fundamental frequency and shimmer were not significantly different between the 2 computer programs. The results for jitter and noise-to-harmonics ratio, however, were significantly different between Praat and MDVP (P < 0.001). There was a strong correlation for mean fundamental frequency and jitter values. The correlations for shimmer values and the noise-to-harmonics ratio were moderate. Conclusion: The numerical values obtained for mean fundamental frequency were comparable between the 2 computer programs. The values obtained for shimmer were not significantly different, but the correlation was moderate. The jitter values and noise-to-harmonics ratio were not comparable between the 2 acoustic analysis programs.