Abstract
IntroductionVocal fold mass lesions can affect vocal fold oscillation patterns and therefore voice production. It has been previously observed that perturbation values from audio signals were lower with increased loudness. However, how much the oscillation patterns change with gradual alteration of loudness is not yet fully understood.Material and methodsEight patients with vocal fold mass lesions were asked to perform a glide from minimum to maximum loudness on the vowel /i/, ƒo of 125 Hz for male or 250 Hz for female voices. During phonation the subjects were simultaneously recorded with transnasal high speed videoendoscopy (HSV, 20,000 fps), electroglottography (EGG), and an audio recording. Based on the HSV material the Glottal Area Waveform (GAW) was segmented and GAW parameters were computed.ResultsThe greatest vocal fold irregularities were observed at different values between minimum and maximum sound pressure level. There was a relevant discrepancy between the HSV and EGG derived open quotients. Furthermore, the EGG derived sample entropy and GAW values also evidenced different behavior.ConclusionsThe amount of vocal fold irregularity changes with varying loudness. Therefore, any evaluation of the voice should be performed under different loudness conditions. The discrepancy between EGG and GAW values appears to be much stronger in patients with vocal fold mass lesions than those with normal physiological conditions.Level of evidence4.
Highlights
Vocal fold mass lesions can affect vocal fold oscillation patterns and voice production
There was a relevant discrepancy between the high speed videoendoscopy (HSV) and EGG derived open quotients
The discrepancy between EGG and Glottal Area Waveform (GAW) values appears to be much stronger in patients with vocal fold mass lesions than those with normal physiological conditions
Summary
Vocal fold mass lesions can affect vocal fold oscillation patterns and voice production. Vocal fold mass lesions might frequently cause dysphonia [8], not all mass lesions are necessarily associated with voice disorders Some entities, such as swellings on the free edge of the vocal fold – frequently categorised as nodes – might develop as a consequence of vocal overuse, but do not necessarily result in dysphonic voice [9]. Neither do such swellings necessarily influence vocal fold oscillation patterns nor voice source production and are sometimes denoted as “functional” [9]. As far as there is no suspicion that these swellings are malignant, any indication for surgery should be based on functional aspects rather than on the visual mass lesion itself
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