Degree Of Breathiness Research Articles

Degree of Breathiness in a Synthesized Voice Signal as it Differentiates Masculine versus Feminine Voices

Most studies determining speakers' perceived gender as binarily female or male are reliant on F0 perception, although other vocal parameters may also contribute to the perception of gender. The current study focused on the impact of breathiness on the perception of speakers' gender as a biological variable (feminine or masculine). n=31 normal hearing, native English speakers, 18 female, 13 male, mean age 23 (SD=3.54), were auditorily and visually trained in and then took part in a categorical perception task. A continuum of nine samples of the word "hello", was created in an airway modulation model of speech and voice production. Resting vocal fold length, resting vocal fold thickness, F0, and vocal tract length were fixed. Glottal width at the vocal process, posterior glottal gap, and bronchial pressure were continually modified for all stimuli. Each stimulus was randomly presented 30 times within each of the fiveblocks (150 presentations in total). Participants rated stimuli as binarily female or male. Showed a sigmoidal shift in breathiness along the continuum between perceived feminine or masculine voicing. This shift was evident at stimuli four and five, indicating a nonlinear, discrete perception of breathiness among participants. Response times were also significantly slower in these two stimuli, suggesting a categorical perception of breathiness among participants. Breathiness created by the change in glottal width of at least 0.21cm may influence the perception of a speaker's perceived gender.

Validation of the acoustic breathiness index to the Brazilian Portuguese language

Objective To assess the concurrent validity and the diagnostic accuracy of the Acoustic Breathiness Index (ABI) in Brazilian Portuguese. Methods The counting numbers 1–20 and the vowel /a/ of 150 subjects were recorded (37 vocally healthy and 113 with dysphonia). The analyzed samples were the counting number 1–11 and 3 s of the sustained vowel. Nine voice specialists performed the perceptual judgment of the degree of breathiness. The Spearman Correlation and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were used to assess ABI’s concurrent validity and diagnosis accuracy. Results Results from five listeners were chosen for the study analyses due to moderate and substantial intra-rater reliability (Cohen’s Kappa values = 0.520–0.772) and moderate inter-rater reliability (Fleiss Kappa = 0.353). The ABI presented a high concurrent validity (r = 0.746); 55.6% of the breathiness vocal deviation can be explained by the acoustic analysis (r 2 = 0.556). The ROC curve presented good diagnostic accuracy (85.2%). At a threshold of 2.94, the sensitivity was 75.3% and the specificity was 93.4%. Conclusion The ABI is a valid tool for screening and patient’s follow-up regarding breathy vocal qualities in the Brazilian Portuguese language.

Bipedicled Vocal Fold Mucosal Flap Use in Phonomicrosurgery: Case Series

The objective of this study was to present a novel surgical technique involving the use of a "bipedicled vocal fold mucosal flap" to repair a mucosal defect and to evaluate the outcomes of patients in whom it was used. This was a retrospective study of 6 clinical cases. All patients underwent surgery between November 2000 and July 2018, and all procedures were performed by the same surgeon. For the auditory-perceptual assessment, the Grade-Roughness-Breathiness-Asthenia-Strain hoarseness scale was used. We based the stroboscopic evaluation on the European Laryngological Society protocol, analyzing the parameters glottal closure, mucosal wave, and phase symmetry. Ages at the time of surgery ranged from 10 to 52 years, and all of the patients were male. Preexisting vocal fold lesions included polyps, cysts, a sulcus, and mucosal bridges. Among the stroboscopic parameters, only the mucosal wave differed significantly between the preoperative and postoperative periods (P = 0.046). There were also significant postoperative improvements in the overall grade of dysphonia (P = 0.025) and in the degree of breathiness (P = 0.025). The use of a bipedicled vocal fold mucosal flap appears to promote significant improvements in the mucosal wave and in voice quality. In the patients evaluated here, the technique was used without preoperative planning. However, it proved to be a safe and appropriate means of repairing mucosal defects in the vocal folds, with the potential to preserve rheological properties and promote healing with less chance of fibrosis.

Regional Variation if Voice Quality

Regional variation of voice quality is one of the most neglected fields of German dialectology. This apparent lack of interest is all the more regrettable as international research has provided a substantial body of evidence for cross-linguistic and dialectal variation in voice quality. In most of these studies, however, it remains unclear whether the observed variation is a language effect or arises from the affiliation of the speakers to different speaker communities. Accordingly, the present study deals with two questions: (1) Is there regional variation of voice quality in the German language area, and if so, which aspects of voice quality are affected? (2) Is regional variation of voice quality a language effect or an effect of belonging to different speaker communities? In order to keep both aspects apart, bilingual speakers are examined who have grown up in two neighboring Low German dialect areas and share High German as a standard language. The study focuses on the Bersenbrucker Land in the north of the district of Osnabruck in Lower Saxony, which is a transitional dialect area between East-Westphalian in the south and Northern Low Saxon in the north. Two text passages were read aloud in a Low German and High German version, and four acoustic measures were calculated: the spectral slope between 0–1 kHz and 1–5 kHz, the spectral slope between 1–5 kHz and 5–8 kHz, the smoothed Cepstral Peak Prominence (CPPS), and the speaker’s formant. These measures characterize voice quality along the dimensions tense vs. lax voice, degree of breathiness and voice projection. The results indicate more lax and breathy voices in the south and more tense and less breathy voices in the north. At the same time, effects of gender, language, and reading task were found. As voice quality of both Low German and Standard High German varies between the north and the south, this variation can better be explained by the affiliation to different speaker communities than by a language effect in the sense that individual dialects or languages have their own voice quality.

Acoustic models of co-varying vocal roughness and breathiness

Dysphonia is characterized by several vocal qualities including breathiness and roughness. These qualities can coexist within a single voice. To examine the potential interaction between judgments of one voice quality in the presences of another, a large set of synthetic voices that co-varied along the breathiness and roughness continua were created and evaluated by 10 listeners. The perception of roughness (synthesized via amplitude modulation) was unaffected by degree of breathiness. The perception of breathiness, however, was affected by the degree of roughness: for low-breathy voices breathiness increased by about 2 dB as roughness increased from no roughness to maximum roughness; yet for high-breathy voices, breathiness decreased by about 2 dB as roughness increased. Current acoustic models of voice quality (pitch strength, auto-correlation peak, cepstral peak, partial loudness ratio, and glottal-noise-excitation ratio) do not explain the observed interaction of roughness and breathiness. To explain the observed interaction, we evaluate the possibility that roughness perception is dominated by temporal cues (which are unaffected by the presence of breathiness) and that breathiness perception is driven by spectro-temporal cues which are affected by the sub-harmonics generated by amplitude modulation. The sub-harmonics partially contribute to non-harmonic energy (increasing breathiness) and partially mask aperiodic energy (decreasing breathiness).

Relation of Perceived Breathiness to Laryngeal Kinematics and Acoustic Measures Based on Computational Modeling

In this study, the authors sought to determine (a) how specific vocal fold structural and vibratory features relate to breathy voice quality and (b) the relation of perceived breathiness to 4 acoustic correlates of breathiness. A computational, kinematic model of the vocal fold medial surfaces was used to specify features of vocal fold structure and vibration in a manner consistent with breathy voice. Four model parameters were altered: vocal process separation, surface bulging, vibratory nodal point, and epilaryngeal constriction. Twelve naïve listeners rated breathiness of 364 samples relative to a reference. The degree of breathiness was then compared to (a) the underlying kinematic profile and (b) 4 acoustic measures: cepstral peak prominence (CPP), harmonics-to-noise ratio, and two measures of spectral slope. Vocal process separation alone accounted for 61.4% of the variance in perceptual rating. Adding nodal point ratio and bulging to the equation increased the explained variance to 88.7%. The acoustic measure CPP accounted for 86.7% of the variance in perceived breathiness, and explained variance increased to 92.6% with the addition of one spectral slope measure. Breathiness ratings were best explained kinematically by the degree of vocal process separation and acoustically by CPP.

Discriminação entre vozes adaptadas, levemente soprosas e tensas: diferenças entre os dois primeiros harmônicos

OBJETIVO: Verificar a eficácia dos valores da diferença entre os dois primeiros harmônicos para diferenciar vozes adaptadas de vozes levemente soprosas (B) ou tensas (S), durante a emissão da vogal "é" prolongada. MÉTODOS: Foram avaliadas 30 mulheres com vozes normais e alteradas. Foi gravada a vogal "é" de cada sujeito para posterior extração da intensidade dos dois primeiros harmônicos, por meio do gráfico FFT. Foi feita a subtração da amplitude do primeiro pelo segundo harmônico (H1-H2) e os dados foram tratados estatisticamente. RESULTADOS: A variação entre os valores de H1-H2, entre os sujeitos com grau 0 de soprosidade e tensão e os sujeitos com grau 1, também nos dois parâmetros, foi muito grande, portanto os valores não foram estatisticamente significativos. Entretanto, quando a soprosidade e tensão atingem o grau 2 a variação dos valores aproxima-se das descrições da literatura. CONCLUSÃO: A medida estudada não é eficaz para diferenciar vozes adaptadas daquelas levemente soprosas e tensas, em emissões da vogal "é" prolongada.

Home-based speech treatment for Parkinson's disease delivered remotely: a case report

We investigated the validity and feasibility of online delivery of the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT) for the treatment of the speech disorder of a patient with idiopathic Parkinson's disease. The treatment was delivered in 16 sessions to the participant's home, 90 km from the speech language pathologist. A PC-based videoconferencing system was used, operating at 128 kbit/s over the public telecommunications network. The patient achieved substantial improvements in vocal sound pressure levels during sustained vowel phonation (6.13 dB), reading (12.28 dB) and conversational monologue (11.32 dB). There were improvements in the duration of sustained vowel phonation (4 s). Improvements were also perceived in the degree of breathiness and roughness in the voice, and in overall speech intelligibility in conversation. The patient was very satisfied with the audio and video quality of the conferencing, and with the online treatment overall. He reported a preference for online sessions for the future management of his condition, rather than face-to-face treatment. Remote LSVT delivery was found to be feasible and effective.

Breathiness as a Feminine Voice Characteristic: A Perceptual Approach

The present study tested suggestions in the literature that vocal breathiness may influence the perception of femininity of the speaker. Two listener experiments were conducted using normal and breathy voice productions by normal females. Panels of students rated femininity of samples from seven biological female speakers, each producing a normal /a/ and a breathy /a/ at similar pitch and intensity. Two listening experiments were enacted. In experiment 1, the 14 samples were presented at random to the judges as if they were from different speakers. Judges rated feminity on a five-point rating scale with 1 (little feminine) and 5 (very feminine) as left and right extremes, respectively. In experiment 2, the normal and breathy samples of each of the seven speakers were presented pair wise and judges were required to indicate which of the two in their opinion sounded most feminine. In all seven participants, the breathy voice samples were judged to be more feminine than the natural voice samples. This was the case when the breathy and natural samples were presented randomly in experiment 1 and when the samples of each speaker were presented pair wise in experiment 2. Results demonstrate that breathiness indeed may contribute to the perception of femininity but replication in a study involving biological males and transgender clients is indicated. It is unclear which degree of breathiness is required or is the most suitable for facilitating the perception of femininity.

Effects of Breathy Voice Source on Ratings of Hypernasality

To investigate the effects of breathy voice sources on ratings of hypernasality using synthesized speech. Speech samples were obtained from children with cleft palates who demonstrated varying degrees of hypernasality and from a child with a voice disorder. Sources with 6 degrees of breathiness were created: a breathy source and five synthesized sources with lowered harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR) values by the addition of impulses. These sources and each original (clear) source were combined with three kinds of filters: mild, moderate, and severely hypernasal. Consequently, 21 ([6 + 1] x 3) stimuli for each vowel (/a/ and /i/) were obtained for ratings. Thirteen speech pathologists with academic training and various clinical experiences with cleft palate speech rated hypernasality of the stimuli on a 5-point scale. Ratings of hypernasality for breathy and clear stimuli were analyzed using a repeated measures analysis of variance. The effects of breathy source on ratings of hypernasality were significant for the following filters: mild hypernasal /a/, severe hypernasal /a/, mild hypernasal /i/, and moderate hypernasal /i/. A post-hoc comparison test demonstrated that the more breathy sources (BH0 or BH2) generally increased the hypernasality score for mild hypernasal filters and decreased it for moderate and severe hypernasal filters. The less breathy sources (BH3, BH4, and BH5) hardly affected the ratings. The effects of breathiness on ratings of hypernasality seem to moderate rather than to mask perceived hypernasality. That is, breathiness raises slight hypernasality, whereas it reduces severe hypernasality.

Variability of Specific Airway Resistance in Patients with Laryngeal Hemiplegia

This study was designed to analyze whether respiratory flows and specific airway resistance (sRaw) depend on the degree of breathiness and on the position of the paralyzed vocal fold in laryngeal hemiplegia. We performed a prospective study involving 55 patients affected by laryngeal hemiplegia. The paralyzed fold was in an intermediate position in 18 cases and in a paramedian position in 37. Breathiness was estimated with the GRBAS scale, and the patients were divided into four groups: B0 (12 patients), B1 (14), B2 (16), and B3 (13). Spirometry was used to measure the flow-volume loop, and body plethysmography was used to measure the sRaw at increasing respiratory frequencies (30 +/- 5, 60 +/- 5, and 90 +/- 5 breaths per minute). The mean inspiratory flows (PIF, FIF50) were lower than predicted (<80%) in all four groups; there was no significant intergroup difference. In all four groups, the mean FEF5o/FIF50 ratio was >1, as is typical of variable extrathoracic obstruction. The mean sRaw values increased with respiratory frequency, and the increase was higher in group B3, although the values varied widely. The frequency-dependent increase in the sRaw value was not significantly related to the degree of breathiness, nor to the position of the paralyzed fold. Furthermore, Spearman's coefficient did not reveal any correlation between the sRaw values and inspiratory flows, showing that plethysmography and spirometry explore different aspects of airway function. Respiratory flows and sRaw are not significantly influenced by either the degree of breathiness or the position of the paralyzed vocal fold.

A cross-gender examination of the breathy tone in Green Mong

Tone is generally thought of as a pitch difference that carries information regarding word meaning, but tone often correlates with phonation type as well as pitch. This paper presents the acoustic portion of a cross-gender study on acoustic and perceptual correlates of the breathy tone in Green Mong. Three male and three female native speakers of Green Mong residing in the Detroit area were asked to produce a series of target words containing the breathy tone and comparison tones in sentence context. Target words were minimal sets in which only tone varied. Each speaker produced a sequence of minimal sets containing each possible voiceless stop and voiced fricative onset of Green Mong. Vowel identity also varied across minimal sets. Four acoustic correlates of tone (fundamental frequency or F0, F0 contour, duration, and breathiness) were measured in each target word. Degree of breathiness was measured by subtracting the amplitude of F0 from the amplitude of the second harmonic at the durational midpoint of the vowel. Each of these four acoustic correlates will be examined in the breathy tone and the comparison tones, and a cross-gender comparison of the results will be presented.

Endoscopic examination of the larynx: is breathiness dependent on glottic area?

Background and aims: Applied to voice quality, the term ‘breathiness’ has been used to indicate incomplete glottic closure resulting in transglottic escape.1 It has also been claimed that the degree of breathiness is proportional to glottic area2[2 ESkenazi L., CHilders D. & HIcks D. (1990) ] but, although appealing, this hypothesis has never been adequately tested. This study aimed to assess systematically the relationship between ‘breathiness’ and the dimension of the glottic aperture. Methods: Glottic area was measured by a single observer from the videolaryngoscopy recordings of 42 voice clinic patients, 11 with vocal cord palsy and 31 with functional dysphonia. The measurements were made, using a previously validated laryngeal videoframe-grabber programme, of the point of apparent maximum vocal cord adduction during phonation. An auditory perceptual assessment of breathiness was recorded on a conventional seven-point scale1[1 FRitzell B. & HAmmarberg B. (1986) ] by an independent single experienced voice pathologist, blind to the videolaryngoscopy appearances. Results: Despite the small sample of patients with vocal cord palsy, there was a clear positive association between breathiness and glottic area in this group (Pearson r = 0.647). In contrast, in the larger cohort of patients with functional dysphonia, there was no correlation between phonating glottic area and breathiness voice grade (r = 0.103). Conclusions: The hypothesis that breathy voice quality reflects the phonating glottic aperture has been confirmed in this study in our patients with vocal cord palsy. This is in keeping with the observed improvement in voice quality following vocal cord medialization. In contrast, the observed breathiness in functional dysphonia appears to have a more complex aetiology.

The multidimensional nature of pathologic vocal quality

Although the terms "breathy" and "rough" are frequently applied to pathological voices, widely accepted definitions are not available and the relationship between these qualities is not understood. To investigate these matters, expert listeners judged the dissimilarity of pathological voices with respect to breathiness and roughness. A second group of listeners rated the voices on unidimensional scales for the same qualities. Multidimensional scaling analyses suggested that breathiness and roughness are related, multidimensional constructs. Unidimensional ratings of both breathiness and roughness were necessary to describe patterns of similarity with respect to either quality. Listeners differed in the relative importance given to different aspects of voice quality, particularly when judging roughness. The presence of roughness in a voice did not appear to influence raters' judgments of breathiness; however, judgments of roughness were heavily influenced by the degree of breathiness, the particular nature of the influence varying from listener to listener. Differences in how listeners focus their attention on the different aspects of multidimensional perceptual qualities apparently are a significant source of interrater unreliability (noise) in voice quality ratings.

Intraoral pressure differences in various degrees of breathiness.

Intraoral pressure differences in various degrees of breathiness.