Sustained Vowel Research Articles

Effect of Face Masks on Voice Quality Associated with Young and Older Chinese Adult Speakers

ObjectivesFace masks have become important after the pandemic, but the change in voice when wearing a face mask is still unclear. The study investigated the effect of face masks on the acoustic and perceptual characteristics of voice quality associated with young and older Chinese adults. MethodsVoice samples of the sustained vowel /a/ and continuous speech produced by 44 older and 61 young adults with and without an ASTM level-3 surgical face mask were recorded and analyzed. Perceptual and acoustic parameters including mean fundamental frequency (F0) and intensity, perturbation measures (jitter and shimmer), harmonic-to-noise ratio (HNR), smoothed cepstral peak prominence (CPPs), and long-term average spectrum (LTAS) measures were obtained and compared. ResultsWhen comparing masked to unmasked voices, for both male and female speakers, F0 and intensity showed no significant changes, except for F0 of continuous speech, which increased significantly. Meanwhile, perturbation measures including jitter and shimmer were reduced, HNR and CPPs were increased, and LTAS measures encompass low frequency mean spectral energy (MSE), high frequency MSE, and spectral tilt (ST) were different. For perceptual measures, the overall grade of dysphonia, and roughness were reduced, except for the breathiness among older male speakers, while the other vocal qualities were not changed. Between young and older speakers, significant differences in shimmer, CPPs, and perceived breathiness among male speakers, and low frequency MSE among female speakers were found. ConclusionWearing a surgical mask appeared to change the perceived voice quality. This is supported by the change in perturbation and LTAS measures, and HNR and CPPs values. In addition, some differences between young and older male adults were observed. Communication effectiveness may be affected when wearing surgical masks due to changes in voice quality. Additionally, clinicians need to exercise caution in evaluating the voice quality of clients when wearing face masks.

An exploratory characterization of speech- and fine-motor coordination in verbal children with Autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder often associated with difficulties in speech production and fine-motor tasks. Thus, there is a need to develop objective measures to assess and understand speech production and other fine-motor challenges in individuals with ASD. In addition, recent research suggests that difficulties with speech production and fine-motor tasks may contribute to language difficulties in ASD. In this paper, we explore the utility of an off-body recording platform, from which we administer a speech- and fine-motor protocol to verbal children with ASD and neurotypical controls. We utilize a correlation-based analysis technique to develop proxy measures of motor coordination from signals derived from recordings of speech- and fine-motor behaviors. Eigenvalues of the resulting correlation matrix are inputs to Gaussian Mixture Models to discriminate between highly-verbal children with ASD and neurotypical controls. These eigenvalues also characterize the complexity (underlying dimensionality) of representative signals of speech- and fine-motor movement dynamics, and form the feature basis to estimate scores on an expressive vocabulary measure. Based on a pilot dataset (15 ASD and 15 controls), features derived from an oral story reading task are used in discriminating between the two groups with AUCs > 0.80, and highlight lower complexity of coordination in children with ASD. Features derived from handwriting and maze tracing tasks led to AUCs of 0.86 and 0.91, however features derived from ocular tasks did not aid in discrimination between the ASD and neurotypical groups. In addition, features derived from free speech and sustained vowel tasks are strongly correlated with expressive vocabulary scores. These results indicate the promise of a correlation-based analysis in elucidating motor differences between individuals with ASD and neurotypical controls.

Effects of Speech Characteristics on Electroglottographic and Instrumental Acoustic Voice Analysis Metrics in Women With Structural Dysphonia Before and After Treatment.

Literature suggests a dependency of the acoustic metrics, smoothed cepstral peak prominence (CPPS) and harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR), on human voice loudness and fundamental frequency (F0). Even though this has been explained with different oscillatory patterns of the vocal folds, so far, it has not been specifically investigated. In the present work, the influence of three elicitation levels, calibrated sound pressure level (SPL), F0 and vowel on the electroglottographic (EGG) and time-differentiated EGG (dEGG) metrics hybrid open quotient (OQ), dEGG OQ and peak dEGG, as well as on the acoustic metrics CPPS and HNR, was examined, and their suitability for voice assessment was evaluated. In a retrospective study, 29 women with a mean age of 25 years (± 8.9, range: 18-53) diagnosed with structural vocal fold pathologies were examined before and after voice therapy or phonosurgery. Both acoustic and EGG signals were recorded simultaneously during the phonation of the sustained vowels /ɑ/, /i/, and /u/ at three elicited levels of loudness (soft/comfortable/loud) and unconstrained F0 conditions. A linear mixed-model analysis showed a significant effect of elicitation effort levels on peak dEGG, HNR, and CPPS (all p < .01). Calibrated SPL significantly influenced HNR and CPPS (both p < .01). Furthermore, F0 had a significant effect on peak dEGG and CPPS (p < .0001). All metrics showed significant changes with regard to vowel (all p < .05). However, the treatment had no effect on the examined metrics, regardless of the treatment type (surgery vs. voice therapy). The value of the investigated metrics for voice assessment purposes when sampled without sufficient control of SPL and F0 is limited, in that they are significantly influenced by the phonatory context, be it speech or elicited sustained vowels. Future studies should explore the diagnostic value of new data collation approaches such as voice mapping, which take SPL and F0 effects into account.

Do Acoustic Characteristics of Dysarthria in People With Parkinson's Disease Differ Across Languages?

Cross-language studies suggest more similarities than differences in how dysarthria affects the speech of people with Parkinson's disease (PwPD) who speak different languages. In this study, we aimed to identify the relative contribution of acoustic variables to distinguish PwPD from controls who spoke varieties of two Romance languages, French and Portuguese. This bi-national, cross-sectional, and case-controlled study included 129 PwPD and 124 healthy controls who spoke French or Portuguese. All participants underwent the same clinical examinations, voice/speech recordings, and self-assessment questionnaires. PwPD were evaluated off and on optimal medication. Inferential analyses included Disease (controls vs. PwPD) and Language (French vs. Portuguese) as factors, and random decision forest algorithms identified relevant acoustic variables able to distinguish participants: (a) by language (French vs. Portuguese) and (b) by clinical status (PwPD on and off medication vs. controls). French-speaking and Portuguese-speaking individuals were distinguished from each other with over 90% accuracy by five acoustic variables (the mean fundamental frequency and the shimmer of the sustained vowel /a/ production, the oral diadochokinesis performance index, the relative sound level pressure and the relative sound pressure level standard deviation of the text reading). A distinct set of parameters discriminated between controls and PwPD: for men, maximum phonation time and the oral diadochokinesis speech proportion were the most significant variables; for women, variables calculated from the oral diadochokinesis were the most discriminative. Acoustic variables related to phonation and voice quality distinguished between speakers of the two languages. Variables related to pneumophonic coordination and articulation rate were the more effective in distinguishing PwPD from controls. Thus, our research findings support that respiration and diadochokinesis tasks appear to be the most appropriate to pinpoint signs of dysarthria, which are largely homogeneous and language-universal. In contrast, identifying language-specific variables with the speech tasks and acoustic variables studied was less conclusive.

"Lombard Effect" and Voice Changes in Adductor Laryngeal Dystonia: A Pilot Study.

The aim was to describe the acoustic, auditory-perceptive, and subjective voice changes under the Lombard effect (LE) in adductor laryngeal dystonia (AdLD) patients. Subjective perception of vocal effort (OMNI Vocal Effort Scale OMNI-VES), Maximum Phonation Time (MPT), and the perceptual severity of dysphonia (GRBAS scale) were assessed in condition of stillness and under LE in 10 AdLD patients and in 10 patients with typical voice. Speakers were asked to produce the sustained vowel /a/ and to read a phonetically balanced text aloud. Using the PRAAT software, the following acoustic parameters were analyzed: Mean Pitch (Hz), Minimum and Maximum Intensity (dB), the Fraction of Locally Unvoiced Frames, the Number of Voice Breaks, the Degree of Voice Breaks (%), the Cepstral Peak Prominence-Smoothed (CPPS) (dB). Under LE, the AdLD group showed a decrease of both G and S parameters of GRBAS and subjective effort, mean MPT increased significantly; in the controls there were no significant changes. In both groups under LE, pitch and intensity of the sustained vowel /a/ significantly increased consistently with LE. In the AdLD group the mean gain of OMNI-VES score and the mean gain of each parameter of the speech analysis were significantly greater than the controls' ones. Auditory feedback deprivation obtained under LE improves subjective, perceptual-auditory, and acoustics parameters of AdLD patients. These findings encourage further research to provide new knowledge into the role of the auditory system in the pathogenesis of AdLD and to develop new therapeutic strategies. 4 Laryngoscope, 134:3754-3760, 2024.

Using sustained vowels to identify patients with mild Parkinson's disease in a Chinese dataset.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease and affects millions of people. Accurate diagnosis and subsequent treatment in the early stages can slow down disease progression. However, making an accurate diagnosis of PD at an early stage is challenging. Previous studies have revealed that even for movement disorder specialists, it was difficult to differentiate patients with PD from healthy individuals until the average modified Hoehn-Yahr staging (mH&Y) reached 1.8. Recent researches have shown that dysarthria provides good indicators for computer-assisted diagnosis of patients with PD. However, few studies have focused on diagnosing patients with PD in the early stages, specifically those with mH&Y ≤ 1.5. We used a machine learning algorithm to analyze voice features and developed diagnostic models for differentiating between healthy controls (HCs) and patients with PD, and for differentiating between HCs and patients with mild PD (mH&Y ≤ 1.5). The models were independently validated using separate datasets. Our results demonstrate that, a remarkable diagnostic performance of the model in identifying patients with mild PD (mH&Y ≤ 1.5) and HCs, with area under the ROC curve 0.93 (95% CI: 0.851.00), accuracy 0.85, sensitivity 0.95, and specificity 0.75. The results of our study are helpful for screening PD in the early stages in the community and primary medical institutions where there is a lack of movement disorder specialists and special equipment.

Accuracy and Cut-Off Values of Cepstral Measures in the Clinical Evaluation of Brazilian Portuguese Speakers

OBJECTIVETo identify the accuracy and cut-off values of the Cepstral Peak Prominence (CPP) and Cepstral Peak Prominence-Smoothed (CPPS) obtained from different speech tasks, to identify dysphonic voices in Brazilian Portuguese speakers, and to verify the correlation between these measures and the overall severity of dysphonia (OS). METHODIn a study with 376 subjects—277 with dysphonia and 99 controls—we recorded four speech tasks and assessed OS with a visual analog scale (VAS). We extracted CPP and CPPS from these recordings and analyzed them using receive operating characteristic (ROC) curves to determine cut-off values and other performance metrics (area under curve, accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and likelihood ratios). RESULTSCPP values below 28.15 dB (sustained vowel [Ɛ]), 28.77 dB (sustained vowel [a]), 28.58 dB (all CAPE-V sentences), and CPPS values below 16.42 dB (sustained vowel [Ɛ]), 17.02 dB (sustained vowel [a]), and 11.30 dB (all CAPE-V sentences) are indicative of the presence of dysphonia. CPPVE, CPPVA, CPPCAPE-V, CPPVS, CPPSVE, CPPSVA, CPPSCount, CPPSCAPE-V e CPPSVS, and CPPSVS can explain the variability of OS from 19% to 57.9%. CONCLUSIONThe cut-off values for CPPVE, CPPVA, CPPCAPE-V, CPPSVE, CPPSCAPE-V, and CPPSVA obtained from Praat software can be used as a reference for the clinical voice assessment of Brazilian Portuguese speakers in the respective speech tasks. Analysis of the correlation coefficients of the cepstral measures investigated provided us with a predictive model of OS perception based on each measure/speech task.

Long-term Acoustic Effects of Gender-Affirming Voice Training in Transgender Women

ObjectivesOne role of a speech-language pathologist (SLP) is to help transgender clients in developing a healthy, gender-congruent communication. Transgender women frequently approach SLPs to train their voices to sound more feminine, however, long-term acoustic effects of the training needs to be rigorously examined in effectiveness studies. The aim of this study was to investigate the long-term effects (follow-up 1: 3 months and follow-up 2: 1 year after last session) of gender-affirming voice training for transgender women, in terms of acoustic parameters. Study designThis study was a randomized sham-controlled trial with a cross-over design. Methods26 transgender women were included for follow-up 1 and 18 for follow-up 2. All participants received 14 weeks of gender-affirming voice training (4 weeks sham training, 10 weeks of voice feminization training: 5 weeks pitch elevation training (PET) and 5 weeks articulation-resonance training (ART)), but in a different order. Speech samples were recorded with Praat at 4 different time points (pre, post, follow-up 1, follow-up 2). Acoustic analysis included fo of sustained vowel /a:/, reading and spontaneous speech. Formant frequencies (F1-F2-F3) of vowels /a/, /i/ and /u/ were determined and vowel space was calculated. A linear mixed model was used to compare the acoustic voice measurements between measurements (pre – post, pre – follow-up 1, pre – follow-up 2, post – follow-up 1, post – follow-up 2, follow-up 1 – follow-up 2). ResultsMost of the fo measurements and formant frequencies that increased immediately after the intervention, were stable at both follow-up measurements. The median fo during the sustained vowel, reading and spontaneous speech stayed increased at both follow-ups compared to the pre measurement. However, a decrease of 16 Hz/1.7 ST (reading) and 12 Hz/1.5 ST (spontaneous speech) was detected between the post measurement (169 Hz for reading, 144 Hz for spontaneous speech) and one year after the last session (153 Hz and 132 Hz respectively). The lower limit of fo did not change during reading and spontaneous speech, both directly after the intervention and during both follow-ups. F1-2 of vowel /a/ and the vowel space increased after the intervention and both follow-ups. Individual analyses showed that more aspects should be controlled after the intervention, such as exercises that were performed at home, or the duration of extra gender-affirming voice training sessions. ConclusionsAfter ten sessions of voice feminization training and follow-up measurements after three months and one year, stable increases were found for some formant frequencies and fo measurements, but not all of them. More time should be spent on increasing the fifth percentile of fo, as the lower limit of fo also contributes to the perception of more feminine voice.

French-Language Adaptation of the Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (CAPE-V)

ObjectivesThis study aimed to adapt the Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (CAPE-V) protocol for perceptual voice assessment to the French language. The primary objective was to achieve consensus among an international panel of voice experts on the content of the adapted protocol. MethodsTo ensure the relevance and robustness of the French CAPE-V protocol, this study employed a systematic Delphi method and involved an international panel primarily comprising speech therapists and lecturers from France and Belgium. The multi-stage process included an initial panel size of 15 experts. Three rounds of online questionnaires, integrating both quantitative and qualitative data collection, were conducted. Participants provided feedback and ratings on various protocol elements until consensus was reached. Adaptations targeted the choice of task stimuli (sustained vowel, sentence reading, semi-spontaneous speech), of the rating scales, and vocal quality terminology. ResultsThe Delphi process achieved consensus on all elements of the adapted CAPE-V protocol. Notably, the sustained vowel task saw consensus in favor of the vowel /a/. Sentence adaptations achieved substantial agreement, with the final set unanimously approved. The simple Visual Analog Scale (VAS) emerged as the preferred rating scale. Agreement on terms for describing vocal qualities marked a crucial step in establishing a shared vocabulary among French-speaking voice experts. ConclusionsThe study successfully adapted the CAPE-V protocol for perceptual voice assessment to the French language through a systematic Delphi process. The final protocol closely resembles the original English version, maintaining its structure and core objectives. Consensus on sustained vowel tasks, sentence adaptations, rating scales, and vocal quality terminology indicates the relevance and robustness of the adapted protocol. Ongoing validation studies in France demonstrate the potential clinical utility of the adapted CAPE-V in French-speaking contexts, representing a significant step toward standardized and validated voice assessment tools for clinicians and researchers globally.

Language-Independent Acoustic Biomarkers for Quantifying Speech Impairment in Huntington's Disease.

Changes in voice and speech are characteristic symptoms of Huntington's disease (HD). Objective methods for quantifying speech impairment that can be used across languages could facilitate assessment of disease progression and intervention strategies. The aim of this study was to analyze acoustic features to identify language-independent features that could be used to quantify speech dysfunction in English-, Spanish-, and Polish-speaking participants with HD. Ninety participants with HD and 83 control participants performed sustained vowel, syllable repetition, and reading passage tasks recorded with previously validated methods using mobile devices. Language-independent features that differed between HD and controls were identified. Principal component analysis (PCA) and unsupervised clustering were applied to the language-independent features of the HD data set to identify subgroups within the HD data. Forty-six language-independent acoustic features that were significantly different between control participants and participants with HD were identified. Following dimensionality reduction using PCA, four speech clusters were identified in the HD data set. Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS) total motor score, total functional capacity, and composite UHDRS were significantly different for pairwise comparisons of subgroups. The percentage of HD participants with higher dysarthria score and disease stage also increased across clusters. The results support the application of acoustic features to objectively quantify speech impairment and disease severity in HD in multilanguage studies. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25447171.

Leveraging Deep Learning for Fine-Grained Categorization of Parkinson's Disease Progression Levels through Analysis of Vocal Acoustic Patterns.

Speech impairments often emerge as one of the primary indicators of Parkinson's disease (PD), albeit not readily apparent in its early stages. While previous studies focused predominantly on binary PD detection, this research explored the use of deep learning models to automatically classify sustained vowel recordings into healthy controls, mild PD, or severe PD based on motor symptom severity scores. Popular convolutional neural network (CNN) architectures, VGG and ResNet, as well as vision transformers, Swin, were fine-tuned on log mel spectrogram image representations of the segmented voice data. Furthermore, the research investigated the effects of audio segment lengths and specific vowel sounds on the performance of these models. The findings indicated that implementing longer segments yielded better performance. The models showed strong capability in distinguishing PD from healthy subjects, achieving over 95% precision. However, reliably discriminating between mild and severe PD cases remained challenging. The VGG16 achieved the best overall classification performance with 91.8% accuracy and the largest area under the ROC curve. Furthermore, focusing analysis on the vowel /u/ could further improve accuracy to 96%. Applying visualization techniques like Grad-CAM also highlighted how CNN models focused on localized spectrogram regions while transformers attended to more widespread patterns. Overall, this work showed the potential of deep learning for non-invasive screening and monitoring of PD progression from voice recordings, but larger multi-class labeled datasets are needed to further improve severity classification.

Perceptual-Auditory and Acoustic Analysis of Breathiness in Cis and Transgender Men and Women

ObjectiveTo verify breathiness in the cisgender and transgender men and women’s voices, compare values of acoustic and perceptual indicators of breathiness and fundamental frequency (f0) between groups, and compare them between the voices attributed as female and male. Study designCross sectional retrospective study. MethodsThe study as approved by the Research Ethics Committee (4,937,140). Sustained vowel /a/ and continuous speech recordings of 21 cisgender men (CISM), 31 transgender men (TM), 32 cisgender women (CISW) and 31 transgender women (TW) were analyzed. Three judges conducted a perceptive-auditory analysis regarding the degree breathiness, using visual analogue scale, and attributed gender (female or male). The ABI (Acoustic Breathiness Index) was extracted using the PRAAT software (6.1.16). The f0, Harmonic-Noise Ratio (HNR), Voice Turbulence Index (VTI) and Soft Phonation Index (SPI) were analyzed using the Multi-Dimensional Voice Program (KayPentax). ResultsThe ABI value for CISM was lower than for TM and CISW. CISW had the higher f0 than; TM had a higher f0 than CISM; and TW had a higher f0 than CISM. The groups did not differ for HNR and VTI. Regarding the SPI, CISM had higher values than CISW. Regarding the auditory perception, TM presented more intense breathiness than CISM in the vowel. Regarding gender attribution by voice, the voices CISM and CISW were 100% identified as male and female. On the other hand, in the vowel analysis, 45.2% of the TM voices were perceived as female and 59.4% of TW voices as male. ConclusionBreathiness occurs differently between groups and the voices perceived as male and female. Even when TM are submitted to the use of testosterone and undergo vocal changes, the transglottal airflow remains, which is a female characteristic of phonation.

The influence of listener experience, measurement scale and speech task on the reliability of auditory-perceptual evaluation of vocal quality.

To assess the influence of the listener experience, measurement scales and the type of speech task on the auditory-perceptual evaluation of the overall severity (OS) of voice deviation and the predominant type of voice (rough, breathy or strain). 22 listeners, divided into four groups participated in the study: speech-language pathologist specialized in voice (SLP-V), SLP non specialized in voice (SLP-NV), graduate students with auditory-perceptual analysis training (GS-T), and graduate students without auditory-perceptual analysis training (GS-U). The subjects rated the OS of voice deviation and the predominant type of voice of 44 voices by visual analog scale (VAS) and the numerical scale (score "G" from GRBAS), corresponding to six speech tasks such as sustained vowel /a/ and /ɛ/, sentences, number counting, running speech, and all five previous tasks together. Sentences obtained the best interrater reliability in each group, using both VAS and GRBAS. SLP-NV group demonstrated the best interrater reliability in OS judgment in different speech tasks using VAS or GRBAS. Sustained vowel (/a/ and /ɛ/) and running speech obtained the best interrater reliability among the groups of listeners in judging the predominant vocal quality. GS-T group got the best result of interrater reliability in judging the predominant vocal quality. The time of experience in the auditory-perceptual judgment of the voice, the type of training to which they were submitted, and the type of speech task influence the reliability of the auditory-perceptual evaluation of vocal quality.

Impact of Tonsillectomy and Associated Factors on Voice

AbstractTonsillectomy is commonly performed to treat repetitive tonsillitis. Tonsillectomy changes the shape and characteristics of the pharynx. It could also alter the resonating characteristics of the pharynx and affect the voice of the patient. We examined voice changes in patients undergoing tonsillectomy. A total of 33 adult patients who underwent tonsillectomy at our institution between July 2020 and December 2021 were included in the study. The participants consisted of 16 men and 17 women, with a mean ± standard deviation age of 33.7 ± 10.7 years. We measured the maximum phonation time, acoustic analysis values (jitter%, shimmer%, and noise-to-harmonic ratio [NHR]), speaking fundamental frequency and vocal range, first four formants (F1–F4) in the sustained vowel /a/, and Voice Handicap Index (VHI). We examined whether any changes occurring 3 months after the surgery compared with the findings before the surgery. The shimmer% and NHR decreased significantly after surgery compared with the observations prior to surgery. Among women, the speaking fundamental frequency tended to increase, and the F2 significantly increased after the surgery compared with that prior to surgery. Removal of the swollen tonsils reduced the resistance of the supraglottic space and resulted in a lower laryngeal adduction force required for phonation. The decreases in the shimmer% and NHR were attributed to a reduction in the turbulence in the supraglottic space. The change in the shape of the pharynx caused changes in the speaking fundamental frequency and formants. The changes were thought to be influenced by the size of the patient's pharyngeal cavity, volume of the tonsils, and scarring of the pharyngeal mucosa. Patients should be informed before surgery of the possibility of voice changes.

Cepstral Peak Prominence Smoothed - CPPS and Acoustic Voice Quality Index - AVQI in healthy and altered children's voices: comparation, relationship with auditory-perceptual judgment and cut-off points.

To compare the acoustic measurements of Cepstral Peak Prominence Smoothed (CPPS) and Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI) of children with normal and altered voices, to relationship with auditory-perceptual judgment (APJ) and to establish cut-off points. Vocal recordings of the sustained vowel and number counting tasks of 185 children were selected from a database and submitted to acoustic analysis with extraction of CPPS and AVQI measurements, and to APJ. The APJ was performed individually for each task, classified as normal or altered, and for the tasks together defining whether the child would pass or fail in a situation of vocal screening. Children with altered APJ and who failed the screening had lower CPPS values and higher AVQI values, than those with normal APJ and who passed the screening. The APJ of the sustained vowel task was related to CPPS and AVQI, and APJ of the number counting task was related only to AVQI and CPPS numbers. The cut-off points that differentiate children with and without vocal deviation are 14.07 for the vowel CPPS, 7.62 for the CPPS numbers and 2.01 for the AVQI. Children with altered voices, have higher AVQI values and lower CPPS values, when detected in children with voices within the normal range. The acoustic measurements were related to the auditory perceptual judgment of vocal quality in the sustained vowel task, however, the number counting task was related only to the AVQI and CPPS. The cut-off points that differentiate children with and without vocal deviation are 14.07 for the CPPS vowel, 7.62 for the CPPS numbers and 2.01 for the AVQI. The three measures were similar in identifying voices without deviation and dysphonic voices.

Machine learning based estimation of hoarseness severity using sustained vowelsa).

Auditory perceptual evaluation is considered the gold standard for assessing voice quality, but its reliability is limited due to inter-rater variability and coarse rating scales. This study investigates a continuous, objective approach to evaluate hoarseness severity combining machine learning (ML) and sustained phonation. For this purpose, 635 acoustic recordings of the sustained vowel /a/ and subjective ratings based on the roughness, breathiness, and hoarseness scale were collected from 595 subjects. A total of 50 temporal, spectral, and cepstral features were extracted from each recording and used to identify suitable ML algorithms. Using variance and correlation analysis followed by backward elimination, a subset of relevant features was selected. Recordings were classified into two levels of hoarseness, H<2 and H≥2, yielding a continuous probability score ŷ∈[0,1]. An accuracy of 0.867 and a correlation of 0.805 between the model's predictions and subjective ratings was obtained using only five acoustic features and logistic regression (LR). Further examination of recordings pre- and post-treatment revealed high qualitative agreement with the change in subjectively determined hoarseness levels. Quantitatively, a moderate correlation of 0.567 was obtained. This quantitative approach to hoarseness severity estimation shows promising results and potential for improving the assessment of voice quality.

Acoustic COVID-19 Detection Using Multiple Instance Learning.

In the COVID-19 pandemic, a rigorous testing scheme was crucial. However, tests can be time-consuming and expensive. A machine learning-based diagnostic tool for audio recordings could enable widespread testing at low costs. In order to achieve comparability between such algorithms, the DiCOVA challenge was created. It is based on the Coswara dataset offering the recording categories cough, speech, breath and vowel phonation. Recording durations vary greatly, ranging from one second to over a minute. A base model is pre-trained on random, short time intervals. Subsequently, a Multiple Instance Learning (MIL) model based on self-attention is incorporated to make collective predictions for multiple time segments within each audio recording, taking advantage of longer durations. In order to compete in the fusion category of the DiCOVA challenge, we utilize a linear regression approach among other fusion methods to combine predictions from the most successful models associated with each sound modality. The application of the MIL approach significantly improves generalizability, leading to an AUC ROC score of 86.6% in the fusion category. By incorporating previously unused data, including the sound modality 'sustained vowel phonation' and patient metadata, we were able to significantly improve our previous results reaching a score of 92.2%.

Efeito imediato de exercício inspiratório com exercitador e incentivador respiratório em mulheres sem queixas vocais

ABSTRACT Purpose To evaluate the immediate effect of the inspiratory exercise with a booster and a respiratory exerciser on the voice of women without vocal complaints. Methods 25 women with no vocal complaints, between 18 and 34 years old, with a score of 1 on the Vocal Disorder Screening Index (ITDV) participated. Data collection was performed before and after performing the inspiratory exercise and consisted of recording the sustained vowel /a/, connected speech and maximum phonatory times (MPT) of vowels, fricative phonemes and counting numbers. In the auditory-perceptual judgment, the Vocal Deviation Scale (VSD) was used to verify the general degree of vocal deviation. Acoustic evaluation was performed using the PRAAT software and the parameters fundamental frequency (f0), jitter, shimmer, harmonium-to-noise ratio (HNR), Cepstral Peak Prominence Smoothed (CPPS), Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI) and Acoustic Breathiness Index (ABI). To measure the aerodynamic measurements, the time of each emission was extracted in the Audacity program. Data were statistically analyzed using the Statistica for Windows software and normality was tested using the Shapiro-Wilk test. To compare the results, Student's and Wilcoxon's t tests were applied, adopting a significance level of 5%. Results There were no significant differences between the results of the JPA and the acoustic measures, in the pre and post inspiratory exercise moments. As for the aerodynamic measures, it was possible to observe a significant increase in the value of the TMF /s/ (p=0.008). Conclusion There was no change in vocal quality after the inspiratory exercise with stimulator and respiratory exerciser, but an increase in the MPT of the phoneme /s/ was observed after the exercise.

Immediate effect of inspiratory exercise with exerciser and respiratory encourager in women without vocal complaints.

To evaluate the immediate effect of the inspiratory exercise with a booster and a respiratory exerciser on the voice of women without vocal complaints. 25 women with no vocal complaints, between 18 and 34 years old, with a score of 1 on the Vocal Disorder Screening Index (ITDV) participated. Data collection was performed before and after performing the inspiratory exercise and consisted of recording the sustained vowel /a/, connected speech and maximum phonatory times (MPT) of vowels, fricative phonemes and counting numbers. In the auditory-perceptual judgment, the Vocal Deviation Scale (VSD) was used to verify the general degree of vocal deviation. Acoustic evaluation was performed using the PRAAT software and the parameters fundamental frequency (f0), jitter, shimmer, harmonium-to-noise ratio (HNR), Cepstral Peak Prominence Smoothed (CPPS), Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI) and Acoustic Breathiness Index (ABI). To measure the aerodynamic measurements, the time of each emission was extracted in the Audacity program. Data were statistically analyzed using the Statistica for Windows software and normality was tested using the Shapiro-Wilk test. To compare the results, Student's and Wilcoxon's t tests were applied, adopting a significance level of 5%. There were no significant differences between the results of the JPA and the acoustic measures, in the pre and post inspiratory exercise moments. As for the aerodynamic measures, it was possible to observe a significant increase in the value of the TMF /s/ (p=0.008). There was no change in vocal quality after the inspiratory exercise with stimulator and respiratory exerciser, but an increase in the MPT of the phoneme /s/ was observed after the exercise.

Characterization of Source-Filter Interactions in Vocal Vibrato Using a Neck-Surface Vibration Sensor: A Pilot Study.

Vocal vibrato is a singing technique that involves periodic modulation of fundamental frequency (fo) and intensity. The physiological sources of modulation within the speech mechanism and the interactions between the laryngeal source and vocal tract filter in vibrato are not fully understood. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine if differences in the rate and extent of fo and intensity modulation could be captured using simultaneously recorded signals from a neck-surface vibration sensor and a microphone, which represent features of the source before and after supraglottal vocal tract filtering. Nine classically-trained singers produced sustained vowels with vibrato while simultaneous signals were recorded using a vibration sensor and a microphone. Acoustical analyses were performed to measure the rate and extent of fo and intensity modulation for each trial. Paired-samples sign tests were used to analyze differences between the rate and extent of fo and intensity modulation in the vibration sensor and microphone signals. The rate and extent of fo modulation and the extent of intensity modulation were equivalent in the vibration sensor and microphone signals, but the rate of intensity modulation was significantly higher in the microphone signal than in the vibration sensor signal. Larger differences in the rate of intensity modulation were seen with vowels that typically have smaller differences between the first and second formant frequencies. This study demonstrated that the rate of intensity modulation at the source prior to supraglottal vocal tract filtering, as measured in neck-surface vibration sensor signals, was lower than the rate of intensity modulation after supraglottal vocal tract filtering, as measured in microphone signals. The difference in rate varied based on the vowel. These findings provide further support of the resonance-harmonics interaction in vocal vibrato. Further investigation is warranted to determine if differences in the physiological source(s) of vibrato account for inconsistent relationships between the extent of intensity modulation in neck-surface vibration sensor and microphone signals.