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Background:Recent years have seen the development of voice indices for multi-parametric objective voice evaluation. The current study aims to review these indices and examine their efficiency through the literature.Methods: The study design is a literature review. The five databases of ‘PubMed’, ‘Scopus’, ‘Google Scholar’, ‘Science Direct’, and ‘Web of Science’ were searched using the keywords ‘voice index’, ‘acoustic’, ‘voice assessment’, and ‘acoustic analysis’. Attempts were made to include only the acoustic indices that have been validated and are fairly user-friendly.Results: Five voice indices were found that met the inclusion criteria: Dysphonia Severity Index (DSI), Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI), Cepstral Spectral Index of Dysphonia (CSID), The Acoustic Breathiness Index (ABI), and Acoustic Psychometric Severity Index of Dysphonia (APSID).Conclusions: The results suggest using AVQI, ABI, DSI, and CSID in the evaluation and treatment of voice disorders. Of course, it is recommend to examine the efficacy of these indices in more languages and also developing new indices by considering more aspects of voice.

Objective: To find changes in voice quality, airway invasion during swallowing, pharyngeal residue after swallowing, acoustic and aerodynamic measurements and pulmonary function tests after total parathyroidectomy plus auto-transplantation for secondary hyperparathyroidism. Methods: We recruited 38 patients who underwent successful surgery for secondary hyperparathyroidism in this study. Voice quality was evaluated using voice handicap index (VHI-10), eating assessment tool (EAT-10), voice impairment, and the grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, strain (GRBAS) scale. Acoustic and aerodynamic measurements included fundamental frequency (F0), maximal phonation time, high pitch, jitter, s/z, shimmer and noise-to-harmonic ratio. Vocal cord mobility, vocal cord closure, premature spillage, the penetration–aspiration scale and the Yale pharyngeal residue severity rating scale (PRSRS) after swallowing were examined using fiber-optic endoscopy. Pulmonary function tests included forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in 1 s, bronchodilator test, total lung capacity, diffusion capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide, alveolar volume, and distance and O2 desaturation of the 6 min walking test (6MWT). Results: Four months after successful parathyroidectomy, VHI-10 improved significantly (p

ABSTRACT Purpose To determine the effect of an online Workplace Vocal Health and Low Stress Levels (WVHLS) Promotion Program implemented in a Colombian university during COVID-19 pandemic. Methods This research was a quasi-experimental study. Twenty-nine professors participated in this study within two groups: (1) intervention group (n=17) or (2) non-intervention group (n=12). Participants in the intervention group took part in four virtual sessions about how to improve vocal health and strategies to reduce stress levels during their homeworking and online classes. Teachers filled in a questionnaire including questions about working conditions, work-related stress, and the voice functioning (including the Vocal Fatigue Index-VFI). They also recorded a voice sample of a sustained vowel on two separate occasions (before and after the follow-up). Results At the end of the follow-up, there was a tendency to reduce Factor 1 of VFI in the intervention group. Although, all participants had a longer MPT at the end of the study compared with the baseline measures, males in the intervention group had longer MPT compared with other participants. Conclusion Our results suggest a positive effect of a WVHLS promotion program on reducing vocal fatigue perception measured by means of the Vocal Fatigue Index and improving coordination and control of breathing speech measured MPT. These changes at the end of the follow-up may indicate that holistic programs that include voice care recommendations, breathing exercises, vocal warm-up, cold-down and laryngeal relaxation vocal exercises, and stress management may be beneficial for reducing work-related stress and voice symptoms among professors.

ABSTRACT Purpose: to investigate the practice of Brazilian speech-language-hearing therapists in voice therapy for older adults focused on breathing and verify possible associations between taking specific courses and having knowledge of respiratory parameters, between using incentive spirometers and respiratory devices, and between age and the use of these instruments. Methods: the sample had 156 specialists in voice, contacted via email, who answered a form in Google Forms. Specialists in voice with 3 or more years of experience were included, whereas those who did not fill out the questionnaire completely were excluded. The analysis addressed absolute and relative frequencies and associations with the chi-square test. Significance was set at 5%. Results: most participants took courses on respiratory approach. The use of facilitating sounds, vocal function exercises, and respiratory instruments stood out, with reported vocal improvements. The use of incentive spirometers was associated with respiratory devices, and age was associated with the use of respiratory instruments. Conclusion: speech-language-hearing therapists with expertise in voice provide voice therapy for dysphonic older people focusing on a respiratory approach. Professionals who use incentive spirometers also use respiratory devices. Older therapists are the ones who most use respiratory instruments and taking specific courses was not associated with knowledge on respiratory parameters.

This study considers instances of voice quality settings under a sound-symbolic and synesthetic perspective, focusing on the auditory impressions these settings might have on listeners' attributions of meaning effects and associations between vocal and visual features related to emotional expression. Three perceptual experiments are carried out. The first experiment examined the impressionistic effects of eight voice quality settings characterized by differences in pitch. The second experiment examined the impressionistic effects of seven voice quality settings characterized by productions with the presence or absence of turbulent airflow, irregularity, and tenseness. The third experiment investigated associations between facial expressions of basic emotions and voice quality characteristics. Data are considered in terms of acoustic (fundamental frequency values), articulatory (reduced or expanded length of the vocal tract), perceptual impressions of size (big/small), strength (strong/weak), brightness (dark, clear), and distinctiveness (muffled/distinct), and visual features (facial expressions of the basic emotions sadness, happiness, anger, disgust, fear, and neutrality). The results provide corroborating evidence of existing links between sound and meaning and are discussed in relation to the frequency, production, sirenic biological codes, phonetic metaphors, and the vocal and facial gestures involved in emotional expression.

Anterior commissure (AC) involvement is an unfavorable factor for transoral laser microsurgery (TLM) treatment of early glottic carcinoma (EGC). This study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of TLM treatment for EGC with AC involvement. From 2008 to 2017, 177 patients with T1-T2 EGC with AC involvement were retrospectively included and divided into the TLM group (n=115) receiving CO 2 laser TLM and the control group undergoing open surgery (n=62). The survival outcomes, postoperative complications, laryngeal preservation rate, recurrence and the phonological results were compared between groups. The TLM group had significantly reduced hospital stay, hospitalization costs, and intraoperative blood loss as compared with the control group. The tracheotomy rate was significantly higher in the control group (96.8% vs. 0%). The 5-year overall survival (OS) was 89.6% and 85.5% in the TLM group and control group, respectively. Log-rank test showed no difference in survival rate between the two groups. There was no significant difference in laryngeal preservation rate and overall recurrence rate between groups. In postoperative vocal function evaluation, there were significant differences in the overall grade (G), the roughness (R), the breathiness (B), Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10), Jitter, Shimmer, noise/harmonic ratio (NHR), maximum phonation time (MPT), phonation threshold pressure (PTP) between the two groups. For EGC with AC involvement, TLM has similar survival outcomes with the open surgery, but has better postoperative voice outcomes. Meanwhile, TLM can effectively reduce intraoperative blood loss, hospitalization time, hospitalization costs and postoperative complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many languages use phonation types for phonemic or allophonic distinctions. This study examines the acoustic structure of the phonetic space for vowel phonations across languages. Our sample of eleven languages includes languages with contrastive modal, breathy, creaky, lax, tense, harsh, and/or pharyngealized phonations, and languages with allophonic nonmodal phonation on particular tones. In compiling and analyzing this sample we address related issues such as contrast vs. allophony, phonetic similarity across languages, and understanding complex contrasts of several multidimensional phonetic categories via data reduction. Based on extensive acoustic analysis, all of the languages’ phonations were mapped into a single phonetic space, which exhibits dispersion (languages with more categories use more of the space). The space is largely two-dimensional, with dimensions that can be interpreted phonetically (e.g. dimension 2 is like a traditional breathy-to-creaky continuum) and also can be related back to the acoustic measures that structure them, thus indicating which acoustic measures are most important across languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main issues in early-stage glottic carcinoma management is the voice quality following different types of treatment modalities. In type 3 and 4 transoral laser cordectomies, the voice outcomes can show significant differences due to the extent of the vocal muscle resection. This study aims to compare the voice quality in patients who underwent type 3 and 4 laser cordectomy for early-stage glottic carcinoma. A total of 30 patients who underwent type 3 (15 patients) and type 4 (15 patients) laser cordectomy for T1a glottic carcinoma between May 2018 and 2020 were included in this retrospective comparative study. Electroacoustic voice analysis and Voice Handicap Index-10 were performed in the postoperative twelfth month and the outcomes were compared between two laser cordectomy groups. The mean age of all patients was 48.6 ± 4.2 years. Noise-to-harmonic ratio, jitter, shimmer, pitch perturbation quotient and amplitude perturbation quotient values were significantly different between two groups (p < 0.05). Fundamental frequency and Voice Handicap Index-10 scores showed no statistically significant difference (p > 0.05). This study reports significantly better results for type 3 against type 4 laser cordectomy by means of objective voice analysis outcomes, except fundamental frequency. On the other hand, self-reported subjective analysis showed very similar results for both groups. Further studies combining data with multiple objective and subjective analyses with larger patient series and longer follow-up are warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiparametric indices offer a more comprehensive approach to voice quality assessment by taking into account multiple acoustic parameters. Artificial intelligence technology can be utilized in healthcare to evaluate data and optimize decision-making processes. Mobile devices provide new opportunities for remote speech monitoring, allowing the use of basic mobile devices as screening tools for the early identification and treatment of voice disorders. However, it is necessary to demonstrate equivalence between mobile device signals and gold standard microphone preamplifiers. Despite the increased use and availability of technology, there is still a lack of understanding of the impact of physiological, speech/language, and cultural factors on voice assessment. Challenges to research include accounting for organic speech-related covariables, such as differences in conversing voice sound pressure level (SPL) and fundamental frequency (f0), recognizing the link between sensory and experimental acoustic outcomes, and obtaining a large dataset to understand regular variation between and within voice-disordered individuals. Our study investigated the use of cellphones to estimate the Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI) in a typical clinical setting using a Pareto-optimized approach in the signal processing path. We found that there was a strong correlation between AVQI results obtained from different smartphones and a studio microphone, with no significant differences in mean AVQI scores between different smartphones. The diagnostic accuracy of different smartphones was comparable to that of a professional microphone, with optimal AVQI cut-off values that can effectively distinguish between normal and pathological voice for each smartphone used in the study. All devices met the proposed 0.8 AUC threshold and demonstrated an acceptable Youden index value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: T1a glottic cancer can be treated with transoral laser microsurgery (TLM) or radiation therapy (RT). Dysphonia is the major disadvantage of TLM, and preservation of voice appears to be the best advantage of RT compared to TLM. Studies on voice outcomes of both options gave conflicting results, but there is a tendency toward better voice outcome after TLM compared to the past. Study Design: Nonrandomized retrospective cohort study. Setting: Tertiary referral center. Methods: In total, 172 patients with a cancer lesion involving more than two‐thirds of 1 membranous vocal fold underwent cordectomy type I (n = 56) (C1 group) or type II (n = 59) (C2 group) or RT (n = 57) (RT group). GRBASI (grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, strain, instability), videolaryngostroboscopy, Voice Handicap Index–30, acoustic analysis including F0, jitter, shimmer, noise to harmonic ratio, cepstral peak prominence, and cepstral spectral index of dysphonia using running speech, and aerodynamic analysis were performed before treatment and 6 and 24 months after treatment. Results: Study groups did not differ significantly on pretreatment voice outcomes (P >.05). The RT group had significantly better voice outcomes at 6 months posttreatment compared to the C1 and C2 groups (P <.05). The C1 group had significantly better voice outcomes at 6 months posttreatment compared to the C2 group (P <.05). The C1 group had significantly better voice outcomes at 24 months posttreatment compared to the RT and C2 groups (P <.05). The RT and C2 groups did not differ significantly at 24 months posttreatment (P >.05). Conclusion: Voice outcomes after C2 are equal to RT. C1 has better voice outcomes than RT. C1 and C2 can be the treatment of choice for large T1a glottic cancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vocal fry is a voice quality that occurs in a healthy voice, but it can also be a sign of a voice disorder. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the parameters of voice production, a dedicated psychoacoustic feature, and the perceptual aspects of vocal fry. Two perceptual experiments were carried out to determine whether the fundamental frequency, the open quotient, and the glottal area pulse skewness affect the perception of vocal fry in synthetic vowels. Thirteen listeners participated in the perceptual experiments to assess the following attributes: binary fry (yes/no) and impulsiveness, tonality, and naturalness (7-point Likert scales). The results suggest that the perception of vocal fry is mainly triggered by a low fundamental frequency, but the open quotient also plays a role, with narrower glottal area pulses slightly increasing the probability of perceived fry. Perceived tonality is inversely related to perceived impulsiveness. Internal reference standards of listeners appear to have fixed elements but may also be affected by anchoring and the short-term (i.e., within-vowel) context of the stimuli. In addition, the prominence of the peaks observed in the loudness curve over time appears to be related to graduations of fry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tonal coarticulation occurs when adjacent tones affect the production of each other, and this often induces changes in both F0 and voice quality of the tones. In Mandarin, F0 height of the target tone is affected by adjacent tones through both carryover assimilation and anticipatory dissimilation. In addition, voice quality is found to be largely dependent on F0, such that lower F0 induces creakier quality, regardless of tone. Given this dependency of voice quality on F0, it is unclear how this interaction manifests in the context of coarticulated tones. This study investigates the relationship between F0 and voice quality changes in coarticulated tones in three-tone sequences. Voice quality is assessed both acoustically and articulatorily using electroglottography (EGG). Our study confirms both carryover and anticipatory effects on F0. Changes in voice quality are largely expected from the direction of F0 changes. However, tone-specific exceptions especially in the dipping Tone 3 and falling Tone 4 are present, which we interpret as support for the (potential) independence of voice quality from F0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voice and speech are educational tools and a medium of pedagogy for teachers. Teachers tend to modify their voice and speech to support learning. This study aimed to investigate whether pre-service teachers modify their speech and voice in teaching compared to peer learning speech and whether the changes can promote learning and be beneficial for the speakers. Nine pre-service physics teachers’ voices were recorded in three learning situations and in one teaching session with similar external circumstances. Duration of speech turns, pausing, speech rate, fundamental frequency (F0) and its variation, sound pressure level (SPL) and its range, and voice quality were analyzed. Results showed that the participants had longer speech turns, decreased speech rate, and increased pausing when teaching compared to speech in peer learning situations. F0 and SPL were higher in teaching, indicating that the teaching situation was more stressful than the peer learning situation. For F0, this was confirmed by correlation analysis. From the learning point, increased pausing and slower speech rate may be beneficial, but increased F0 and SPL may, on the other hand, be harmful to future teachers as they can increase the risk of vocal overloading. Voice training for future teachers is strongly recommended.

We investigate utterance-final voice quality in bilinguals of English and Spanish, two languages which differ in the type of non-modal voice usually encountered at ends of utterances: American English often has phrase-final creak, whereas in Mexican Spanish, phrase-final voiced sounds are breathy or even devoiced. Twenty-one bilinguals from the San Diego-Tijuana border region were recorded (with electroglottography and audio) reading passages in English and Spanish. Ends of utterances were coded for their visual voice quality as “modal” (having no aspiration noise or voicing irregularity), “breathy” (having aspiration noise), “creaky” (having voicing irregularity), or “breathy-creaky” (having both aspiration noise and voicing irregularity). In utterance-final position, speakers showed more frequent use of both modal and creaky voice when speaking in English, and more frequent use of breathy and breathy-creaky voice when speaking in Spanish. We find no role of language dominance on the rates of these four voice qualities. The electroglottographic and acoustic analyses show that all voice qualities, even utterance-final creak, are produced with increased glottal spreading; the combination of distinct noise measures and amplitude of voicing can distinguish breathy, creaky, and breathy-creaky voice qualities from one another, and from modal voice.

Utterances containing verbal irony display prosodic particularities that distinguish them from non-ironic speech. While some prosodic features of irony have been identified in Spanish, previous studies have not accounted for different subtypes, nor have they examined this phenomenon in Chilean Spanish despite the unique intonation patterns in this dialect. This study examined the acoustic and prosodic correlates of five subtypes of irony (jocularity, rhetorical questions, understatements, hyperbole, and sarcasm) spontaneously occurring in the casual speech of sociolinguistic interviews with fifteen Chilean women. We segmented 3907 syllable nuclei from 197 spontaneously occurring instances of irony and compared the syllables within the ironic utterances to those in the pre-ironic utterances, along seven acoustic and prosodic variables: pitch range, duration, F0, F1, F2, H1*–H2*, and HNR. The results showed that the speakers favored jocularity and did not produce sarcasm or understatements, and that jocularity, hyperbole, and rhetorical questions significantly differed from the baseline utterances along a variety of acoustic and prosodic measures. We argue that these cues contributed to marking the ironic utterances as salient, allowing these women to talk about difficult real-life events with a touch of humor. Our study provides additional evidence for the connection between prosody and pragmatics in Chilean Spanish and lays the groundwork for further examination of irony and prosody in this and other Spanish dialects.

Introduction. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teaching conditions changed around the world from in-person classes to online classes, which also determined changes on teachers’ working conditions. Method: Exploratory cross-sectional study with the aim of determining the association between two voice symptoms (vocal fatigue and throat pain) with home working conditions during online classes in times of COVID-19 pandemic. Professors answered an online survey including 27 questions about four components: sociodemographic factors, characteristics of home working, quarantine characteristics, and health conditions (including voice functioning). Results: 177 college professors from Argentina, Colombia, and Chile participated in this study. First, incidence of vocal fatigue, during online classes in times of COVID-19 pandemic, represented around 50%. Although throat pain had a smaller incidence, it was also important (35%). Second, days in quarantine, number of classes per week, people living with during quarantine, and history of vocal fatigue before quarantine were important associated factors of vocal fatigue. Third, important associated factors of throat pain were number of classes per week, level of stress, years of experience, and history of throat pain before quarantine. Conclusion: Similar to pre-COVID-19, vocal fatigue and throat pain were frequently reported voice symptoms among college professors. Associated factors of these symptoms included years of experience, number of classes per week, stress, people living with during quarantine due to COVID-19, and history of voice symptoms. Workplace Health Promotion programs should include activities that facilitate a healthy occupational voice use during and post-COVID-19 pandemic, considering the implications of online teaching on teachers’ health and safety.

Objective. To estimate the productivity reduction costs associated to self-reported voice symptoms, low sleep quality, and high stress levels among college professors during homeworking in times of COVID-19 pandemic. Methods. This cross-sectional study included fifty-eight college professors who reported their reduction in productivity at work due to self-perceived stress levels, sleep quality, and voice symptoms. Results. High stress levels were reported by 24% of the participants, whereas 19% reported voice symptoms, and 3% low sleep quality. Costs associated with the three conditions were calculated for twenty-nine subjects. Productivity costs associated with high stress levels were higher (COP$32.345.925) than those for voice symptoms (COP$1.872.703) and low sleep quality (COP$319.733). Conclusion: Productivity reduction costs were higher for professors who reported high levels of stress followed by participants with self-reported voice symptoms and low sleep quality, which highlight the importance of prioritizing activities to reduce stress levels and voice symptoms in workplace health promotion programs implemented in educational settings.

As speech technology is increasingly integrated into modern American society, voice assistants are a more significant part of our everyday lives. According to Apple, Siri fulfills 25 billion requests each month. As part of a software update in April 2021, users in the U.S. were presented with a choice of 4 Siris. While in beta testing, users on Twitter began to comment that they felt that some of the voices had racial identities, noting in particular that Voice 2 and Voice 3 “sounded black.” This study tests whether listeners indeed hear the different Siri voices as sounding like speakers from different groups, as well as examines voice quality features that may trigger these judgments. In order to test evaluations of the four voices, 485 American English listeners heard each Siri voice reading the Rainbow Passage, via online survey conducted on Qualtrics. Following each clip, listeners responded to questions about the speaker's demographic characteristics and personal traits. An LMER model of normalized ratings assessed the interaction of voice and race judgment revealed that indeed, Voice 2 and Voice 3 were significantly more likely to be rated as belonging to a Black speaker than Voices 1 and 4 (p < 0.001). Per-trait logistic regression models and chi-square tests examining ratings revealed Voice 3, the male voice rated as Black, was judged less competent (X2 = 108.99, x < 0.001), less professional (X2 = 90.97, p < 0.001), and funniest (X2 = 123.39, x < 0.001). Following analysis of listener judgments of voices, I conducted post-hoc analysis comparing voice quality (VQ) features to examine which may trigger the listener judgments of race. Using PraatSauce, I employed scripts to extract VQ measures previously hypothesized to pattern differently in African American English vs. Mainstream American English. VQ measures that significantly affected listener ratings of the voices are mean F0 and H1–A3c, which correlate with perceptions of pitch and breathiness. These results reveal listeners attribute human-like demographic and personal characteristics to synthesized voices. A more comprehensive understanding of social judgments of digitized voices may help us to understand how listeners evaluate human voices, with implications for speech perception and discrimination as well as recognition and synthesis.

We compare the roles of overt accent and default focus marking in processing ellipsis structures headed by focus-sensitive coordinators (such as Danielle couldn't pass the quiz, let alone the final/Kayla). In a small auditory corpus study of radio transcripts, we establish that such structures overwhelmingly occur with contrastive pitch accents on the correlate and remnant ( the quiz and the final, or Danielle and Kayla), and that there is a strong bias to pair the remnant with the most local plausible correlate in production. In two auditory naturalness ratings experiments, we observe that marking a non-local correlate with contrastive pitch accent moderates, but does not fully overturn, the bias for local correlates in comprehension. We propose that the locality preference is due to a sentence-final default position for sentence accent, and that auditory processing is subject to "enduring focus," in which default positions for focus continue to influence the focus structure of the sentence even in the presence of overt accents. The importance of these results for models of auditory processing and of the processing of remnants in ellipsis structures is discussed.

Purpose:The purpose of this analysis was to understand how grammatical morpheme production in Spanish for typically developing Spanish-English bilingual children relates to mean length of utterance in words (MLUw) and the extent to which different bilingual profiles influence order of grammatical morpheme acquisition. Method:Participants included 228 Spanish-English bilingual children ages 4;0-7;6 (years;months). Grammatical morpheme accuracy was evaluated using an experimental version of the Bilingual English-Spanish Assessment (Peña, Gutiérrez-Clellen, Iglesias, Goldstein, & Bedore, 2014). MLUw data were calculated from children's narrative samples. Production accuracy of plural nouns, singular and plural definite articles, preterite tense, imperfect aspect, direct object clitics, prepositions, subjunctive, and conjunctions was calculated and analyzed as a function of MLUw in Spanish. Level of accuracy on these forms was compared for Spanish-dominant and English-dominant groups. Results:Accuracy was significantly associated with MLUw. The relative difficulty of Spanish grammatical morphemes is highly similar across different bilingual profiles. Conclusions:There are common elements of Spanish that are easy (imperfect, plural nouns, singular articles, conjunctions), medium (plural articles, preterite), or hard (prepositions, direct object clitics, subjunctive), regardless of whether a child is a Spanish-dominant or English-dominant bilingual.

Little is known about human and machine speaker discrimination ability when utterances are very short and the speaking style is variable. This study compares text-independent speaker discrimination ability of humans and machines based on utterances shorter than 2 s in two different speaking styles (read sentences and speech directed towards pets, characterized by exaggerated prosody). Recordings of 50 female speakers drawn from the UCLA Speaker Variability Database were used as stimuli. Performance of 65 human listeners was compared to i-vector-based automatic speaker verification systems using mel-frequency cepstral coefficients, voice quality features, which were inspired by a psychoacoustic model of voice perception, or their combination by score-level fusion. Humans always outperformed machines, except in the case of style-mismatched pairs from perceptually-marked speakers. Speaker representations by humans and machines were compared using multi-dimensional scaling (MDS). Canonical correlation analysis showed a weak correlation between machine and human MDS spaces. Multiple regression showed that means of voice quality features could represent the most important human MDS dimension well, but not the dimensions from machines. These results suggest that speaker representations by humans and machines are different, and machine performance might be improved by better understanding how different acoustic features relate to perceived speaker identity.

Objectives/hypothesisIn 1974, Minoru Hirano proposed his theory of voice production that is now known as the cover-body theory. He described the thyroarytenoid (TA) and cricothyroid (CT) muscles as the major determinants of vocal fold shape and stiffness, and theorized four typical laryngeal configurations resulting from unique TA/CT activations, with implications for the resulting voice quality. In this study, we directly observed the vocal fold medial surface shape under Hirano's unique TA/CT activation conditions to obtain a three-dimensional (3D) understanding of these laryngeal configurations during muscle activation.Study designIn vivo canine hemilarynx model.MethodsFlesh points were marked along the medial surface of the vocal fold. Selective TA and CT activation were performed via respective laryngeal nerves. 3D reconstructions of the vocal fold medial surface were derived using digital image correlation.ResultsLow level TA and CT activation yielded anteroposterior lengthening and vertical thinning of the vocal fold. When TA activation is far greater than CT, the vocal fold shortens and thickens. With slightly greater TA than CT, activation the vocal length is maintained on average, whereas its vertical thickness decreases. With CT far greater than TA activation, the vocal fold lengthens and thins. In all conditions, glottal contour changes remained minimal.ConclusionsAnalysis of the 3D geometry of the vocal fold medial surface under Hirano's four typical laryngeal configurations revealed that the key geometric changes during TA/CT interactions lie within the anteroposterior length and the vertical thickness of the vocal fold.Level of evidenceNA. Laryngoscope, 128:1412-1418, 2018.

This prospective randomized study aimed to investigate whether patients with dysphagia after treatment for head and neck cancer improve their vocal function from doing head lift exercises (Shaker's exercise). Patients were randomized into an intervention group (n = 24) or a control group (n = 26). Patients in the intervention group performed the head lift exercise three times a day for 8 weeks. At baseline and at follow-up after 8 weeks, participants' voices were evaluated perceptually with the Grade-Roughness-Breathiness-Asthenia-Strain (GRBAS) scale. Vocal fry (VF) was also perceptually evaluated and patients filled in the Voice Handicap Index (VHI). Patients in the intervention group were perceptually evaluated as having less roughness and vocal fry in their voices at follow-up compared to the control group. There were no statistically significant changes between baseline and follow-up neither in the intervention nor the control group regarding GRBAS, VF, or VHI. Neither were there any statistically significant differences within the groups when results on the perceptual evaluations at baseline and follow-up were compared. The voices of the participants in the intervention group were slightly better than the voices of the participants in the control group with less roughness and VF at follow-up. However, no improvement in the VHI or the remaining GRBAS variables was found. Therefore, this study can only give cautious support to the head lift exercise as a method for improving the voice of patients with dysphagia after treatment for head and neck cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Menopause is a certainty in a female singer's life; depletion of estrogens may lead to physical, mental, and vocal symptoms. To investigate the extent to which these symptoms affect singers, a systematic literature review was carried out using eight interdisciplinary bibliographic databases. Combinations of the following key words were used: menopause, climacterium, singing, singers, and choir. From 18 studies, including three doctoral dissertations and a master's thesis, only 10 met the inclusion criteria. The heterogeneity of study designs and methods of data collection and analysis precluded the carrying out of a meta-analysis. Instead, descriptors of symptoms affecting the voice, and vocal characteristics associated with menopause (menopause descriptors) were categorized, and their frequency of occurrence determined, according to six types of primary dataset: (1) self-reported symptoms, (2) acoustic characteristics, (3) observations of the larynx, (4) perceptual evaluations, (5) analysis of electrolaryngographic waveform characteristics, and (6) analysis of hormone concentrations. The descriptors that occurred most frequently in the literature concerned aspects of voice production, whereas those concerning vocal health, and vocal practice and performance, were less common. Of the three subsystems that comprise the vocal instrument, the vibrating vocal folds seem to be more affected than breathing and resonance. Changes in vocal range, timbre, endurance, and vocal fold mobility occur during menopause, affecting singers' voice quality. Some singers reported that their ability to perform was compromised, mainly due to memory lapses and lack of confidence. Maintaining regular singing and practicing semi-occluded vocal tract exercises throughout the menopausal transition seem to help singers to overcome the negative impacts of menopause on vocal performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To establish multi-parameter speech assessment by using the objective acoustic parameters, roughness breathiness hoarseness (RBH) perceptual evaluation system and the voice handicap index (VHI) self-assessment scale, and to explore the role of laryngopharyngeal reflux in the occurrence and development of vocal cord diseases. Methods One hundred and eighty patients with voice disorders and 25 normal voice recruiters were evaluated by computer voice acoustic analysis system, RBH perceptual evaluation system and VHI self-assessment scale. The features of laryngopharyngeal reflux were analyzed by reflux symptom index (RSI) and reflux finding score (RFS). Results The VHI and dyhphonia severity index (DSI) of the disease groups were all higher than those of the control group. The difference in shimmer of each disease group and malignant group had statistical significance (P<0.05). There was a trend of correlation between H and jitter, shimmer, DSI, maximum phonation time (MPT) and VHI (P<0.05), but a weak correlation between H and average fundamental frequency (F0). There was statistical difference in laryngopharyngeal reflux rate between the control group and patients with voice diseases, but there was no statistical difference between patients with different voice diseases. Conclusions Multi-parameter voice assessment should be established to comprehensively assess patients’ voice status and guide treatment decisions. The occurrence and development of voice disease may be related to laryngopharyngeal reflux disease, but the disease progression seems to have no close relationship with laryngopharyngeal reflux disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The evolution of science and technology has undergone a considerable expansion in recent years with the advent of the internet, numerous digital platforms have emerged among them, the media / social networks, which in the course of its development gave the possibility to present to the job market a new professional, the digital influencer. The digital influencer is an individual who influences the actions and attitudes of consumers regarding their decisions, through social networks. With the growth of this profession, the voice has become the main working tool of these professionals, as they use it to record their videos, advertise brands and talk about their daily routines on social networks. However, little is known about risk factors and vocal symptoms in these professionals. Objective: To identify and describe risk factors for voice and self-reported vocal symptoms by digital influencers Methods: This is a quantitative, cross-sectional and observational study that was carried out with digital influencers in three distinct stages, namely the application of the investigation questionnaire of risk factors for voice in digital influencers, the application of the Vocal Symptoms Scale protocol, and vocal guidance through the vocal care recommendations manual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Investigación e Innovación en Ciencias de la Salud (RIICS) is the property of Fundacion Universitaria Maria Cano and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Lijecnicki Vjesnik is the property of Croatian Medical Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Theater actors are a subgroup of professional voice users who may present their performances at a high-pressure vocal demand, like loud talking, shouting, or even stage singing. Disturbances in auditory-perceptual or acoustic parameters of voice are commonly experienced by theater actors and are known as a frequent occupational hazard for them. Objectives: This study aimed to examine the relationship between auditory-perceptual and acoustic parameters of the voice in Iranian theater actors. Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 45 Iranian theater actors, including 22 females and 23 males, with a meanage of 30.76 ± 7 years. The auditory-perceptual evaluation was performed using the Persian version of the Consensus Auditory- Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (CAPE-V). Acoustic characteristics, including mean fundamental frequency (F0), local shimmer, local jitter, and harmonic-to-noise ratio (HNR), were extracted from the subjects' "speech sample." Correlation analyses were performed to examine the relationship between the measures of auditory-perceptual and acoustic voice characteristics. Results: The overall auditory-perceptual severity was negatively correlated with mean F0 (r = -0.592, P < 0.05) and HNR (r = - 0.324, P < 0.05). Roughness was also negatively correlated with voice mean F0 (r = -0.629, P < 0.05) and HNR (r = -0.322, P < 0.05) and positively correlated with voice local jitter (r = 0.310, P < 0.05). We also found that pitch was negatively correlated with voice mean F0 (r = -0.309, P < 0.05) and positively correlated with voice local jitter (r = 0.292, P = 0.050). Conclusions: Acoustic measures, including F0, HNR, and jitter, correlate with auditory perceptual parameters of the voice quality in Iranian theater actors. These findings highlight the significance of acoustic parameters in assessing voice quality in professional voice users such as theater actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our study was motivated to investigate reasons why the Spanish localisation of the video game Iron Man 2 (Sega 2010) attracted extensive criticism. Scholars and gamers alike labelled it "abysmal" (Mejías-Climent 2021b, 134) and among the worst dubbing in Spanish of all time in the video game history. This article provides a descriptive and empirical analysis of the Spanish dubbing of the cinematic scenes of the game. We have focused our analysis, firstly, on the synchrony of the 50 cinematic scenes following Mejías-Climent's (2021b) levels of restriction and types of dubbing synchronies, and, secondly, on the voice actors' performance (acting, pronunciation and diction) and voice quality (character coherence) for the most relevant game characters by applying the methodology for voice quality analysis, drawing on Bosseaux (2015, 2018) and Rodríguez Fernández-Peña (2020). The results show that there has been a chain of oversights in the dubbing process, involving dubbing directors, voice actors and testers, which likely contributed to the negative reviews of the localised version in Spanish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of College of Languages is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Social information such as a talker's ethnicity, gender, and age are found to affect accent perception and attitudes. While existing research primarily focuses on English-dominant communities, this study aims to fill the gap by examining the impacts of ethnic bias and face on three Cantonese accents in Hong Kong. Nine groups of 20 Hong Kong Cantonese listeners were exposed to three Cantonese accents (i.e., Hong Kong local Cantonese, Mandarin-accented, and English-accented Cantonese) in three conditions of visual cues (i.e., a silhouette, a South Asian face and a White face). For accent identification, seeing a South Asian face in a mismatch condition led to more errors compared to seeing a White face in the same condition. For intelligibility, an enhancement of intelligibility was found when the face and accent were misaligned (e.g., an English accent matched with a South Asian face), supporting the general adaptation mechanism instead of the expectation mechanism. We argue that listeners might perceive South Asian and White faces as the same broad social category "foreigners/outgroup members," resulting in a similar enhancement effect in the aligned and misaligned conditions. A dual-activation mechanism is proposed to account for the complementary effect of phonological and visual cues on accent perception., (© 2025 Acoustical Society of America.)

Previous research has shown that it is difficult for English speakers to distinguish the front rounded vowels /y/ and /ø/ from the back rounded vowels /u/ and /o/. In this study, we examine the effect of noise on this perceptual difficulty. In an Oddity Discrimination Task, English speakers without any knowledge of German were asked to discriminate between German-sounding pseudowords varying in the vowel both in quiet and in white noise at two signal-to-noise ratios (8 and 0 dB). In test trials, vowels of the same height were contrasted with each other, whereas a contrast with /a/ served as a control trial. Results revealed that a contrast with /a/ remained stable in every listening condition for both high and mid vowels. When contrasting vowels of the same height, however, there was a perceptual shift along the F2 dimension as the noise level increased. Although the /ø/-/o/ and particularly /y/-/u/ contrasts were the most difficult in quiet, accuracy on /i/-/y/ and /e/-/ø/ trials decreased immensely when the speech signal was masked. The German control group showed the same pattern, albeit less severe than the non-native group, suggesting that even in low-level tasks with pseudowords, there is a native advantage in speech perception in noise.

In Modern Hebrew, only three segmental markers are typically acknowledged as ethnically conditioned, and usage of these markers has significantly decreased in second and third generation speakers. Yet the sociolinguistic situation of diverging language backgrounds of first generation speakers, compounded with ethnic segregation in housing and the workforce, seems like a fertile ground for social identification from speech. We report two studies on prosodic variation in Modern Hebrew: a perception study and a "matched-pairs" corpus study. The results of the first illustrate that even in the absence of the known segmental markers, ethnicity perception of young native speakers may still diverge between two major ethnic identities, Mizrahi (Middle Eastern) and Ashkenazi (European). The main acoustic correlate was rhythm , measured as the proportional duration of vowels in the utterance. In the second study, actors' speech rhythm was found to be modulated by their portrayed ethnic identity in the same direction, suggesting that this variable is socially salient-and for some speakers, controllable-enough to be involved in style shifting. This study joins a growing body of work illustrating that relatively mild rhythmic variation can contribute to social identification, and in the current case, also for ethnicity portrayal.

With forensic recordings being collected in multiple languages increasingly often, this study investigates the language dependency of the voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ in speakers of native (L1) Dutch and non-native (L2) English. Due to phonetic similarity between the languages, Dutch learners of English may exhibit language-independent /s/ acoustics, making it an interesting feature for multilingual forensic speaker comparisons (FSCs). However, the findings show that out of the four spectral moments, center of gravity, standard deviation ( SD ), skewness, and kurtosis, only SD remained stable across the languages; the other measurements were language-dependent. The results were largely independent of the /s/ tokens' contexts, although an interaction between language and context was found for skewness and kurtosis: With a labial right phonetic neighbor, language dependency was largely reduced. The findings have implications for FSCs: as /s/ is language-dependent in speakers of L1 Dutch and L2 English, it shows limited potential for cross-linguistic speaker comparisons in forensic casework.

The relationship between speaking rate and speech motor variability was examined in three groups of neurotypical adults, n = 40; 15 young adults (18-30 years), 13 adults (31-40 years), and 12 middle-aged adults (41-50 years). Participants completed a connected speech task at three speaking rates (habitual, fast, and slow) where kinematic (lower lip movement) and acoustic data were obtained. Duration and variability were measured at each speaking rate. Findings revealed a complex relationship between speaking rate and variability. Adults from the middle age range (31-40 years) demonstrated shorter acoustic and kinematic durations compared with the oldest age group (41-50 years) during the habitual speaking rate condition. All adults demonstrated the greatest variability in the slow speaking rate condition, with no significant differences in variability between habitual and fast speaking rates. Interestingly, lip aperture variability was significantly lower in the youngest age group (18-30 years) compared with the two older groups during the fast speaking rate condition. Differences in measures of acoustic variability were not observed across the age levels. Strong negative correlations between kinematic/acoustic duration and lip aperture/acoustic variability in the youngest age group were revealed. Therefore, while a slow speaking rate does result in greater variability compared with habitual and fast speaking rates, longer durations of productions by the different age groups were not linked to higher spatiotemporal index (STI) values, suggesting that timing influences speech motor variability, but is not the sole contributor.

Research on fluency in native (L1) and non-native (L2) speech production and perception helps us understand how individual L1 speaking style might affect perceived L2 fluency and how this relationship might be reflected in L1 versus L2 oral assessment. While the relationship between production and perception of fluency in spontaneous speech has been studied, the information provided by reading has been overlooked. We argue that reading provides a direct and controlled way to assess language proficiency that might complement information gained from spontaneous speaking. This work analyzes the relationship between speech fluency production and perception in passages of L1 (Slovak) and L2 (English) read by 57 undergraduate Slovak students of English and rated for fluency by 15 English teachers who are Slovak natives. We compare acoustic production measures between L1 and L2 and analyze how their effect on perceived fluency differs for the two languages. Our main finding is that the articulation rate, the overall number of pauses, and the number of between-clause and mid-clause pauses predict ratings differently in L1 Slovak versus L2 English. The speech rate and durations of pauses predict ratings similarly in both languages. The contribution of our results to understanding fluency aspects of spontaneous and read speech, the relationship between L1 and L2, the relationship between production and perception, and to the teaching of L2 English are discussed.

Objectives: Although breathy vocal quality and hearing loss are both prevalent age-related changes, their combined impact on speech communication is poorly understood. This study investigated whether breathy vocal quality affected speech perception and listening effort by older listeners. Furthermore, the study examined how this effect was modulated by the adverse listening environment of background noise and the listener's level of hearing loss., Design: Nineteen older adults participated in the study. Their hearing ranged from near-normal to mild-moderate sensorineural hearing loss. Participants heard speech material of low-context sentences, with stimuli resynthesized to simulate original, mild-moderately breathy, and severely breathy conditions. Speech intelligibility was measured using a speech recognition in noise paradigm, with pupillometry data collected simultaneously to measure listening effort., Results: Simulated severely breathy vocal quality was found to reduce intelligibility and increase listening effort. Breathiness and background noise level independently modulated listening effort. The impact of hearing loss was not observed in this dataset, which can be due to the use of individualized signal to noise ratios and a small sample size., Conclusion: Results from this study demonstrate the challenges of listening to speech with a breathy vocal quality. Theoretically, the findings highlight the importance of periodicity cues in speech perception in noise by older listeners. Breathy voice could be challenging to separate from the noise when the noise also lacks periodicity. Clinically, it suggests the need to address both listener- and talker-related factors in speech communication by older adults., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

The study aimed to examine whether L1 speech rhythm affects L2 speech by assessing how the speech rhythm of Japanese L2 English speakers differed from native speakers. We chose Japanese and English because they differ markedly in the phonological properties that likely contribute to speech rhythm. Speech rhythm was measured by the variability of vowel and consonant intervals using rate-normalized rhythm metrics (VarcoV and VarcoC; nPVI-V and nPVI-C) and %V. The study utilized recordings of spoken sentences in English by 10 native Australian English speakers; and in English and also in Japanese by 10 native Japanese speakers (who had limited experience in speaking English). Experiment 1 compared the rhythm of L1 English (by measuring 1,750 vowels and 3,093 consonants from 20 sentences) and L1 Japanese (1,923 vowels and 2,097 consonants from 10 sentences). The results showed that for all measures, Japanese had reduced durational variability in both consonant and vowel intervals compared with English. In Experiment 2, we examined the rhythm characteristics of L1 and L2 English using 40 sentences (including the 20 in Experiment 1). The results showed that vowel and consonant intervals were less variable in L2 (Japanese English) than in L1 (Australian English) speech, mirroring the results of Experiment 1. Overall, the results are consistent with the proposal that L1 (Japanese) speech rhythm influenced L2 (English) speech.

Recurrent laryngeal nerve injuries can occur during thyroid and neck procedures or similar interventions. Immediate nerve repair when possible is preferred to both faciliate the repair and allow timely recovery of the muscle. Here, we report a case of transected left recurrent laryngeal nerve repaired by allograft nerve interposition with excellent return of speaking and singing voice with vocal cord function. Laryngoscope, 135:1086-1089, 2025., (© 2024 The Author(s). The Laryngoscope published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.)

Fundamental frequency (F0) has been widely studied and used in the context of speaker discrimination and forensic voice comparison casework, but most previous studies focused on long-term F0 statistics. Lexical tone, the linguistically structured and dynamic aspects of F0, has received much less research attention. A main methodological issue lies on how tonal F0 should be parameterized for the best speaker discrimination performance. This paper compares the speaker discriminatory performance of three approaches with lexical tone modeling: discrete cosine transform (DCT), polynomial curve fitting, and quantitative target approximation (qTA). Results show that using parameters based on DCT and polynomials led to similarly promising performance, whereas those based on qTA generally yielded relatively poor performance. Implications modeling surface tonal F0 and the underlying articulatory processes for speaker discrimination are discussed.

Objective: Age-related vocal atrophy (ARVA) negatively impacts voice and quality of life (QOL). This study aims to determine utility-based QOL in ARVA patients, correlate findings with traditional patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), and generate utility-based inferences., Methods: Forty ARVA patients were prospectively recruited from a tertiary care center. Health utility was measured using standard gamble, time trade-off, and visual analog scale, assessing participants' current health states relative to defined comparison states (blindness/death). Traditional PROMs (Voice Handicap Index-10 [VHI-10] and Voice-Related Quality of Life Scale [V-RQOL]) were also collected. Descriptive and paired statistics were performed to determine health utility, and Pearson correlation assessed the association between PROMs and health utilities., Results: Mean health utility in ARVA was 0.84 ± 0.22, 0.88 ± 0.17, and 0.62 ± 0.25 using standard gamble, time trade-off, and visual analog scale, respectively. There were positive correlations between V-RQOL and time trade-off (r = 0.66; p < 0.0001) as well as with standard gamble (r = 0.47; p = 0.002). Participants with ARVA reported no difference in health utility impact between their voice impairment and monocular blindness (Mean dif 10.9; 95% CI -1.6, 23.5; p = 0.101). Patients with ARVA were willing to part with an average 4.6 ± 6.1 years of life to restore normal voice., Conclusions: ARVA patients view their voice impairment as a significant health decrement, comparable to monocular blindness. These findings underscore the substantial impact of ARVA on QOL and highlight the need for continued research and new therapies., Level of Evidence: 4 Laryngoscope, 135:1143-1147, 2025., (© 2024 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.)