Quantitative and Qualitative Electroglottographic Wave Shape Differences in Children and Adults Using Voice Map-Based Analysis

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

PURPOSE

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.

METHOD

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.

RESULTS

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).

CONCLUSIONS

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.

Update on the pediatric adverse vocal behavior voice disorders: a clinical practice review

The main causes of voice disorders in children with adverse vocal behavior include benign lesions of the vocal folds caused by voice abuse or misuses, such as vocal fold nodules, vocal fold polyps, and laryngitis. Long-term voice disorders can affect the physical and mental health of children. Reviewing the literature of the last two decades on "Vocal Fold Nodules," "Vocal Fold Polyp," "Voice disorder," "Voice Abuse," "Voice Misuse," "Pediatrics," and "Children" with the appropriate Boolean operators.  Conclusion: A total of 315 results were returned on an initial PubMed search. All articles from 2000 to 2022 written in English or Chinese were screened. Duplicate articles, those relating to adults only or concerned with the malignant lesion of the vocal cord, were excluded, resulting in 196 articles of interest. Relevant references and books have also been consulted, and we provide a review of the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of these maladaptive vocal behavioral voice disorders. What is Known: • Hoarseness is the most common voice symptom in children, and there are various causes of hoarseness in children. However, there is a lack of reviews on voice disorders caused by adverse vocal habits in children. • Voice training is a conservative treatment method for children with voice disorders , and it is important to clarify the factors that influence the effectiveness of voice training for children. What is New: • This review of the personality and family characteristics of children with adverse vocal behavioural voice disorders provides a valuable guide to the clinical planning of subsequent treatment. • This article discusses and summarises some of the factors that may influence the effectiveness of voice training in children and collates some of the scales and questionnaires currently used in children that are important in predicting the effectiveness of voice training.

Contribution of laryngeal size to differences between male and female voice production

In this study we investigated the effect of sex- and age-related differences in vocal fold length, thickness, and depth on voice production in a three-dimensional vocal fold model. The results showed that the cause-effect relationships between vocal fold physiology and voice production previously identified in an adult male-like vocal fold geometry remained qualitatively the same in vocal folds with geometry representative of adult females and children. We further showed that the often-observed differences in voice production between adult males, adult females, and children can be explained by differences in length and thickness. The lower F0, higher flow rate, larger vocal fold vibration amplitude, and higher sound pressure level (SPL) in adult males as compared to adult females and children can be explained by differences in vocal fold length. In contrast, the thickness effect dominated and contributed to the larger closed quotient of vocal fold vibration, larger normalized maximum flow declination rate, and lower H1-H2 in adult males as compared to adult females and children. The effect of differences in vocal fold depth was generally small. When targeting a specific SPL, adult males experienced a lower peak vocal fold contact pressure during phonation than adult females and children.