Effect of Combined Respiratory Muscle Training (cRMT) on Dysphonia following Single CVA: A Retrospective Pilot Study.

Background: Although dysphonia is less prevalent than dysphagia following cerebrovascular accidents, dysphonia does contribute to the burden of disease resulting from stroke. Strengthening muscles of the larynx and respiratory tract through respiratory muscle training (RMT) has proven effective in improving voice after neurological insult. However, approaches to strengthen only the expiratory muscle groups (EMST) dominate the clinical study literature, with variable outcomes.

Acoustic and Perceptual Classification of Within-sample Normal, Intermittently Dysphonic, and Consistently Dysphonic Voice Types.

Objectives: Intermittent dysphonia within an utterance is common, but presents difficulty for both perceptual and objective voice evaluation. This study examined the ability of measures from the within-sample cepstral peak prominence (CPP) distribution to differentiate normal voices from intermittently and consistently dysphonic voices.

Study Design: Exploratory design.

Can listeners hear how many singers are singing? The effect of listener's experience, vibrato, onset, and formant frequency on the perception of number of simultaneous singers.

Objective/hypothesis: This study investigated whether listener's experience, presence/absence of vibrato, formant frequency difference, or onset delay affect the ability of experienced and inexperienced listeners to segregate complex vocal stimuli.

Study Design: Repeated measures factorial design.

Methods: Two sets of stimuli were constructed: one with no vibrato and another with vibrato.

The effect of voice amplification on occupational vocal dose in elementary school teachers.

Two elementary school teachers, one with and one without a history of vocal complaints, wore a vocal dosimeter all day at school for a 3-week period. In the second week, each teacher wore a portable voice amplifier. Each teacher showed a reduction in vocal intensity during the week of amplification, with a larger effect for the teacher with vocal difficulties.

The effect of resonance tubes on glottal contact quotient with and without task instruction: a comparison of trained and untrained voices.

Phonation into narrow tubes or straws has been used as a voice training and voice therapy technique and belongs to a group of techniques known as semi-occluded vocal tract exercises. The use of what are called resonance tubes has received renewed attention in the voice research literature, in both theoretical and empirical studies. The assumption is that the partially occluded and lengthened vocal tract alters supraglottal acoustics in such a way as to allow phonation near a lowered first vocal tract formant, which has been suggested as a way to bring about a more efficient glottal closure pattern for sustained oscillation.

The effect of an artificially lengthened vocal tract on estimated glottal contact quotient in untrained male voices.

The use of hard-walled narrow tubes, often called resonance tubes, for the purpose of voice therapy and voice training has a historical precedent and some theoretical support, but the mechanism of any potential benefit from the application of this technique is not well understood. Fifteen vocally untrained male participants produced a series of spoken /a/ vowels at a modal pitch and constant loudness, before and after a minute of repeated phonation into a 50-cm hard-walled glass tube at the same pitch and loudness targets. Electroglottography was used to measure the glottal contact quotient (CQ) during each phase of the experiment.

The effect of a voiced lip trill on estimated glottal closed quotient.

The use of lip trills has been advocated for both vocal habilitation and rehabilitation. A voiced lip trill requires continuous vibration of the lips while simultaneously maintaining phonation. The mechanism of any effects of a lip trill on vocal fold vibration is still unknown.