Occurrence of Auditory Impairments in Individuals With Dysphonia: A Scoping Review.

Aim: To investigate the occurrence of auditory impairments in individuals with dysphonia and to describe the results of behavioral and electrophysiological audiological assessments in this population.

Study Design: A scoping review.

Method: A scoping review following the guidelines of the Joanna Briggs Institute Manual for Evidence Synthesis for Scoping Reviews and PRISMA-ScR.

Integrated Vocal Deviation Index (IVDI): A Machine Learning Model to Classifier of the General Grade of Vocal Deviation.

Objective: To develop a multiparametric index based on machine learning (ML) to predict and classify the overall degree of vocal deviation (GG).

Method: The sample consisted of 300 dysphonic and non-dysphonic participants of both sexes. Two speech tasks were sustained vowel [a] and connected speech (counting numbers from 1 to 10).

Can acoustic measurements predict gender perception in the voice?

Purpose: To determine if there is an association between vocal gender presentation and the gender and context of the listener.

Method: Quantitative and transversal study. 47 speakers of Brazilian Portuguese of different genders were recorded.

Effectiveness of Temporal Auditory Skills Training Associated With Conventional Auditory Training in the Auditory-Perceptual Judgment of Voice: Preliminary Data.

Objective: To verify whether there are differences in the performance and reliability of speech-language-hearing students between the moments of auditory-perceptual judgment (APJ) of voice before and after temporal auditory skills training and conventional auditory-perceptual training (APT).

Methods: Both trainings were applied to 30 speech-language pathology students, with the following stages: 1-Initial APJ of the general grade (GG), breathiness (GB), and roughness (GR) with 30 samples of the sustained vowel [Ɛ], plus 20% of repetitions (six samples), analyzed with a visual analog scale; 2-Temporal auditory skills training on the online platform Afinando o Cérebro, with a total duration of 4 hours; 3-APJ of GG, GR, and GB after training in Afinando o Cérebro; 4-APT in the classroom with a total duration of 6 hours; 5-APJ of GG, GR, and GB after APT.

Results: There was a significant difference in the students' performance in the APJ of GG after the training.

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

Objective: To 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).

Method: In a study with 376 subjects-277 with dysphonia and 99 controls-we recorded four speech tasks and assessed OS with a visual analog scale. We extracted CPP and CPPS from these recordings and analyzed them using receiver operating characteristic curves to determine cut-off values and other performance metrics (area under curve, accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and likelihood ratios).

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

Purpose: 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).

Methods: 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.

Phonatory Tasks and Outcome Measures for Assessing Vocal Fatigue: A Scoping Review.

Objectives: To map the phonatory tasks and the result measures used to evaluate vocal fatigue in vocally healthy individuals.

Methods: This is a scoping review based on the following research question: What are the phonatory tasks and outcome measures used for the evaluation of vocal fatigue in vocally healthy individuals? The construction of the search strategy followed the PCC strategy; population: vocally healthy adult individuals; concept: phonatory tasks and vocal evaluation measures; and context: vocal fatigue. The search was performed electronically in the databases Medline (PubMed), LILACS (BVS), SCOPUS (Elsevier), Web of Science (Clarivate), EMBASE, and COCHRANE.

Volitional and Non-volitional Devices Used in Voice Therapy and Training: A Scoping Review-Part A.

Objective: To map the volitional and non-volitional devices used by speech and language pathologists (SLPs) in voice training and therapy and characterize their use in research on voice interventions.

Methods: This scoping review is the first part of a larger study. The electronic search was carried out by mapping the references in PubMed/Medline, LILACS/BVS, Scopus, Web of Science, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library, and the manual search was carried out in the grey literature.

Voice and Communication Training Program Improves Performance of University Students in Oral Presentations.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of a voice and communication training program for oral presentations on higher education students.

Methods: The proposed training program was based on the areas of social skills, voice projection techniques, and neurolinguistic programming. Thirty-eight students participated in the training with active learning methodologies at the university.

Spectral and cepstral measurements in women with behavioral dysphonia.

Purpose: To investigate whether there are differences in cepstral and spectral acoustic measures between women with behavioral dysphonia with and without laryngeal lesions and verify whether there is a correlation between such measures and the auditory-perceptual evaluation of voice quality.

Methods: The sample comprised 78 women with behavioral dysphonia without laryngeal lesions (BDWOL) and 68 with behavioral dysphonia with laryngeal lesions (vocal nodules) (BDWL). Cepstral peak prominence (CPP), cepstral peak prominence-smoothed (CPPS), spectral decrease, and H1-H2 (difference between the amplitude of the first and second harmonics) were extracted.

What Factors Determine the Use of Volitional and Non-Volitional Devices in Vocal Interventions Performed by Brazilian Speech-Language Pathologists?

Objective: To analyze the determining factors for using devices in vocal interventions and characterize their use by Brazilian speech-language pathologists (SLPs).

Methods: This cross-sectional observational study had a sample of 148 SLPs with clinical practice in voice. They answered an online questionnaire via Google Forms about sociodemographic data, training, work in the area, and the use of devices in vocal interventions.

VoxMore: technological artifact to assist voice acoustic evaluation in the teaching-learning process and clinical practice.

Purpose: to present a technological artifact, the VoxMore plugin, to assist the academic teaching of voice acoustic assessment, as well as to optimize the speech therapy intervention in the practice of vocal clinics.

Methods: this is a multidisciplinary methodological study for the development of a technological artifact, a plugin, to be used in the Praat software. This tool performs vocal acoustic analysis and generates a report, with information and images referring to the domains of time, frequency, time-frequency, and que-frequency, as well as values of acoustic measures related to fundamental frequency (f0), period measures, disturbance measures of the period of f0, f0 amplitude perturbation measurements, spectral measurements, glottal noise measurements and cepstral measurements.

Spectrographic Voice Analysis Protocol (SAP): Convergent, Concurrent, and Accuracy Validity.

Objective: To verify the convergent and concurrent validity of the Spectrographic Voice Analysis Protocol (SAP) and its accuracy to discriminate dysphonic from nondysphonic patients.

Method: The study used 82 vowel /Ɛ/ samples and their respective narrowband spectrograms, analyzed with SAP. Cepstral peak prominence (CPP) and cepstral peak prominence smoothed (CPPS) verified the convergent validity of the SAP total score, while the general grade of vocal deviation (GG) verified the concurrent validity of the SAP total score.

Proposal of requirements for the development of a training simulator for the auditory-perceptual judgment of voice.

Purpose: to identify a set of requirements for the development of an auditory-perceptual training simulator (APT) based on the experience of professors who provide APT.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive study with a quantitative approach. Twenty-two professors answered an online questionnaire containing 31 items related to APT, involving items about the professional profile, conditions for APT in undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Speech Therapy, APT structure, and evaluation of the APT effect.

Opinion of speech-language pathologist on the use of photobiomodulation in the vocal clinic.

Purpose: to investigate the opinion of Brazilian speech-language pathologists on the training, performance, and parameters used for the application of photobiomodulation (PBM) in the vocal clinic.

Methods: observational, cross-sectional, and quantitative study, carried out through a web survey hosted on the Google Forms digital platform, composed of questions related to training, professional performance, and knowledge about PBM in the voice area. Twenty-nine speech-language pathologists of both sexes participated.

Performance of the phonatory deviation diagram in monitoring voice quality before and after voice exercise in individuals with Parkinson's Disease.

Purpose: To assess the performance of the phonatory deviation diagram and its measurements in monitoring voice quality before and after voice exercise in individuals with Parkinson's Disease.

Methods: Retrospective and documentary study. A sample of 30 subjects was used, 50% male, with a mean age of 62.

Translation into Brazilian Portuguese and transcultural adaptation of the Apraxia of Speech Rating Scale 3.5.

Purpose: To present the translation into Brazilian Portuguese and cross-cultural adaptation of the Apraxia of Speech Rating Scale (ASRS) version 3.5.

Methods: Validation study restricted to translation and cross-cultural adaptation.

Predictive Factors of Listeners' Attitudes Related to Dysphonic Voices in Native Brazilian Portuguese.

Objectives: To verify whether there are differences in the judgments of listeners' attitudes as a function of the presence, severity, and type of vocal deviation, and to identify the predictive factors of listeners' attitudes toward dysphonic voices in Brazilian Portuguese speakers.

Methods: A sample of CAPE-V sentences was used from 44 subjects of both genders. The samples presented different severities of vocal deviation (general grade - GG) (healthy, mild, moderate, and severe) and different degrees of roughness (GR), breathiness (GB), and strain (GS), characterized by a perceptual-auditory judgment performed by speech therapists.

Different Performances of Machine Learning Models to Classify Dysphonic and Non-Dysphonic Voices.

Objective: To analyze the performance of 10 different machine learning (ML) classifiers for discrimination between dysphonic and non-dysphonic voices, using a variance threshold as a method for the selection and reduction of acoustic measurements used in the classifier.

Method: We analyzed 435 samples of individuals (337 female and 98 male), with a mean age of 41.07 ± 13.

Performance of Acoustic Measures for the Discrimination Among Healthy, Rough, Breathy, and Strained Voices Using the Feedforward Neural Network.

Objective: To identify and evaluate the best set of acoustic measures to discriminate among healthy, rough, breathy, and strained voices.

Methods: This study used the vocal samples of the sustained /ε/ vowel from 251 patients with the vocal complaints, among which 51, 80, 63, and 57 patients exhibited healthy, rough, breathy, and strained voices, respectively. Twenty-two acoustic measures were extracted, and feature selection was applied to reduce the number of combinations of acoustic measures and obtain an optimal subset of measures according to the information gain attribute ranking algorithm.

Immediate effect of different exercises in the vocal space of women with and without vocal nodules.

Purpose: To investigate the immediate effect of voiced tongue vibration (VSL), high-resistance straw in the air (CAR), and overarticulation (OA) on the vocal space of vocally healthy women (MVS) and with vocal nodules (MNV).

Methods: 12 women participated in the MNV and 12 women in the MVS, allocated to perform the vocal exercises of VSL, CAR, and OA. Each participant performed only one of the three proposed exercises, for 5 minutes, preceded and followed by recording a sequence of vehicle sentences for extracting formants (F1 and F2) from the vowel segments [a, i, u].

Effectiveness of the Therapy Program for Management of Chronic Cough: Preliminary Data From a Randomized Clinical Trial.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the effectiveness of the Therapy Program for Management of Chronic Cough (TMCC) in laryngeal sensations and symptoms related to the cough in individuals with chronic refractory cough (CRC).

Method: This research is a randomized double-blind clinical trial (Register Number: RBR-4m6x29). Eleven participants were allocated to two groups by parallel randomization: The Experimental Group-consisting of six individuals who underwent the TMCC; and the Control Group-consisting of five individuals who underwent the Comprehensive Vocal Rehabilitation Program (CVRP).

Relationship Between Oropharyngeal Geometry and Vocal Parameters in Subjects With Parkinson's Disease.

Objective: To verify whether the dimensions of different segments of the oropharyngeal cavity have different proportions between Parkinson's disease patients and vocally healthy subjects and investigate whether the measurements of these subjects' oropharyngeal geometry associate with their acoustic measurements of voice.

Method: Quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional, and retrospective study with secondary data, approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee under no. 4.