Collinearity and Sample Coverage Issues in the Objective Measurement of Vocal Quality: The Case of Roughness and Breathiness.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to address the reported inconsistencies in the relationship between objective acoustic measures and perceptual ratings of vocal quality.

Method: This tutorial moves away from the more widely examined problems related to obtaining the perceptual ratings and the acoustic measures and centers in less scrutinized issues regarding the procedure to establish the correspondence. Expressions for the most common measure of association between perceptual and acoustic measures (Pearson's r) are derived using a multiple linear regression model.

The impact of phonation mode and vocal technique on vocal fold closure in young females with normal voice quality.

Objective: Because voice quality depends substantially on vocal fold closure (VFC), voice therapists try to modify VFC by specific voice techniques or adjustments in phonation mode. This study demonstrates the impact of six different phonation modes on VFC in healthy subjects.

Methods: For this study, 21 female subjects with normal voice quality were selected.

Awareness and reactions of young stuttering children aged 2-7 years old towards their speech disfluency.

Unlabelled: Awareness has been an important factor in theories of onset and development of stuttering. So far it has been suggested that even young children might be aware of their speech difficulty. The purpose of the present study was to investigate (a) the number of stuttering children aware of their speech difficulty, (b) the description of reported behavioural expression of awareness, (c) the relationship with age-related variables and with stuttering severity.

Characteristics of stuttering in Dutch-speaking individuals.

Clinical diagnostic procedures to distinguish stuttering from non-stuttering individuals partially rely on the observation of characteristics of stuttered words or syllables. The purpose of this study was to examine the sensitivity and specificity of such a procedure, and to describe the observed characteristics of stuttered words. Methods involved the recording of the frequency, duration, and physical tension of stuttered words in conversational speech samples (total 43, 100 words) and in an oral reading task (total 43, 100 words).

Characteristics of stuttering-like disfluencies in Dutch-speaking children.

Unlabelled: The purpose of this study was to compare the characteristics of stuttering-like disfluencies in a group of native Dutch-speaking children who stutter (n=693), with a group of normally fluent children (n=79). Methods involved the observation of stuttering-like disfluencies in participants' conversational speech samples (total 77,200 words), particularly the frequency, duration and physical tension of instances of stuttering. Findings indicate that stuttering-like disfluencies exhibited by children who stutter are significantly more frequent, longer in duration and involve more physical tension when compared to those of normally fluent children.

Outcome of vocal hygiene in singers.

Purpose Of Review: In this article, we illustrate the evolution of studies that contribute to a better understanding of vocal care for professional voice users and singers in particular.

Recent Findings: Research on vocal hygiene is specific, focusing on concrete solutions. It has commonly been believed that hydration and vocal rest are beneficial; recent research proves this supposition.

Analysis and evaluation of a voice-training program in future professional voice users.

The goal of this study is to analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of a voice-training program. Twenty-three professional voice users received voice training for 2 years and vocal hygiene education for 1 year. The voice-training program consisted of lectures, technical workshops, and vocal coaching.

A comparative study of acoustic voice measurements by means of Dr. Speech and Computerized Speech Lab.

In this study, the calculations and results of acoustic voice analysis as calculated by two different analysis systems (Doctor Speech (DRS), Tiger Electronics, Neu-Anspach, Germany, and Computerized Speech Lab (CSL), Kay Elemetrics Corporation, Lincoln Park, NJ) are compared. A group of 120 normal voices was selected for analysis of the objective parameters: fundamental frequency (F(0)), variation of F(0) (F(0)SD), jitter, shimmer, and harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR). The subject group was a random selection of normal voices of adults.

Training outcome in future professional voice users after 18 months of voice training.

The goal of this study is to define the long-term influence of vocal hygiene education and the effectiveness of voice training in 46 students. Half of the subjects, called the trained group (n = 23), received vocal hygiene education during 1 school year and voice training during 2 school years (18 months). The other half, also 23 subjects, received neither vocal hygiene education nor voice training as such (called the untrained group).

Ventricular dysphonia: clinical aspects and therapeutic options.

Objective/hypothesis: Ventricular dysphonia, also known as dysphonia plica ventricularis, refers to the pathological interference of the false vocal folds during phonation. Despite its low incidence and prevalence, Vd is a well-known phenomenon in voice clinics. The present report reviews symptoms, etiology, diagnosis, and therapeutic options regarding this voice disorder.

Intelligibility as a linear combination of dimensions in dysarthric speech.

Unlabelled: Speech samples of 79 dysarthric patients (native speakers of English) were judged by two experienced judges by means of a perceptual rating scale covering the four main dimensions of speech production: voice quality, articulation, nasality and prosody as well as overall intelligibility. In order to determine the relative influence of the four basic dimensions on intelligibility in this study group, a multiple regression model was applied. This model shows that intelligibility can be expressed as a linear combination of weighted perceptual dimensions (R2 = 0.