Toward Sham Interventions for Behavioral Voice Treatment Outcome Research in Female Students Without Dysphonia.

Objectives/hypothesis: To develop sham voice treatment techniques to be used in voice treatment outcome research, and to investigate their effectiveness as sham. This entails that the techniques induce no changes in voice or voice physiology, yet still lead to a perception of efficacy.

Study Design: Prospective randomized blinded controlled study.

Meta-Analysis on the Validity of the Acoustic Voice Quality Index.

Background: Acoustic measurements are useful tools to objectively measure overall voice quality. The Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI) has shown to be a valid multiparametric tool to objectify dysphonia severity. The increasing number of validity studies investigating AVQI's validity demands a comprehensive synthesis of the available outcomes.

The Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI) in People with Parkinson's Disease Before and After Intensive Voice and Articulation Therapies: Secondary Outcome of a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objectives: The majority of individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) experience voice and speech problems during the course of the disease. Despite the importance of voice quality in communication and the documented disordered voice quality in PD, few studies have explored the effects of speech treatment on this variable.

Study Design/methods: A parallel arm, unblinded randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted with two active comparators, LSVT LOUD (n = 23) and LSVT ARTIC (n = 20), and an inactive comparator group of untreated individuals with PD (n = 22).

Exploration of the Influences of Temporary Velum Paralysis on Auditory-Perceptual, Acoustic, and Tomographical Markers.

Purpose To better understand hypernasality (HN), we explored the relations between velopharyngeal orifice, auditory perception of HN, and acoustic-spectral measures in an in vivo within-subject design: (a) with a normally functioning velum as the control condition and (b) with a temporarily paralyzed velum as the experimental condition. Method The velum of eight volunteers was injected with ropivacaine hydrochloride (Naropin) in the area of the levator veli palatini and tensor veli palatini muscles to induce temporary velopharyngeal inadequacy (VPI) and HN. Sustained [a] and [i] and oronasal text readings were recorded, and 3D cone-beam computed tomography images of the vocal tract were built before and during velar anesthesia.

Are Acoustic Markers of Voice and Speech Signals Affected by Nose-and-Mouth-Covering Respiratory Protective Masks?

Background: Worldwide use of nose-and-mouth-covering respiratory protective mask (RPM) has become ubiquitous during COVID19 pandemic. Consequences of wearing RPMs, especially regarding perception and production of spoken communication, are gradually emerging. The present study explored how three prevalent RPMs affect various speech and voice sound properties.

Validation and Test-Retest Reliability of Acoustic Voice Quality Index Version 02.06 in the Turkish Language.

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate the validity (both concurrent and diagnostic) and test-retest reliability of Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI) version 2 (AVQI 02.06) in Turkish speaking population.

Materials And Methods: Two hundred and fifty five native Turkish subjects with normal voices (n = 128) and with voice disorders (n = 127) were asked to sustain the vowel [a:] and read aloud the Turkish phonetically balanced text.

BAGLS, a multihospital Benchmark for Automatic Glottis Segmentation.

Laryngeal videoendoscopy is one of the main tools in clinical examinations for voice disorders and voice research. Using high-speed videoendoscopy, it is possible to fully capture the vocal fold oscillations, however, processing the recordings typically involves a time-consuming segmentation of the glottal area by trained experts. Even though automatic methods have been proposed and the task is particularly suited for deep learning methods, there are no public datasets and benchmarks available to compare methods and to allow training of generalizing deep learning models.

Intersegmenter Variability in High-Speed Laryngoscopy-Based Glottal Area Waveform Measures.

Objectives/hypothesis: High-speed videoendoscopy (HSV) has potential to objectively quantify vibratory vocal fold characteristics during phonation. Glottal Analysis Tools (GAT) version 2018, developed in Erlangen, Germany, is software for determining various glottal area waveform (GAW) quantities. Before having GAT analyze HSV videos, segmenters have to define glottis manually across videos in a semiautomatic segmentation protocol.

Objective Acoustic Quantification of Perceived Voice Tremor Severity.

Purpose This study compared auditory-perceptual measures of presence/absence and severity of vocal tremor to acoustic markers of vocal tremor. The validity (both concurrent and diagnostic) of various acoustic markers of vocal tremor was also assessed. Method Fifty-six midvowel sustained [a:] recordings were selected to yield a representative convenience sample of vocal tremor.

The role of piracetam in the treatment of acute and chronic aphasia.

Piracetam has been shown to improve speech in aphasic patients. This paper reviews the evidence for this benefit in aphasic patients with acute stroke and, in conjunction with language treatment, in post-acute and chronic aphasia. Early double-blind, placebo-controlled trials in acute stroke showed improvement in several neurologic parameters including aphasia.

Piracetam as an adjuvant to language therapy for aphasia: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled pilot study.

Objective: To determine whether piracetam 4.8 g/day together with intensive language therapy improved language function more than language therapy alone.

Design: Double-blind, placebo-controlled parallel group study.