On the estimation of vocal‐tract shapes from acoustic analysis of speech sounds

1977 ◽  
Vol 62 (S1) ◽  
pp. S37-S37
Author(s):  
Hisashi Wakita
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Speech Sounds

Effects of a 6-Week Straw Phonation in Water Exercise Program on the Aging Voice

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 1018-1032
Author(s):  
Chia-Hsin Wu ◽  
Roger W. Chan
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Exercise Program ◽  
Analysis Of Covariance ◽  
Elderly Subjects ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Perceptual Evaluation ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Aging Voice ◽  
Before And After

Purpose Semi-occluded vocal tract (SOVT) exercises with tubes or straws have been widely used for a variety of voice disorders. Yet, the effects of longer periods of SOVT exercises (lasting for weeks) on the aging voice are not well understood. This study investigated the effects of a 6-week straw phonation in water (SPW) exercise program. Method Thirty-seven elderly subjects with self-perceived voice problems were assigned into two groups: (a) SPW exercises with six weekly sessions and home practice (experimental group) and (b) vocal hygiene education (control group). Before and after intervention (2 weeks after the completion of the exercise program), acoustic analysis, auditory–perceptual evaluation, and self-assessment of vocal impairment were conducted. Results Analysis of covariance revealed significant differences between the two groups in smoothed cepstral peak prominence measures, harmonics-to-noise ratio, the auditory–perceptual parameter of breathiness, and Voice Handicap Index-10 scores postintervention. No significant differences between the two groups were found for other measures. Conclusions Our results supported the positive effects of SOVT exercises for the aging voice, with a 6-week SPW exercise program being a clinical option. Future studies should involve long-term follow-up and additional outcome measures to better understand the efficacy of SOVT exercises, particularly SPW exercises, for the aging voice.

Impact of speech therapy on the improvement of voice quality in patients with unilateral vocal fold paralysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Anna Kuligowska ◽  
Barbara Jamróz ◽  
Joanna Chmielewska ◽  
Katarzyna Jędra ◽  
Tomasz Czernicki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Fold ◽  
Speech Therapy ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Maximum Phonation Time ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Vocal Fold Palsy ◽  
The Voice

Aim of study: Evaluation of the speech therapy on voice quality in patients with unilateral vocal fold palsy. Material and methods: The study group included 11 patients, 8 women and 3 men, in age between 16 to 72 years, with unilateral vocal fold palsy, diagnosed in ENT Department of Warsaw Medical University between 2017-2018. Each person completed questionnaires: the voice disability self-assessment scale (VHI), the voice-based quality of life (VRQoL) scale, the vocal tract discomfort scale (VTD). All questionnaires were completed twice, before and after the voice therapy. In addition, the acoustic analysis of the voice, the assessment of the maximum phonation time and the breathing tract were performed twice in each patient. Each of the patients had a voice rehabilitation consisting of a series of 10 meetings. Results: Statistical analysis of the results of maximum phonation time, the self-assessment of voice disability, the quality of life depending on the voice, discomfort of the vocal tract voice acoustic analysis showed statistically significant differences in the results before and after rehabilitation (p <0.005). In addition, the improvement of the respiratory tract was observed in the majority of patients. Conclusions: Speech therapy significantly affects the voice quality of patients with unilateral laryngeal nerve palsy.

Phonetic Analysis and the Automatic Segmentation and Labeling of Speech Sounds

1990 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Roach ◽  
Helen Roach ◽  
Andrea Dew ◽  
Paul Rowlands
Keyword(s):  
Speech Processing ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Automatic Segmentation ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Computer Algorithms ◽  
Continuous Speech ◽  
Considerable Debate ◽  
Theoretical Issues

A fundamentally important practice in phonetics is the analysis of continuous speech into a sequence of discrete segments. There has been considerable debate about the theoretical validity of this practice within classical auditory/kinaesthetic phonetics and in phonology as well as in the context of the acoustic analysis of speech; in recent years the issue has become more widely important as research work in automatic speech processing has resulted in computer algorithms for segmenting speech and assigning phonetic labels to the segments. Work on the automatic segmentation and labeling of speech sounds has been carried on in our department since 1980. This paper begins by examining the theoretical issues involved in segmentation and labeling, then describes our own work.

Voice Quality After a Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract Exercise With a Ventilation Mask in Contemporary Commercial Singers: Acoustic Analysis and Self-Assessments

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 336-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Fantini ◽  
Giovanni Succo ◽  
Erika Crosetti ◽  
Alfonso Borragán Torre ◽  
Roberto Demo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Self Assessments

scholarly journals Application of low Intensity laser Associated with Exercise with High-Strength Tube in the Vocal Treatment of Transgender Women: Pilot Study

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Del Castilo ◽  
◽  
Thaís. Lopes João ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Therapy ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Profile Analysis ◽  
High Strength ◽  
Transgender Women ◽  
The Other ◽  
Low Intensity ◽  
Informed Consent Form ◽  
Intensity Laser

Introduction: Voice is a determining factor for transgender women to be able to communicate and be recognized by the other as belonging to the desired gender. In voice clinic, exercises of semi-occluded vocal tract and technological resources that act in an adjunct manner are used, aiming to promote better phonatory adjustments, raising the fundamental frequency and vocal tract adjustments such as resonance, intensity, articulation, speed, among others. The work of the speech therapist requires an expanded vision, seeking the integration between voice and body. The present study seeks to understand how the modulation process for acute pitch occurs upon using exercise with a high-strength tube associated with the therapeutic resource of low intensity laser, aiming to evaluate the effectiveness of these two tools when used simultaneously. Material and Methods: The research was based on a case study of a transgender woman. The therapy was based on the application of low intensity laser associated with the use of exercise with high strength tube. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee and the participant signed the Informed Consent Form. Anamnesis, application of the Transsexual Voice Questionnaire (TVQ) and evaluation before and after the application of the techniques were performed, through acoustic analysis of the vocal signal and auditory-perceptive evaluation, through the Vocal Profile Analysis (VPA) Protocol. Results and Discussion: There was an increase in variability in the categories of pitch and loudness, absence of crackling and improvement in energy distribution after therapy. The patient used greater voice breathing and there was a predominance in the distribution of articulatory adjustments. Conclusion: Speech therapy promoted an election of the vocal pitch, modified the characteristics of vocal quality and dynamics and generated a sound fluency for the female. It was possible to observe that the greatest change occurred in an auditory way, interfering in the acoustic impression that the other has in relation to this voice, that is, the greatest gain was in the sound filter

Selective phonological impairment: a case of apraxia of speech

Phonology ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Dogil ◽  
Jörg Mayer
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Distinctive Feature ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Motor Pattern ◽  
Feature Representation ◽  
Speech Comprehension ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Apraxia Of Speech ◽  
Phonological Structure ◽  
Phonetic Representation

The present study proposes a new interpretation of the underlying distortion in APRAXIA OF SPEECH. Apraxia of speech, in its pure form, is the only neurolinguistic syndrome for which it can be argued that phonological structure is selectively distorted.Apraxia of speech is a nosological entity in its own right which co-occurs with aphasia only occasionally. This…conviction rests on detailed descriptions of patients who have a severe and lasting disorder of speech production in the absence of any significant impairment of speech comprehension, reading or writing as well as of any significant paralysis or weakness of the speech musculature.(Lebrun 1990: 380)Based on the experimental investigation of poorly coarticulated speech of patients from two divergent languages (German and Xhosa) it is argued that apraxia of speech has to be seen as a defective implementation of phonological representations at the phonology–phonetics interface. We contend that phonological structure exhibits neither a homogeneously auditory pattern nor a motor pattern, but a complex encoding of sequences of speech sounds. Specifically, it is maintained that speech is encoded in the brain as a sequence of distinctive feature configurations. These configurations are specified with differing degrees of detail depending on the role the speech segments they underlie play in the phonological structure of a language. The transfer between phonological and phonetic representation encodes speech sounds as a sequence of vocal tract configurations. Like the distinctive feature representation, these configurations may be more or less specified. We argue that the severe and lasting disorders in speech production observed in apraxia of speech are caused by the distortion of this transfer between phonological and phonetic representation. The characteristic production deficits of apraxic patients are explained in terms of overspecification of phonetic representations.

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