A Comparison of Acoustic Parameters between Vocal Fold Bowing and Vocal Fold Polyp

궁형성대와 성대폴립 간의 음성 비교

Background and Objectives : Vocal fold bowing is an organic voice disorder that is associated with an abnormal structure of the vocal folds whereas vocal fold polyp is a functional voice disorder caused by an abnormal use of the vocal folds. Both types of vocal folds share a common property in that they make one's voice breathy or strained. The purpose of this study is to compare voice from two types of vocal folds and to offer information of clinical importance. Materials and Method: Vocal fold bowing and vocal fold polyp groups consisted of 7 male subjects, respectively. All subjects recorded /a/ in the state of measuring MPT (maximum phonation time), repeating 3 times, by a voice recorder (48 kHz sampling rate; 24 bit quantization). They answered the questions of K-VHI. Time domain parameters (such as perturbation parameters including HNR, Jitter, etc.) were calculated for the whole duration of /a/ and those of the frequency domain were measured in initial 40 ms and stable 40 ms of /a/, respectively. Mann-Whitney V-test was used for the time domain parameters and K-VHI survey, and Wilcoxon signed rank test was applied to the frequency domain parameters (H1, H2, H1-H2). Results: For K-VHI survey and the time domain analysis, there was no significant difference between bowing and polyp group. For frequency domain analysis, H1 and H2 showed a significantly different result between two groups. Vocal fold bowing group has longer duration and lower intensity than that of vocal fold polyp group in the 'aspirated interval', which could be observable prior to ordinary vowel oscillation. Conclusion: Both groups seem to show breathy voice. This could be referred on the basis of the value of H1-H2. The K-VHI survey says that subjects with vocal fold bowing feel more uncomfortable than subjects with vocal fold polyp.