• 대한후두음성언어의학회지
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.107-110
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• 2006

Background and Objeetives : There are few studies reported that specifically examined the voice onset time(VOT) in patients with bilateral vocal nodules. The purpose of this study was to study the characteristics of voice onset in patients with bilateral vocal nodules. Materials and Methods : 52 female patients with bilateral vocal nodules were examined, aged from 20 to 54 years, and were compared with 25 normal female control group. All subjects produced five repetitions of the voiceless stops $/p^h,\;t^h\;k^h/$ in vowel context /ai_a/. VOT was measured by the time between the release of the stops and the onset of voicing. Results : VOTs of the voiceless stops $/p^h/\;and\;/t^h/$ in patients with bilateral vocal nodules were significantly shorter than those of normal subjects. VOT of the $/k^h/$ in them was shorter than those of normals, but the difference was not significant. This results showed that VOTs of the voiceless stops in patients with bilateral vocal nodules were shorter than those of normal subjects. Conclusion : The rapid onset of voicing in patients with bilateral vocal nodules might be associated with increased laryngeal muscle tension by hard glottal attacks. We suggest that VOT can be a clinically useful acoustic parameter for evaluating voice in patients with bilateral vocal nodules.