• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.71-78
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to compare the acoustic voice outcomes of children with cochlear implant to those of children with normal hearing. Participants were 41 children using unilateral cochlear implant (18 males and 23 females), and children with normal hearing from the same age and sex. Mean age of implantation was approximately 3 years old, mean duration of implant use was 4 years in CI group. Acoustic analyses were performed using MDVP of CSL. Speech samples were 3 sustained vowels, /a, i, u/. 9 parameters (F0, Fhi, Flo, Jitter, Shimmer, vF0, vAm, NHR, and SPI) were analyzed. Children with CI did not show the significant differences in those parameters after the vowel /a/ phonation. Meanwhile, there were significantly different results in F0, Fhi, vF0, and SPI after /i, u/ phonation. These results revealed that differences of voice characteristics in children with CI compare to children with NH persist regarding vowel context. It suggests that high vowels would recommend as speech samples for acoustic evaluation. Futhermore perceptual analysis and speech therapy for phonation control would be necessary for children with CI.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.77-84
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to examine the acoustic characteristics of Parkinsonian speech, with respect to different utterance conditions, by employing acoustic/auditory-perceptual analysis. The subjects of the study were 15 patients (M=7, F=8) with Parkinson's disease who were asked to read out sentences under different utterance conditions (clear/casual). The sentences read out by each subject were recorded, and the recorded speech was subjected to cepstrum and spectrum analysis using Analysis of Dysphonia in Speech and Voice (ADSV). Additionally, auditory-perceptual evaluation of the recorded speech was conducted with respect to breathiness and loudness. Results indicate that in the case of clear speech, there was a statistically significant increase in the cepstral peak prominence (CPP), and a decrease in the L/H ratio SD (ratio of low to high frequency spectral energy SD) and CPP F0 SD values. In the auditory-perceptual evaluation, a decrease in breathiness and an increase in loudness were noted. Furthermore, CPP was found to be highly correlated to breathiness and loudness. This provides objective evidence of the immediate usefulness of clear speech intervention in improving the voice quality of Parkinsonian speech.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.93-98
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• 2009

The aim of this study was to investigate voice characteristics of adductive spasmodic dysphonia(ADSD) by measuring electroglottal and acoustic examination at the sentence level. The clinical records of 86 ADSD female patients (age group of $20{\sim}50$ years) and the control records of 86 normal females (age group of $20{\sim}40$ years) were recorded by speech studio(Laryngograph Ltd., UK). An independent t-test was used to compare ADSD and normal group. Results were as follows. (1) Fundamental frequency($F_0$) was significantly decreased in ADSD compared with normal group. (2) Irregularity of frequency and closed quotient(CQ) was significantly increased in ADSD compared with normal group. (3) Voiceless duration increased and voiced duration was significantly decreased in ADSD compared with normal group. (4) Fricative duration was increased in ADSD compared with normal group but it wasn't significant. In conclusion, strained, tight and choked voice shows an increase of CQ, tremor voice shows an increase of irregularity of frequency and less feminine voice shows decrease of $F_0$. Increase of voiceless duration and fricative duration and decrease of voiced duration related with diminution speech intelligibility.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.37-41
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• 2010

Background and Objectives : Transient minor voice changes after thyroidectomy are not infrequent complaints even in cases without any evidence of recurrent laryngeal nerve damage. However, clinical course, diagnosis and management of such voice changes are not fully understood. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical characteristics of minor voice changes after thyroidectomy. We also tried to assess the significance and feasibility of superior laryngeal nerve monitoring and to find out the optimal evaluation tools for such voice changes after thyroidectomy. Materials and Method : Nine adult patients who received total thyroidectomy without evidence of recurrent laryngeal nerve injury were enrolled for this prospective study. Voice evaluations were performed preoperatively and 3 months postoperatively ; acoustic analyses including voice range profile, aerodynamic study, stroboscopic evaluation and subjective voice assessment with questionnaires. The external branch of superior laryngeal nerve was monitored by nerve stimulator after ligation of superior thyroidal vessels. Results: Four of nine patients complained their voice change at 3 months after the surgery. Three of them reported complete recovery of their voice at 6 months after the surgery. Acoustic analysis revealed significant decrease in their phonatory range especially with high tone loss. Questionnaires related to singing was more sensitive than previously well-known "voice handicap index". Stimulation of the superior laryngeal nerve was feasible in most of the cases (94.4%), but it failed to show any correlation with minor voice changes after thyroidectomy. Conclusion : Minor voice changes were not rare events during the first 6 month after thyroidectomy. Decrease in phonatory range with high tone loss and therefore, discomfort in singing was the most common finding. Superior laryngeal monitoring was feasible but it was not a sensitive tool for the prediction of minor voice change after thyroidectomy.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.7
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• pp.59-65
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• 2000

This paper describes the analysis of vibration characteristics through the human body as the research for voice therapy and diagnosis. The oscillation signal is not external forces but the self-voice to be pronounced the vowels ('a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u'). The experiment system consists of microphones, accelerometers and amplifiers. The input data are stored by the computer. At the same time, the voice is stored by the microphone and the vibration signal of the human body is stored by accelerometer. The 63 points are appointed in head, neck, trunk of human body. The positions and number of times are changeable by the purpose. The analysis parameters are amplitude, phase, fundamental. frequency, formant and the correlation of vibration signal and voice is measured by coherence function. The results show that the vibration signals have characteristic vibration in the positions of human body.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.30 no.7
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• pp.390-395
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• 2011

This paper covers the studies on common voice parameters through the voice analysis of female main news anchors on weekday evening by the station, and differences of relative voices and sounds among stations. To examine voice characteristics, 6 voice parameters were analyzed and it showed anchors of each station had distinctive characteristics of voices and phonations over all fields except the speech rate, and there were also differences in sound systems. As major analysis parameters, basic pitch, tone of the 1st formant and pitch ratio, level of closeness by pitch bandwidth, type of sentence closing through average pitch position within pitch bandwidth, average speech rate, and acoustic tone analysis by energy distribution by frequency band were used. Analyzed values and results could be referred to and utilized in the criteria of phonation characteristics for domestic female news anchors.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.111-118
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• 2009

The present study aims at investigating the relationship between voices and the physical images triggered by the voices. It is the final part of a four-part series and the results reported in the present study are limited to those of American speakers and American listeners. Combined with the results from previous studies (Moon, 2000; Moon, 2002; Tak, 2005), the results suggest that (1) there is a very strong, much higher than chance-level relationship between voices and the pictures chosen for the voices by the perception experiment subjects; (2) the more physical characteristics that are given, the better the chance for correctly matching voices with pictures; and (3) culture (in the present, language environment) seems to play a role in conjuring up the mental images from voices.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.121-128
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• 2005

This study was an attempt to determine acoustic characteristics in myna bird's notes. Two myna birds' sounds imitating a normal male voice in his late 20's were sampled and analyzed. The analyses included the mean values of F1, F2, F3 and pitch contours. The results were as follows; First, there was a significan difference in the mean values of F1, F2, and F3 in isolatd vowel /a/ and /i/ between the myna birds' sounds and the human voice. However, there was no apparent difference in pitch contour of their formants. Second, there was a difference in pitch contour of their formants in their sentence ('hn-nyung-ha-se-yo?' meaning 'How are you?') production. Namely, the myna birds' pitch contour was located higher than that of the human's.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.89-96
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• 2000

Examination of the vibrations of the vocal fold is very important in patients with voice changes. The newly developed videokymography (VKG) takes images in real time and records irregular vibrations of the vocal fold. However, there are few data on VKG findings. We studied VKG to evaluate the vibratory characteristics of the vocal fold in benign vocal fold lesions. Unique vibratory patterns, blurred demarcation of the mucosal propagation, decreased margin amplitudes, asymmetry in phase or amplitude, and a level difference of the contact site were observed in each benign vocal-fold lesion. We conclude that each type of laryngeal lesion has specific characteristic which are revealed by VKG examination, these parameters can be quantified and used to objectively evaluate VKG findings. Based on these results, VKG can be used as a supplementary diagnostic tool.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.451-453
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• 2009

This letter proposes the use of vowel sound detection for voice activity detection. Vowels have distinctive spectral peaks. These are likely to remain higher than their surroundings even after severe corruption. Therefore, by developing a method of detecting the spectral peaks of vowel sounds in corrupted signals, voice activity can be detected as well even in low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions. Experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm performs reliably under various noise and low SNR conditions. This method is suitable for mobile environments where the characteristics of noise may not be known in advance.