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Biomedical subjects

C Neuschaefer-Rube

Publications and source records attributed to C Neuschaefer-Rube.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

[Sector-related grey scale analysis of video ultrasound recorded tongue movements in swallowing].

Diseases of the oral cavity, floor of the mouth, and nervous system can be accompanied by disturbances in tongue movement during swallowing. These disturbances can be diagnosed by videosonography whereby the examiner has to evaluate extensive video documentation of lingual motion. It was the aim of this study to facilitate this evaluation by the application of a reproducible computer-assisted quantitative analysis procedure. Video sequences of 56 healthy adults and 19 patients with dysphagias of different etiologies were analysed. A numerical estimation of swallowing movements was carried out in abstraction from the structures imaged (bolus, air, muscles of the tongue, floor of the mouth, hyoid, etc.). Intensity changes of the pixels within previously defined radial image sectors were quantified in relationship to time and depicted as sector curves. The healthy adults demonstrated a characteristic pattern of two motion maxima that appeared within almost all sector curves. These maxima represented bolus transport movements and the reset movement of the tongue. Patients with diseases of the tongue or neuromuscular changes caused by disturbances of the central nervous system showed pathological deviations on videosonography. These appeared as local or general reductions in movement, slow speed motions, repetitive swallowing or unsorted additional movements of the tongue during swallowing.

Adolescent

Three-dimensional phonetographic assessment of voice performance in professional and non-professional speakers.

For the assessment of voice performance, three-dimensional (3D) phonetograms were constructed using mean values of vocal pitch, vocal intensity, and phonation time. They were built up for groups of professional and non-professional male and female speakers. The 3D phonetograms of the professional and non-professional groups were projected into one another for the female as well as for the male speakers to facilitate comparison of the professional and non-professional groups. In addition, pitch-related cross-sections of the 3D phonetograms were created. These cross-sections plotted as sequences are useful to evaluate changes in vocal dynamics and phonation time in relation to the course of vocal pitch. In this contribution, it could be demonstrated that the 3D phonetograms of the non-professional groups were completely enclosed by those of the professional groups who developed a greater vocal capacity. Furthermore, the cross-section sequences of the professional groups were obviously longer and broader than those of the non-professional groups. Details of group-specific differences with respect to the examined voice parameters are discussed.

Adult

[Computer-assisted 3D phonetography].

Profiles of fundamental frequency sound pressure levels and voice duration are measured separately in clinical practice. It was the aim of the present study to combine the two examinations, in order to estimate the relationship between pitch, sound pressure level and voice duration and to develop a new computer-assisted graph. A three-dimensional (3D) wireframe phonogram was constructed based on SPL profiles to obtain a general view of the parameters recorded. We have termed this "phonetography". Variable further projections were selected for the analysis of different aspects of parametric relationships. The results in 21 healthy volunteers and 4 patients with hyperfunctional dysphonias demonstrated that there were three typical figures of the 3D phonograms produced, depending on the relationship between voice duration when soft ("piano") compared to loud ("forte"). In one-third of the healthy volunteers, the values of the piano voice duration were greater than those of forte for almost all pitches examined. In two-thirds of the healthy subjects the values of forte voice duration were partly greater, as were those of piano voice duration. All of the patients showed voice duration values greater for forte than for piano. The results of the study demonstrate that the 3D phonogram is a useful tool for obtaining new insights into various relationships of voice parameters.

Adolescent

[MRI examination of laryngeal height during vowel singing].

Larynx height positions were determined in 12 singing students and singers with magnetic resonance imaging. The examinations were carried out during the singing of 9 different pitch and loudness combinations of the vowels /a/, /u/ and /i/. It could be demonstrated that vertical larynx position differences were smaller in professional singers than in students. In 10 of 12 examined volunteers a correlation between raised larynx position and high pitch singing or between lowered larynx position and low pitch singing could be observed in at least one of the examined vowels. Loudness-dependent and vowel-dependent differences of larynx height position could not be identified.

Adult

[Functionally determined area changes in the oro-pharyngo-laryngeal vocal tract of singers as shown by magnetic resonance tomography].

The oro-pharyngeal-laryngeal resonating spaces were studied in 12 singers at varying stages of their training by means of medio-sagittal MRI images, and the results were compared. The singers were requested to sing /a/ /u/ and /i/ at various pitches and with increasing loudness. The total oro-pharyngo-laryngeal areas were integrated by means of the MRI sections. The relationship between the oro-pharyngeal and pharyngo-laryngeal areas was determined, as well as their ratio to total area. With increasing volume there was increase in the area of the oro-pharyngeal component with no change in the pharyngo-laryngeal component. The relationship of the partial areas depends on the extent of training of the singer.

Adult

[Solitary hearing and equilibrium damage after vaccinations].

Solitary impairments of hearing and equilibrium after vaccinations are rarely seen. They are usually connected with damage to the central nervous system, thus being combined with further neurological symptoms. In German and English literature 9 cases of isolated statoacoustic nerve lesions due to vaccinations could be found. They are summarized and their similarities and differences are discussed. Information relevant for the evaluation of possible causal relations between vaccinations and solitary 8th cranial nerve disorders is emphasized. Questions concerning the incidence, etiology and differential diagnosis of functional cochleovestibular impairments are highlighted.

Adolescent

[Unilateral recurrent nerve paralysis in suspected Lyme borreliosis].

Cranial nerve palsy can often be observed in Borrelia burgdorferi infection. A dysphonic patient with a long lasting left-sided recurrent nerve palsy was treated with ceftriaxone, an antibiotic drug for the therapy of Lyme borreliosis. On the 7th day of application the paretic vocal fold showed recovering movements up to regular vocal fold function and normal stroboscopic results. Clinical and serologic constellations and their therapeutical implications are discussed.

Adult

[The phasic imaging of velopharyngeal sphincter movements].

The velopharyngeal function while swallowing water was studied on a healthy volunteer patient with velopharyngeal closure and on a patient with velopharyngeal insufficiency. This patient suffers from open hypernasality as a result of shortened velum. Both subjects underwent nasoendoscopy with a flexible fiber glass optical device while swallowing water and while articulating the plosive consonant /k/. Velopharyngeal function was documented by means of videotaping and then the single video images were placed together along a time scale to form a new temporal image. This image makes possible a quick and comprehensive differentiation between physiological and disturbed motion patterns as demonstrated in this study using velopharyngeal function as the example. The videotaping in lapse time of such disordered movements can provide indicators of the therapeutical steps to be taken.

Adult

[Applications of the "Speech Viewer II" in voice training in vocal cord paralysis].

Referring to traditional therapeutical concepts of vocal fold paralysis a microphone-controlled computer programme was used for voice treatment in 13 patients with unilateral vocal fold paralysis. 6 of these patients were female, 7 were male. The age ranged from 18 to 72 years (mean: 50 years). The etiology of the paralysis was distributed as follows: post strumectomy (4 cases), post operation of the aortic arch (3 cases), post mediastinoscopy (1 case), post operation of the cervical vertebrae (1 case). 2 cases are not decided yet, 2 are probably idiopathic. The vocal fold dysfunction lasted between 24 hours and 8 years before our first examination, less than 4 weeks in 11 cases. With 1 exception (intermediate) the vocal fold position was classified as paramedian. 8 patients suffered from left, and 5 patients from right vocal fold paralysis. The voice treatment took place with a microphone-controlled speech viewer including an audio capture and playback adapter. 7 of the 15 training modules of the computer programme were chosen to be useful for voice training. Those modules can be differentiated in physical-technical modules showing voice spectra or pitch scales and in object-related modules showing images such as landscapes, animals and others. These programme-specific modules (monitor exercises) were primarily built to train the following voice qualities separately: loudness, pitch, voicing, voice onset, fundamental frequency, sustained phonation etc. Modifying certain therapeutic instructions (see Tables 1 and 2) the monitor exercises were used to improve the coordination of different voice parameters, thus resembling physiological speech.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent