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Results for “Sound Spectrography”

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At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

PubMed1989

Harsh voice: vocal effort perceptual ratings and spectral noise levels of hearing-impaired children.

This study investigated the relationship between spectral noise levels and ratings of perceived vocal effort in the voices of severely to profoundly hearing-impaired children as compared to normal-hearing children, aged 6-11. Spectral noise levels served as an index of the inharmonic (noise) components present from 100 to 2500 Hz for sustained vowels. A nine-point perceptual rating scale was devised as the subjective measure of vocal effort. The severely to profoundly hearing-impaired children could be differentiated on the basis of significantly higher ratings for perceived vocal effort in addition to higher physical measurements of spectral noise levels. Tentative therapeutic implications are discussed.

Child↗

PubMed1990

Dysarthria of motor neuron disease: clinician judgments of severity.

Motor Neuron Disease (MND) is a terminal, demyelinating disease affecting upper- and lower-motor neurons and producing muscular weakness resulting in a characteristic spastic-flaccid dysarthria of speech. The present study investigates the relationship between the temporal-acoustic parameters of the speech of 15 individuals with MND as they relate to the progression of the disease and clinicians' judgments of dysarthria severity. When temporal-acoustic parameters are used to predict the progression of MND, it becomes apparent that victims provide compensatory gestures to mark voicing distinctions. When the same acoustic parameters are used to predict clinician judgments of severity, it is found that clinicians tend to use the same temporal cues that mark actual disease progression. Differences between the two sets of predictions relate to the linguistic systems of both speaker and judge, and the implications of this are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Systematic sound preference in phonological disorders: a case study.

Systematic sound preference, where a group of sounds with the same manner of articulation is represented by one or two sounds in the production, is one of the characteristics of children with phonological disorders. This article examines the hypotheses advanced by Weiner (1981) for the phenomenon in the light of the data from a 7-year old Portuguese speaking child. The findings support some of the hypotheses, while providing counter evidence for one of them. They also point to the importance of word position and stress patterns in the systematicity of systematic sound preference.

Articulation Disorders↗

PubMed1991

Toward implementation of a flexible hearing aid measurement system.

An evaluation of a computerized hearing aid measurement system was performed with input and output compression hearing aids stimulated using high-quality audio equipment. The results of the computer measurements were compared to those from a manual technique using conventional laboratory instrumentation. The results from the computerized and manual methods matched very closely. However, the computer system was found to be considerably more flexible than conventional instrumentation and was much easier to use.

Equipment Design↗

PubMed1991

Phonatory and phonetic characteristics of prelinguistic vocal development in cri du chat syndrome.

A longitudinal case study of a child with cri du chat syndrome was undertaken to provide descriptive data on early phonatory and phonetic development in comfort state vocalizations. Vocal samples collected when the child was between 8 and 26 months of age were analyzed using perceptual and acoustic methods. Results indicated that the high vocal fundamental frequently documented in cries of infants with cri du chat syndrome was also a characteristic of comfort state vocalizations of this child. An analysis of intonation patterns indicated there was a predominance of falling intonation contours and limited interutterance variation of fundamental frequency. Phonetic development was quite delayed, with major acquisitions in babbling showing marked delay relative to chronological age. Acquisition of the first spoken word had not occurred by the age of twenty-six months. Results suggest that significant cognitive and/or motor delays may have an influence on the integrity of early vocal development, which calls into question the notion that babbling development proceeds relatively independently of other developmental domains.

Child, Preschool↗

PubMed1991

The use of an autochromatic tuner for the measurement of vocal fundamental frequency.

Comparative measures of vocal fundamental frequency were made with three different instruments, the Visi-Pitch. FLORIDA 1, and a Korg Autochromatic Tuner. The purpose of these measures was to determine whether an autochromatic tuner, a relatively inexpensive device designed to assist musicians in fast-tuning their instruments, would provide a valid and reliable measure of vocal fundamental frequency. Subjects for this study included 15 males and 15 females. They were recorded while sustaining vowels, reading a phonetically balanced passage, and singing to their lowest and highest pitch levels. Spearman's Rho correlations indicated that measures taken with the autochromatic tuner significantly correlated with measures taken with the other instruments. Results indicate that the use of an autochromatic tuner to measure vocal fundamental frequency is an effective and inexpensive alternative to other methods for clinical purposes.

Adult↗

PubMed1990

Infants' perception of timbre: classification of complex tones by spectral structure.

Infants 7 to 8.5 months of age were tested for their discrimination of timbre or sound quality differences in the context of variable exemplars. They were familiarized with a set of complex tones with specified spectral structure; members of the set varied in fundamental frequency, intensity, or duration. Infants were then tested for their detection of tones that contrasted in spectral structure but were similar in other respects. They successfully differentiated the two spectral structures in the context of these variations, indicating that they can classify tonal stimuli on the basis of timbre. When the stimuli were organized into arbitrary categories, infants were unable to differentiate these categories, indicating that their performance with nonarbitrary categories was not attributable to memorization of the familiarized set.

Female↗

PubMed1985

Speech adaptation: an aerodynamic study of adults with a childhood history of articulation defects.

Three groups of subjects were studied; former lispers, persons with a history of /l/ or /r/ distortion, and normal subjects with no history of speech defects. All were normal-sounding adult speakers of English at the time of participation. Subjects were asked to wear an experimental removable dental prosthesis that provided 4 mm of thickness in the alveolar region. Measurements of oral air flow and intraoral pressure during the reading of sentence material were made, with the focus on the consonants /s/ and /t/. The sibilant /s/ was experienced as the greatest problem for speech adaptation, regardless of the type of former articulation defect. Both groups of subjects with a history of articulation defects showed evidence of slower adaptation and use of compensatory strategies for /s/. They tended as a group to have the same minimum airflow values for /s/ after 2 weeks of practice speaking with the prosthesis as after 1 day of practice. Aerodynamic calculation of the size of the constriction for /s/ also showed little or no change for most of the former speech-defective subjects. Evidence based on intraoral pressure indicated that particular effort was expended for /s/ even after 2 weeks of practice in speaking with the prosthesis.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

PubMed1987

Spectral analysis of temporomandibular joint sounds.

Results demonstrated significant differences in the spectra of TMJ sounds due to differences in subject, in patients' clinical status, type of jaw movement, and specific axis of motion. We suggest that some of these differences are caused by motion of larger or smaller component structures of the joint. It is apparent that significant additional work is needed to correlate specific features of the sound spectra with anatomic and clinical information. In future work, we plan to do sound spectral analysis recording in conjunction with nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of the joint. Such data will allow us to identify specific frequency bands that correlate with specific structures in the joint or events occurring during the jaw motion, for example, the motion produced by a sudden change in the condyle/meniscus relationship. Once such baseline information is obtained, specific individual subjects can be followed up over a period of time to determine the effects of treatment. We hope that changes in specific frequency bands can be used as quantitative indices of the results of specific treatments. In addition to the guidance afforded the dentist from such quantitative information, a permanent quantitative record of the jaw joint status thus obtained could be of value for clinical as well as legal purposes.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1989

Acoustic analyses of speech changes after maxillectomy and prosthodontic management.

Acoustic speech patterns of five maxillofacial surgery patients were examined before and after prosthodontic reconstruction to determine the effectiveness of a maxillary prosthesis for eliminating (or reducing) nasal resonances. Vowel formant frequencies were measured for /i/ (as in seep) and /u/ (as in in soup). Within-subject, across test-session comparisons were made by using analysis of variance techniques. Prosthodontic restoration significantly reduced the nasal resonances in all patients by either (1) completely eliminating the resonances, (2) reducing the amplitude of the resonances, or (3) changing the frequency of the resonances to more nearby regions of the vowels.

Dentures↗

PubMed1990

Differential effects of speech prostheses in glossectomized patients.

Five patients representing different categories of glossal resection were fitted with prostheses specifically designed to improve speech. Speech recordings made for subjects with and without their prostheses were subjected to a variety of analyses. Prosthetic influence on listeners' judgments of severity level/intelligibility, number of consonants in error, and on the acoustic measure F2 range of vowels was evaluated. Findings indicated that all subjects demonstrated improvement on the speech measures. However, the extent of improvement on each measure varied across speakers and resection categories. Implications of the findings for prosthetic speech rehabilitation in this population are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Evaluation of a technique for recording temporomandibular joint sounds.

Analysis of temporomandibular joints sounds may contribute to the differential diagnosis of temporomandibular joint disorders. In this article an advanced system for the recording of joint sounds is presented. The method proved to be reliable. The problem of filtering out artifacts has been solved to a great extent but not completely. Temporomandibular joint sounds measured with this technique vary considerably in energy, frequency spectrum, and peak-to-peak amplitude over 3 months, as well as within 1 day. These differences seem to reflect natural variations in joint sounds caused by the physical impossibility of performing identical jaw movements. The results indicate that joint sound characteristics do not yet offer a solid basis for inferences concerning the development of temporomandibular joint abnormalities in the clinical setting.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1989

Stop consonant production in isolated and repeated syllables in Parkinson's disease.

To determine if Parkinson's disease (PD) patients have increasing difficulty as speech tasks become longer or more complex, the timing and accuracy of isolated syllables and repeated sequences of syllables were studied. Acoustic measures of PD patient's syllables were similarly impaired relative to normal controls for both isolated and repeated syllable sequences. Listeners' identification scores were equally high for both types of productions. Unlike previous studies of other types of movements in PD, speech accuracy and timing does not deteriorate as items become longer or more complex.

Aged↗

PubMed1990

Startle-inducing acoustic stimuli evoke ultrasonic vocalization in the rat.

The present study demonstrates that acoustic stimuli which induce a startle response (ASR) also evoke ultrasonic vocalization in the rat. Sound recordings were done on three consecutive days of testing during sessions of 20 acoustic stimuli each and on the following day for three minutes following 5 acoustic stimuli (nonstimulus condition). Startle-inducing stimuli evoked continuous ultrasonic calling which was maintained throughout testing. Immediately following each acoustic stimulus, however, vocalization was interrupted by a period of silence (gap). The mean duration of sounds was reduced and the interpulse interval tended to increase during acoustic stimulation as compared to the nonstimulus condition. It is concluded that startle-eliciting stimuli induce a state of fear in the rat and that the acoustic-startle-elicited ultrasonic vocalization may provide a novel model in the study of anxiety.

Animals↗

PubMed1991

Twenty-two kHz alarm cries to presentation of a predator, by laboratory rats living in visible burrow systems.

When a cat was presented to groups of 3 male and 2 female laboratory rats in the open area of a visible burrow system, the rats retreated to the burrow system and showed high levels of 18-24 kHz ultrasonic cries during the cat presentation and for 30 min following removal of the cat. Latency to make ultrasonic vocalizations, durations of these vocalizations, and duration in the burrow systems were all strikingly and reliably different during and after cat exposure in comparison to similar periods with a control (stuffed cat toy) stimulus. However, when individual rats were exposed to a cat in an open area of similar size, ultrasonic cry production was minimal. Also rats exposed individually to a cat in an apparatus providing an escape chamber similarly showed no ultrasonic cries, indicating that concealment per se is not a sufficient condition for their appearance. These results suggest that the production of ultrasonic vocalizations during and after exposure to a predator is greatly facilitated by the presence of familiar conspecifics, and may serve as alarm cries. While the alarm cry hypothesis also suggests a possible function for 18-24 kHz ultrasounds in the context of copulation and intraspecies aggression, the sonographic and functional relationships among the cries emitted in these different situations remain to be analyzed.

Animals↗

PubMed1992

Ultrasonic vocalization of laboratory rats in response to handling and touch.

The goal of the study was to investigate the ultrasonic vocalization induced in freely behaving, naive rats by gentle touch with a human hand. Thirty-nine rats were tested in an unfamiliar experimental cage with repeatable hand touch. Vocalization appeared with an average latency of 4.6 +/- 5.0 s (SD). The nape of the neck was the most effective area, and after a couple of stimuli applied, 66.7% of rats emitted 21-32 kHz ultrasonic vocalization. It consisted of multiple series of long calls, about 70% of which exceeded 300 ms. The responses quickly habituated from session to session to extinction. Significantly more rats housed in single cages vocalized ultrasonically than animals housed in community cages. The long latencies of the vocalization, their appearance in multiple series to a single touch, and quick habituation to the stimuli indicate that 22 kHz ultrasonic vocalization of rats reflects a distress caused by a potential danger to the animal and it does not necessarily reflect physical discomfort or pain. This vocalization may, therefore, play an adaptive role in increasing chances of survival by conveying information about potential threats to other conspecifics.

Animals↗

PubMed1986

Effects of lung volume and airflow on the frequency spectrum of vesicular lung sounds.

UNLABELLED: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the vesicular lung sound frequency spectrum is affected by changes in lung volume and airflow. Nine healthy young nonsmokers were studied. The dependent variables were the points that divide the power spectrum of the vesicular lung sound into quarters (1st, 2nd and 3rd quartiles (Q1, Q2 and Q3]. Recording sites were the right upper anterior (RUL) and lower posterior (RLL) chest wall. Lung sounds were high-pass filtered at 100 Hz. To evaluate the effect of volume, lung sounds were recorded during an inspiratory vital capacity (VC) maneuver at near constant airflow rates. The spectral parameters were determined at each sixth of the VC. To assess the effects of airflow, 5 of the subjects breathed from resting lung volume at peak inspiratory airflows of between 1 and 3.0 L/sec for a total of 16 breaths each and the frequency parameters of the lung sounds occurring during peak inspiratory airflows were determined. RESULTS: Volume effects: only at the RUL was there a small but significant decrease in all three parameters with increasing lung volume. Airflow effects: all parameters were independent of airflow except for a weakly positive relationship (r = 0.285, P less than 0.05) for Q3 at the RUL location. Individually, there were weakly significant trends in three of the five subjects. These data suggest that the frequency composition of the vesicular lung sound in groups of healthy adults is not systematically affected by changes in lung volume or airflow.

Adult↗

PubMed1985

Temporal speech characteristics associated with anterior left hemisphere cortical and subcortical lesions: a preliminary case study report.

There is disagreement in the literature regarding the characteristics of cortical and subcortical forms of aphasia. M. L. Albert, H. Goodglass, N. A. Helm, A. B. Rubens, and M. P. Alexander (Clinical Aspects of Dysphasia, Vienna/New York: Springer-Verlag, 1980) state that the two are indistinguishable. The opposing view has been presented by M. A. Naeser, M. P. Alexander, N. Helm-Estabrook, H. L. Levine, S. A. Laughlin, and N. Geschwind (Archives of Neurology, 39, 1982) and A. R. Damasio, H. Damasio, M. Rizzo, N. Varney, and F. Gersh (Archives of Neurology, 39, 15-20, 1982), who suggest that subcortical aphasias are not adequately described by the classic, cortical aphasia descriptions. In this study the temporal speech characteristics of a neurologically normal individual, an aphasic patient with anterior cortical and subcortical lesion locus, and a second aphasic patient, whose lesion was limited to anterior subcortical structures, were studied utilizing acoustic analysis of isolated word and phrase productions. The results of this investigation showed individually unique temporal patterns in the speech of each of the subjects studied. While the results must be interpreted conservatively due to the small number of cases described, they do provide tentative support for the Naeser et al. (1982) and Damasio et al. (1982) position. Furthermore, the results demonstrate the potential value of combining sensitive radiographic and acoustic measures in future studies that seek to compare cortical and subcortical forms of aphasia.

Aphasia↗