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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

[Voice rehabilitation after laryngectomy with voice prostheses. Results of a prospective follow-up study].

Although the results of surgical rehabilitation by means of voice prostheses are on the average better than rehabilitation via oesophageal speech, the tracheoesophageal puncture (TEP)-technique has so far not been widely used in Germany. The majority of hospitals still prefer the "traditional" method of voice rehabilitation using oesophageal speech. The present prospective study was undertaken to compare the results of postlaryngectomy vocal rehabilitation, if patients were offered the surgical voice rehabilitation via voice prosthesis as an alternative to oesophageal speech. Taking into account all the patients who underwent laryngectomy from 1989 until 1990 in Tübingen, primary surgical voice rehabilitation was performed in 44 out of 54 patients (81.5%). Interestingly enough, 34 patients who underwent laryngectomy were able to perform communication via the telephone on the day of their discharge. Moreover, one-third of the laryngectomised patients showed a significant increase in speech intelligibility within the first six months after laryngectomy. 36 patients with laryngectomy were able to attain proficiency 6 months after surgery. In 12 patients the prosthesis had to be removed, since either phonation was impossible or patients successfully learned and preferred oesophageal speech. In conclusion, independent of the method of voice rehabilitation (prosthesis, electrolarynx, oesophageal speech), our results support the hypothesis that a voice rehabilitation regimen will yield a higher rehabilitation rate of patients if rehabilitation via surgical voice is offered as an alternative to learning the oesophageal voice. Therefore, it seems to be advisable that patients are allowed to have the choice between surgical rehabilitation and oesophageal speech restoration.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Female↗
PubMed1991

[Comparative study of temporal parameters of alaryngeal voices. Esophageal and tracheo-esophageal voices].

Recent studies have established significant acoustic and phonetic differences between tracheo-oesophageal (TE) and conventional esophageal voices (EV). 12 alaryngeal voices (2 esophageal, 6 myomucosal shunts, 4 tracheoesophageal phonatory protheses), and 7 normal laryngeal voices were recorded and analyzed. Speech timing including voicing and pauses distribution was evaluated and compared to laryngeal voices. Speakers with TE voices using pulmonary air were able to preserve the rythm and the syntactico-semantic structure of their speeches, as opposed to speakers with EV who often had to insufflate air into the esophagus and therefore had a staccato-like speech. The phonation time was quite similar in both situations, but the length and the number of pauses made the difference.

Aged↗
PubMed1976

A comparison of the contributions of two voice quality characteristics to the perception of maleness and femaleness in the voice.

Comparisons were made between the contributions of the fundamental frequency (F0) on one hand, and vocal tract resonances on the other, to a perception of maleness and femaleness in the adult voice. In the first of two experiments, the F0 of natural voice was found to be very highly correlated with the degree of maleness and femaleness in the voice. The vocal tract resonances were less highly correlated and it is apparent that in the presence of the natural laryngeal tone, these perceptions are based on the frequency of the F0. In the second experiment, a tone produced by a laryngeal vibrator was substituted for the normal glottal tone at simulated F0's representing both males (120 Hz) and females (240 Hz). When listeners were asked to identify the sex of the speakers some inconsistently with the findings of the first experiment was seen. The female F0 was a weak indicator of female voice quality when combined with male vocal tract resonance although the male F0 retained the perceptual prominence seen in the first experiment. This finding may be indicative of some basic difference in the normal glottal characteristics of males and females.

Acoustics↗
PubMed1976

Development of the voicing contrast: a comparison of voice onset time in stop preception and production.

The acoustic cue voice onset time (VOT) was used to study development of the voicing contrast in 10 two-year-old children, 10 six-year-old children, and 20 adults. Thirty utterances of the words bees, peas, bear, pear, dime, time, goat, and coat were elicited from each subject, VOT measured, and individual production distributions for labial, apical, and velar stops plotted. Significant age-related differences were shown for mean VOT, mean lead time for voiced stops, range of the same words that were examined in the production portion of the investigation were obtained for these subjects from their judgments of synthetic speech stimuli. The relationship between identification and production was examined by assessing the degree of correspondence between the perception and production VOT values. Results of this analysis showed a developmental pattern of change primarily for the voiceless stops in the form of increased correspondence between perceptual identification categories and production VOT values. Three stages for acquisition of the voicing contrast related to VOT are indicated.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Voice therapy practices and techniques: a survey of voice clinicians.

Members of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Special Interest Division on Voice were asked to rate statements which emanated from a previously conducted national survey regarding the practice of voice therapy (Larson and Mueller, 1991). Respondents rated eight data-based statements on a five-point scale as to agreement/disagreement. Results indicated strong agreement with previous findings with the exception of the item addressing treatment time. Implications of these results are discussed.

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association↗
PubMed1991

[Evaluation of voice quality. Experimental approach and modeling of the prosthetic voice of laryngectomized patients].

The authors describe their initial results with the parametric assessment of voice quality, which still is mainly subjective. This analysis will be used both in audiology and phonology. A first approach is made on the experimental model of a laryngectomee with a Bordeaux-type phonatory implant. Such patients allow a simpler analysis of voice production both incoustics and with an electromyographic control. The analysis of the data and their statistical validation is based on the use of original computer software.

Acoustics↗
PubMed1975

Voice following radiotherapy.

This study was undertaken to provide information on the voice of patients following radiotherapy for glottic cancer. Part I presents findings from questionnaires returned by 227 of 235 patients successfully irradiated for glottic cancer from 1960 through 1971. Part II presents preliminary findings on the speaking fundamental frequencies of 22 irradiated patients. Normal to near-normal voice was reported by 83 percent of the 227 patients; however, 80 percent did indicate persisting vocal difficulties such as fatiguing of voice with much usage, inability to sing, reduced loudness, hoarse voice quality and inability to shout. Amount of talking during treatments appeared to affect length of time for voice to recover following treatments in those cases where it took from nine to 26 weeks; also, with increasing years since treatment, patients rated their voices more favorably. Smoking habits following treatments improved significantly with only 27 percent smoking heavily as compared with 65 percent prior to radiation therapy. No correlation was found between smoking (during or after treatments) and vocal ratings or between smoking and length of time for voice to recover. There was no relationship found between reported vocal ratings and stage of the disease. Data on mean speaking fundamental frequency seem to indicate a trend toward lower frequencies in irradiated patients as compared with normals. A trend was also noted in both irradidated and control groups for lower speaking fundamental frequencies in heavy smokers compared with non-smokers or previous smokers. These trends would indicate some vocal cord thickening or edema in irradiated patients and in heavy smokers. It is suggested that the study of irradiated patients' voices before, during and following treatments by means of audio, aerodynamic and acoustic instrumentation would yield additional information of diagnostic value on recovery of laryngeal function. It is also suggested that the voice pathologist could assist in evaluating and guiding patients in vocal usages during and following treatments.

Aged↗
PubMed1977

Late voice function after surgical injury to the recurrent nerve.

In the period 1960 to 1970, a total of 213 patients underwent subtotal thyroidectomy for benign cervical toxic goitre. Postoperatively, immobile vocal cord indicating paralysis of the recurrent nerve was found in 17 patients. In 8 patients, immobility of the vocal cord was permanent. Seven of the 17 patients received voice training which was initiated within 3 weeks after operation. After a period of 5-10 years, on an average 8 years, the 17 patients had a clinical and a comprehensive objective examination of the voice function comprising stroboscopy, electroglottography, phono-oscillometry, voice range, phonation time, peak-flow and pitch. Only a few complaints were ciliated whereas the objective examination of the voice function revealed abnormal findings in all but one patient. The findings were less abnormal in patients who had received early voice training. It is concluded that despite abnormal objective findings, all 17 patients found their voice function satisfactory. Moreover, early voice training seemed to offer a fair chance of minimizing late voice problems, whether the paralysis was permanent or transitory.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Individual differences in voice quality perception.

Sixteen listeners (10 expert, 6 naive) judged the dissimilarity of pairs of voices drawn from pathological and normal populations. Separate nonmetric multidimensional scaling solutions were calculated for each listener and voice set. The correlations between individual listeners' dissimilarity ratings were low. However, scaling solutions indicated that each subject judged the voices in a reliable, meaningful way. Listeners differed more from one another in their judgments of the pathological voices (which varied widely on a number of acoustic parameters) than they did for the normal voices (which formed a much more homogeneous set acoustically). The acoustic features listeners used to judge dissimilarity were predictable from the characteristics of the stimulus sets: only parameters that showed substantial variability were perceptually salient across listeners. These results are consistent with prototype models of voice perception. They suggest that traditional means of assessing listener reliability in voice perception tasks may not be appropriate, and highlight the importance of using explicit comparisons between stimuli when studying voice quality perception.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Judging personality and appearance from voice disorders.

This study examined the effect of voice disorders on judgments of personality and appearance. One-hundred-and-five college students evaluated the personality and appearance characteristics of 12 speakers, four with normal voice quality, four with harsh-breathy voice quality, and four with hypernasal voice quality. A semantic differential procedure was employed to obtain ratings on 12 bipolar adjectives. Results indicate a significant difference between the normal and disordered voices. Voice disorders elicit more negative responses on judgments of personality and appearance of the speaker. These findings indicate that voice disorders warrant correction.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Differential diagnosis and treatment of psychogenic voice disorder.

Forty consecutive patients with psychogenic voice disorder were studied prospectively to shed light on some problems of differential diagnosis met by the otolaryngologist. The females (n = 35) were on average younger than males (n = 5) (mean age 34.5 vs 51.8 years, respectively). Although an upper respiratory tract infection preceding the voice disorder was reported by no more than 25% of the patients, as many as 40% had been treated with antibiotics on one or more occasions. Other treatment and voice rest had been prescribed to a further 20% of the patients. The frequency rate of reported asthma/allergy-like symptoms (37.5) exceeded the incidence of asthma/allergy in the normal Swedish adult population. Minor laryngeal abnormalities found in 10 patients could be rejected as causative since they were inconsistent with the voice disturbance. In most of the patients (n = 27), vocal function returned to normal or improved after voice therapy combined with counselling. Vocal abnormalities remained unchanged in three patients. The patients who required multiple therapy sessions (n = 10) were older (mean age 48.8 years) and seemed to have more profound personal problems than the average. The findings suggest that psychogenic voice disorder may often be misdiagnosed as acute laryngitis or asthma/allergy. Restricted use of antibiotics and other drugs is to be recommended in the treatment of benign voice disorders.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

The impact of pollution on the voice.

Pollution is responsible for the presence of toxic substances and conditions throughout our environment. Inhalation of toxic pollutants may affect the voice adversely by direct laryngeal injury, by causing pulmonary dysfunction that results in voice maladies, or through impairments elsewhere in the vocal tract. Ingested substances--especially those that have neurolaryngologic effects--may also adversely affect the voice. Non-chemical environmental pollutants such as noise may also be responsible for voice abnormalities. Most of the information about the effects of pollution on the voice is anecdotal. Equipment and techniques that permit valid, reliable voice research have recently become available; and studies on the impact of pollution on communication, and specifically on voice, should be encouraged.

Air Pollutants↗