32 hours ago (a) To determine the effects of voice therapy practiced by speech therapists for patients with a chronic voice disorder and (b) to compare two self-assessment instruments in order to determine their specific utility: Individuals with chronic dysphonia: Dutch: 3 items: Visual analog scales (normal to extreme impairment) Voice Handicap Index-10 ... >> Go To The Portal
To date, no criterion objective test supersedes the importance of the patient's perspective in the evaluation of voice disorders.
• The patient’s voice use and requirements. • The impact on their quality of life and social and psychological well-being. • Their expectations for outcome of the consultation and treatment. • The patients’ complaints which are most frequently related to changes in voice quality (hoarseness, roughness, and breathiness).
Predominant patterns among these instruments with domain-specific examples are described below. The VHI and VHI-10 are the most commonly used voice-related PRO measures and the most familiar to practitioners and clinical researchers. Because of their familiarity and common use, we chose to use these instruments as exemplars when possible.
Self-rating questionnaires such as the Voice Handicap Index, 21 Voice-Related Quality of Life, 22 and Voice Symptom Scale 23 have been developed on the basis of the complaints of patients attending with voice problems (see Chapter 10 ).
The Voice Reporting Program allows individuals to report to the CBSA via telephone using an automated system that confirms their identity using voice biometrics and records their location when calling in from a cellular phone.
In the context of voice, a vocal biomarker is a signature, a feature, or a combination of features from the audio signal of the voice that is associated with a clinical outcome and can be used to monitor patients, diagnose a condition, or grade the severity or the stages of a disease or for drug development [6].
Researchers found that people with a high voice biomarker score were 2.6 times more likely to suffer major problems associated with coronary artery disease (CAD), a buildup of plaque in the heart's arteries, and three times more likely to show evidence of plaque buildup in medical tests compared with those who had a ...
We can roughly divide process flow of speech recognition into five steps . They are User Input ,Digitization ,Phonetic breakdown Statistical modeling and Matching ,as table 1 shows. ...
Voice data collection, also sometimes referred to as speech data collection, involves gathering and measuring audio data. This data can be obtained from a variety of sources and is used by machines to understand and process audio input, making virtual assistants and other AI programs more user-friendly.
Artificial intelligence can assist providers in a variety of patient care and intelligent health systems. Artificial intelligence techniques ranging from machine learning to deep learning are prevalent in healthcare for disease diagnosis, drug discovery, and patient risk identification.
If you have a raspy or weak voice you may have laryngitis. This is an inflammation of your larynx or your voice box. Laryngitis affects your vocal cords which are in the voice box. The vocal cords are two folds of membrane that cover a structure of cartilage and muscle.
Results suggest substantial negative relationships between voice pitch and self-reported sociosexuality, dominance and extraversion in men and women. Thus, personality might at least partly be expressed in people's voice pitch.
The sound of each individual's voice is entirely unique not only because of the actual shape and size of an individual's vocal cords but also due to the size and shape of the rest of that person's body, especially the vocal tract, and the manner in which the speech sounds are habitually formed and articulated.
Speech recognition technologies such as Alexa, Cortana, Google Assistant and Siri are changing the way people interact with their devices, homes, cars, and jobs. The technology allows us to talk to a computer or device that interprets what we're saying in order to respond to our question or command.
Voice input computer systems (or speech recognition systems) learn how a particular user pronounces words and uses information about these speech patterns to guess what words are being spoken.
Voice biometric recognition works by inputting the the voice of the individual whose identity has to be stored in the system. This input is kept as a print for authentication. The input print is made with software that can split the voice statement into multiple frequencies.
Voice Handicap Index. According to the authors, the aim of the Voice Handicap Index (VHI) is to “quantify the psychosocial consequences of voice disorders”. The VHI is a 30-item questionnaire patients fill out before and after completing treatment.
The SpeechVive is a portable device worn in the ear by the person with Parkinson’s to improve speech and voice patterns using the Lombard Effect. This device was developed by a team out of Purdue University and can be purchased by the person with Parkinson’s or a trained SLP who wants to trial the device with patients. The website also outlines the associated research and provides forms for insurance coverage of the device in some cases. A notable benefit of the SpeechVive is that it requires no cognitive load to use but still yields great results for improving everyday communication.
LSVT LOUD® created by the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment program is designed as a “intensive and high-effort speech treatment for people with Parkinson’s and other neurological conditions”. The LSVT LOUD® protocol requires speech-language pathologist to become trained and certified to provide the 16-session approach that is based on research for improved speech. The primary motto for patients receiving treatment is “Think Loud” and the protocol guides therapists to instruct using increased modeling and decreased verbal instruction. When patients graduate from the program it is recommended they join a LOUD for LIFE® group, a community based class to continue practicing the skills learned in therapy.
The Robertson Dysarthria Profile (Revised) provides eight areas of assessment, two of which are questionnaire-based. Use the 5-page scoring form to gather data on the characteristics of your patient’s dysarthria.#N#Side Note: There are criticisms related to the subjectivity of the scoring system on the RDP; however, taking notes on how you determined the 1-5 score can assist with inter-rater reliability.
Differential Diagnosis of Dysarthria. Although Parkinson’s disease has been linked with hypokinetic dysarthria, differential diagnosis is important in cases of non-idiopathic Parkin son’s or those who present with comorbidities impacting their speech pattern.
The purpose of this study was to perform a comprehensive systematic review of the literature on voice-related patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures in adults and to evaluate each instrument for the presence of important measurement properties.
MEDLINE, the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and the Health and Psychosocial Instrument databases were searched using relevant vocabulary terms and key terms related to PRO measures and voice. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were developed in consultation with an expert panel.
A total of 3,744 studies assessing voice-related constructs were identified. This list was narrowed to 32 PRO measures on the basis of predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Questionnaire measurement properties varied widely.
PRO measures are a principal means of evaluating treatment effectiveness in voice-related conditions. Despite their prominence, available PRO measures have disparate methodological rigor.
Normal voice production (phonation) is discussed in detail in Chapter 4. Simplistically, voice production requires three processes: (1) an energy source— provided by the lungs; (2) a vibrating structure —usually the two vocal folds in normal voice production; and (3) a resonator—the vocal tract ( Table 6.1 ). The vocal folds are adducted and the free edges of the mucosal surfaces start to vibrate causing compression followed by rarefaction of air molecules, which is the fundamental property of the generation of a periodic sound wave. 2
When present, voice problems include running out of air while speaking, weakness or breathiness of the voice, an inability to control the pitch or loudness, a lack of volume, and/or an inability to project the voice. Dysfunction of Vibratory Apparatus.
The most common cause is Reinke edema in which there is an increased amount of extracellular matrix produced in the superficial lamina propria. 46 This is strongly linked to smoking. 47 Large polyps, the use of the false folds during phonation, use of androgenic drugs, severe hypothyroidism, and some forms of muscle tension dysphonia will also result in a lower pitched voice.
Voice breaks result when some parameter of the vibrating system is changed (e.g., lung pressure, vocal fold tension, or there is an asymmetry of tension or mass between the two vocal folds). 2 For example, failure to maintain an adequate subglottic pressure with adequate breath support is one cause.
In women, the commonest cause is muscle tension imbalance (lateral compression or Morrison Type 2) resulting from habitual talking at the top of the range of the voice, a common tendency in primary school teachers. 13, 14 This can result in chronic stretching of the vocal folds and pitch instability. In men, a high-pitched voice can cause negative comments about gender and lead to ridicule and psychological problems. It can result from muscle tension imbalance known as puberphonia or “mutational falsetto.” 43 In these cases, the voice commonly never changed at puberty, although the laugh or cough may have a deep tone. Structural abnormalities and neurological problems need to be excluded. Structural problems include sulcus vergeture and an anterior glottis web. In sulcus vergeture, there is a longitudinal groove in the membranous portion of the vocal fold and is frequently bilateral. There is tethering of the epithelium to the underlying ligament or vocalis muscle. 44 The thin, stretched free lower edge of the vocal folds make contact, which allows more regular vibration than if the stiffened area is involved. The consequence is a high-pitched voice with reduced pitch range. The voice can also be breathy, lack power, and projection. 45 Anterior glottic webs can be congenital or acquired. Both can cause significant high-pitched voices and dysphonia.
The frequency of vibration of the vocal folds (fundamental frequency) is determined by their elastic properties and tensioning. 2 The actual sound that a listener hears, however, is determined by the resonance properties of the vocal tract.
Each pathological process can affect any part of the three essential elements of voice production, that is, breath control, vocal fold vibration , and resonance . This is determined by careful history and examination, occasional specialist assessments, and probe therapy or empirical treatment.
Characteristics of a patient’s speaking voice, such as speed, pause, and pitch, may reveal a lot about the severity of depression and can help evaluate the patient’s response to treatment, a new study suggests.
The ability to speak is closely related to psychomotor function, thinking and concentration, and the speed of information processing, all of which are frequently impaired in psychiatric disorders. While the content of speech is consciously controlled, characteristics such as speed, pause, and pitch variation in the voice are not.
Thought form deals with the ‘mechanics’ of the patient’s thoughts i.e. how the patient is thinking. This is of diagnostic use as in many psychiatric disorders, thinking ‘slips’ to a less sophisticated level as a consequence of the illness.
the ‘rhythm’ – the regularity of phrasing within sentences. the ‘ intonation’ – the amount of inflection, or cadence (the ‘lilt’) in the voice. the ‘ prosody’ – the extent to which one uses emphasis to convey meaning that grammar alone cannot.