Summary
Objective
The evaluation of voice quality is a major component of voice assessment. The aim
of the present study was to develop a new multivariate acoustic model for the evaluation
of breathiness.
Method
Concatenated voice samples of continuous speech and the sustained vowel [a:] from
970 subjects with dysphonia and 88 vocally healthy subjects were perceptually judged
for breathiness severity. Acoustic analyses were conducted on the same concatenated
voice samples after removal of the non-voiced segments of the continuous speech sample.
The development of an acoustic model for breathiness was based on stepwise multiple
linear regression analysis. Concurrent validity, diagnostic accuracy, and cross validation
were statistically verified on the basis of the Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient
(rs), several estimates of the receiver operating characteristics plus the likelihood
ratio, and iterated internal cross correlations.
Results
Ratings of breathiness from four experts with moderate reliability were used. Stepwise
multiple regression analysis yielded a nine-variable acoustic model for the multiparametric
measurement of breathiness (Acoustic Breathiness Index [ABI]). A strong correlation
was found between ABI and auditory-perceptual rating (rs = 0.840, P = 0.000). The cross correlations confirmed a comparably high degree of association.
Additionally, the receiver operating characteristics and likelihood ratio results
showed the best diagnostic outcome at a threshold of ABI = 3.44 with a sensitivity
of 82.4% and a specificity of 92.9%.
Conclusions
This study developed a new acoustic multivariate correlate for the evaluation of breathiness
in voice. The ABI model showed valid and robust results and is therefore proposed
as a new acoustic index for the evaluation of breathiness.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 10, 2017
Accepted:
November 22,
2016
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
