Individual Monitoring of Vocal Effort With Relative Fundamental Frequency: Relationships With Aerodynamics and Listener Perception.

PURPOSE: The acoustic measure relative fundamental frequency (RFF) was investigated as a potential objective measure to track variations in vocal effort within and across individuals.
METHOD: Twelve speakers with healthy voices created purposeful modulations in their vocal effort during speech tasks. RFF and an aerodynamic measure of vocal effort, the ratio of sound pressure level to subglottal pressure level, were estimated from the aerodynamic and acoustic signals. Twelve listeners also judged the speech samples for vocal effort using the visual sort and rate method.
RESULTS: Relationships between RFF and both the aerodynamic and perceptual measures of vocal effort were weak across speakers (R2 = .06-.26). Within speakers, relationships were variable but much stronger on average (R2 = .45-.56).
CONCLUSIONS: RFF showed stronger relationships between both the aerodynamic and perceptual measures of vocal effort when examined within individuals versus across individuals. Future work is necessary to establish these relationships in individuals with voice disorders across the therapeutic process.