Supraja Anand1, Lisa M Kopf2, Rahul Shrivastav3, David A Eddins4. 1. Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida. Electronic address: suprajaanand@usf.edu. 2. Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa. 3. Office of the Vice President for Instruction, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia. 4. Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: A limited number of experiments have investigated the perception of strain compared to the voice qualities of breathiness and roughness despite its widespread occurrence in patients who have hyperfunctional voice disorders, adductor spasmodic dysphonia, and vocal fold paralysis among others. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to determine the perceptual basis of strain through identification and exploration of acoustic and psychoacoustic measures. METHODS: Twelve listeners evaluated the degree of strain for 28 dysphonic phonation samples on a five-point rating scale task. Computational estimates based on cepstrum, sharpness, and spectral moments (linear and transformed with auditory processing front-end) were correlated to the perceptual ratings. RESULTS: Perceived strain was strongly correlated with cepstral peak prominence, sharpness, and a subset of the spectral metrics. Spectral energy distribution measures from the output of an auditory processing front-end (ie, excitation pattern and specific loudness pattern) accounted for 77-79% of the model variance for strained voices in combination with the cepstral measure. CONCLUSIONS: Modeling the perception of strain using an auditory front-end prior to acoustic analysis provides better characterization of the perceptual ratings of strain, similar to our prior work on breathiness and roughness. Results also provide evidence that the sharpness model of Fastl and Zwicker (2007) is one of the strong predictors of strain perception.
BACKGROUND: A limited number of experiments have investigated the perception of strain compared to the voice qualities of breathiness and roughness despite its widespread occurrence in patients who have hyperfunctional voice disorders, adductor spasmodic dysphonia, and vocal fold paralysis among others. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to determine the perceptual basis of strain through identification and exploration of acoustic and psychoacoustic measures. METHODS: Twelve listeners evaluated the degree of strain for 28 dysphonic phonation samples on a five-point rating scale task. Computational estimates based on cepstrum, sharpness, and spectral moments (linear and transformed with auditory processing front-end) were correlated to the perceptual ratings. RESULTS: Perceived strain was strongly correlated with cepstral peak prominence, sharpness, and a subset of the spectral metrics. Spectral energy distribution measures from the output of an auditory processing front-end (ie, excitation pattern and specific loudness pattern) accounted for 77-79% of the model variance for strained voices in combination with the cepstral measure. CONCLUSIONS: Modeling the perception of strain using an auditory front-end prior to acoustic analysis provides better characterization of the perceptual ratings of strain, similar to our prior work on breathiness and roughness. Results also provide evidence that the sharpness model of Fastl and Zwicker (2007) is one of the strong predictors of strain perception.
Authors: Jennifer M Vojtech; Roxanne K Segina; Daniel P Buckley; Katharine R Kolin; Monique C Tardif; J Pieter Noordzij; Cara E Stepp Journal: J Acoust Soc Am Date: 2019-11 Impact factor: 1.840
Authors: Mara R Kapsner-Smith; Manuel E Díaz-Cádiz; Jennifer M Vojtech; Daniel P Buckley; Daryush D Mehta; Robert E Hillman; Lauren F Tracy; J Pieter Noordzij; Tanya L Eadie; Cara E Stepp Journal: J Speech Lang Hear Res Date: 2022-03-10 Impact factor: 2.674