CASL
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/handle/20.500.12289/22
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Item Assessing voice health using smartphones: Bias and random error of acoustic voice parameters captured by different smartphone types(Wiley, 2019-02-19) Jannetts, Stephen; Schaeffler, Felix; Beck, Janet M.; Cowen, SteveBACKGROUND: Occupational voice problems constitute a serious public health issue with substantial financial and human consequences for society. Modern mobile technologies like smartphones have the potential to enhance approaches to prevention and management of voice problems. This paper addresses an important aspect of smartphone-assisted voice care: the reliability of smartphone-based acoustic analysis for voice health state monitoring. AIM: To assess the reliability of acoustic parameter extraction for a range of commonly used smartphones by comparison with studio recording equipment. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Twenty-two vocally healthy speakers (12 female; 10 male) were recorded producing sustained vowels and connected speech under studio conditions using a high-quality studio microphone and an array of smartphones. For both types of utterances, Bland-Altman-Analysis was used to assess overall reliability for Mean F0; CPPS; Jitter (RAP) and Shimmer %. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Analysis of the systematic and random error indicated significant bias for CPPS across both sustained vowels and passage reading. Analysis of the random error of the devices indicated that that mean F0 and CPPS showed acceptable random error size, while jitter and shimmer random error was judged as problematic. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Confidence in the feasibility of smartphone-based voice assessment is increased by the experimental finding of high levels of reliability for some clinically relevant acoustic parameters, while the use of other parameters is discouraged. We also challenge the practice of using statistical tests (e.g. t-tests) for measurement reliability assessment.Item Cepstral Peak Prominence-Based Phonation Stabilisation Time as an Indicator of Voice Disorder(2015-05) Jannetts, Stephen; Schaeffler, Felix; Queen Margaret UniversityA common feature of voice disorders is the impairment of the ability to initiate and sustain adequately periodic vocal fold vibrations. Traditional acoustic approaches that use sustained vowels in which initial/final portions are excluded have been criticised for poor validity and for exclusion of factors that may be a rich source of clinically relevant data e.g. regarding the onset of vocal fold vibration. The aim of this study was to establish if phonation stabilisation time (PST), as determined by cepstal peak prominence (CPP), is useful as an indicator of voice disorders in connected speech. Disordered voices from all groups showed a significantly longer mean PST than normal voices from the same group. The proportion of voiced segments that reached the stable threshold of periodicity were significantly higher for normal voices in all groups. Our results indicate that PST using CPP has potential to differentiate between the normal and disordered voices. The results for the 'below threshold' groups for both male and female are of particular interest. These results suggest that PST using CPP may be a potential indicator of voice disorder in cases where traditional acoustic analysis measures of sustained vowels do not show any pathological findings.